Is 802.11n worth more than a g/b with rave reviews?

[LD]

I was all set to buy a LINKSYS WRT54GL, after reading all the positive reviews, when it was brought to my attention that it didn't have draft n. I found a D-Link DIR-615 with draft n for less money, but it got many negative reviews (most of the cons noted a bad interface and unreliable connections.)

So, how much more would I be getting out of a draft n wireless router that I wouldn't be getting out of a g? Is the stability offered by the Linksys more important than a boost in speed? If it is, is it worth $20 more?

[Auspice]

I've got a DLink DIR655 R1 and love it. I'm not running on just N though I'm using a mixed network so it's pulling down my speed a bit but after upgrading my 360 and other PCs to N shit is a lot faster.

[LD]

That does look nice and I plan on connecting to a wireless device with n, but $90 is a little higher than I wanted to pay (my high is $80; this isn't the only purchase I'll be making). I'm aware a g could 'work' with it, but I'd like something I wont have to upgrade any time soon and will get a down rate as good as my modem....also, something people can't bruteforce their way onto. My wireless is mine.

My question is are 2k good reviews were worth losing draft n and an extra $20.

[Skjie]

The DIR615 are terrible. Most Dlink routers are terrible. Unless you're doing heavy downloading/file transfers, you won't notice the speed difference between N and G and the 54GL was one of the best routers ever made.

[LD]

By heavy DLing, you mean like Gigs worth of stuff? I do plan to do that (backing up some files, maybe some game DLs once FFXIV or Cata comes along), but I don't regularly DL files bigger than 300 megs, so it probably isn't worth fretting over.

[Weeks]

Check shoplinksys.com for refurbished routers. I recently got the WRT610N with gigabit ports for almost $50 less than you can find it new anywhere. It's a thing of beauty, and I'm pretty sure it was never used.

[Korietsu]

I was all set to buy a LINKSYS WRT54GL, after reading all the positive reviews, when it was brought to my attention that it didn't have draft n. I found a D-Link DIR-615 with draft n for less money, but it got many negative reviews (most of the cons noted a bad interface and unreliable connections.)

So, how much more would I be getting out of a draft n wireless router that I wouldn't be getting out of a g? Is the stability offered by the Linksys more important than a boost in speed? If it is, is it worth $20 more?

I actually have zero problems with my DIR615. Fast transfer speeds and it's got a stable connection. Never get dropped except when I have to release/renew on my DHCP, and that's only for a few seconds. Interface is just as bad as any linksys router interfaces. If it's any indication, I get a 50ms latency to a data center in seattle, and I'm in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

[bungiefan]

I've been getting D-Link recommendations, and I've had bad experiences with more recent LinkSys G routers. My last good Linksys was a WRT54G version 3. After that they've all overheated on me daily when running torrents, and I've had to put DD-WRT on them for any sort of stability, and also to not max out my connection table and need to do a hard reboot of the router (since they made the connection table store connections for 5 days on later models). I want a router I can put DD-WRT on because all of the routers I've got my hands on in the past 4 years seem built to lock up if you run torrents through them. The symptom is always the same, internet works fine before torrents run, but once you start a torrent with any decent number of peers, even if capped to 10 KB/s download, you stop being able to reach web sites you didn't connect to before the torrents started running, and even when you close the program you can only go to servers you were recently at. That issue is what made me switch to DD-WRT, so I could change that configuration option to purge the connection table every 10 minutes or so, and the problem went away. Newer Linksys routers seem to be much harder to install that to, and are noticably more expensive than any other brand I can find locally. Belkin, D-Link, and NetGear all seem to be more reasonably priced. I haven't had the spare cash to buy a DIR-615 to try yet though, but I always see it being recommended.

[Chicomagiko]

If you want consistent, reliable n-speed networking capabilities, go with the DIR-825 or higher. Dual band(2.4 and 5ghz) means you can use both n and abg for legacy devices with zero hiccups. Though abg are older standards so no WPA2 for those. The DIR-825 has a fuckton of security settings WEP(lol),WPA, WPA, TSIK (or some shit like that) and some other letter mumbo jumbo I am too dumb to get. Its the best router by far that i've ever used and I've used a fuckton of them. We've had it up and running since 2008 and so far its been kickass.

[fussel]

Though abg are older standards so no WPA2 for those.

Hint: 802.11a/b/g/n describe the lower level protocol/hardware and WPA/WPA2 are implemented in software.

My iBook G4's AirPort Extreme card is 802.11g only. Works pretty well with WPA2.

[Chicomagiko]

Blah, whatever lol

[virusiidx]

By heavy DLing, you mean like Gigs worth of stuff? I do plan to do that (backing up some files, maybe some game DLs once FFXIV or Cata comes along), but I don't regularly DL files bigger than 300 megs, so it probably isn't worth fretting over.

Unless you can download faster than 8MBps, then you won't notice the difference much. I'm pretty sure what he meant is if you were download/transferring files within the same network, then that's when Wireless-N really shines since you can go above the 54mbps(G), given that your router, cables, NIC support it of course.

Most networks are still on G, but it shouldn't be long before everything is moved over to N as a new standard.

[LD]

So if I'm backing up old files over a g, I should probably do a wired connection. After that I could go wireless and not notice a difference. That sound about right?

[virusiidx]

Sounds about right, that's what I do since I'm still on wireless-G.