He has a new laptop that supports "N" speeds.
WRT54G's do not support "N" speeds. That would be like putting a 4 banger in a Vette! Ya, its reliable and the millage is good but its SLOW.
He needs a newer "N" router and the Linksys one's are crap.
He has a new laptop that supports "N" speeds.
WRT54G's do not support "N" speeds. That would be like putting a 4 banger in a Vette! Ya, its reliable and the millage is good but its SLOW.
He needs a newer "N" router and the Linksys one's are crap.
This. PERIOD. Please note that Cisco has purchased Linksys and some of their products are now branded as such.
+1 on the Netgear WNDR3700. Great routers!
I am unaware of any local internet company that actually provides greater than 54Mbps currently so how would it be slower? If he did a lot of transfers across PCs then maybe...
I've sat down my wrt54g and my laptop w/ a g card next to an N setup and ran just as fast
I've done computer and IT related work for about 8 years professionally and never had an issue with linksys. Yet I have had issues with belkin and netgear. Netgear is typically solid but I have had bad luck with them previously.
54G is the theoretical speed not real world. So it is possible that someone on Cox Internet could max out a "G" router. I clocked my download speeds at 25Mbs on Cox's 15Mbs connection with their "Power Boost" Technology and thats not even their fastest connection.
That aside "G" is old technology and all the newer laptops coming out have the "N" wireless cards. If all you do is browse the Internet then even a "B" router @ 11Mps would work. Save yourself some money, I got a box of them in my garage. They are even Linksys brand. Just be warned if you install more than one of them on the same network, they have a tendency to want to send data packets between themselves and create "data storms" on the network.
How many people only use their home network for Internet anymore? Not many. Most people are streaming some form of audio or video content, or gaming between devices on their network and a lot of it is HD content via a wireless connection, to their Xbox360, PS3, Laptops or other PC's, 54Mbs just doesn't cut it anymore, nor does Fast Ethernet @ 100Mbs wired. Gigabit is the way to go with any new purchase or construction. The amount of data the average US household is consuming is increasing at a steady rate. Plan for the future.
That Netgear router has the shared USB port & a built in DLNA compliant media server built in. Plug in an external hard drive and now you have a wireless multimedia server. It has Gigabit Ethernet, Plus its N600 wireless, not N150 or even N300. So its theoretical wireless speed is 600Mbs.
Linksys "B" routers were junk. They were full of firmware bugs that never got addressed. Their WRT54G v1-4 routers were a solid product and what earned them their reputation. It also got them bought out by Cisco who promptly ditched the "Open Source" Linux OS and replaced it with the proprietary VxWorks OS, (except the WRT54GL which is still available, but harder to find). Cisco's goal was to kill off the Linksys brand completely. Why would anyone but a $300 Cisco AP when you could get a $50 Linksys, reflash it with DD-WRT firmware and have a better AP for less money? Unfortunately for Cisco, the Linksys brand name was more recognized by the US home market than Cisco so they compromised and are now "Linksys by Cisco".
Every manufacturer has had one or two wireless products that were less than stellar. Belkin had its share for sure. The FD7230D-4 was a pretty solid (cheap) router. Helps when you are basically giving them away for free.
Netgear has always been pretty solid. My main complaint with their "G" routers was the default settings. If you were Technically inclined you were OK. If they ever lost their settings they defaulted back to a static IP and the wireless radio off. This was by design and a good security measure as it forced you to run the setup and turn your wireless security on. However from an Internet providers standpoint it sucked. A power surge could wipe out the NVRAM settings and then the customer was calling because their Internet was down. NO not really, it was just their router reset itself back to defaults.
If you are doing IT work professionally, then you owe it to your customers to stay current with the changes in technology. Don't sell them on some old technology that won't meet their future needs. Exceed their expectations and you will have happy repeat customers. :-)
Given my wrt54g is an older model I've never maxed it out and with a little google fu and playing anyone can optimize their wireless settings. I run the same cox line myself.
I can stream media from my laptop to my phone over the network without issue - people have been gaming and streaming media over G for years.
But I am not going to suggest somebody get what they don't need and from the sounds of it won't need. I make suggestions all day every day especially in regards to storage.
N is a great technology now that it is a standard and more bugs have been worked out but I have dealt with it since it was concept and you could have 2 N devices that wouldn't talk.
I have my brother in laws house setup w/ 2 PS3's that are often on at the same time 2 laptops, a desktop and they have zero issues play online and don't complain of lag ever and still browse decent. A little time and effort can go a long way.
I can stream media from my laptop to my phone over the network without issue - people have been gaming and streaming media over G for years.
But I am not going to suggest somebody get what they don't need and from the sounds of it won't need. I make suggestions all day every day especially in regards to storage.
N is a great technology now that it is a standard and more bugs have been worked out but I have dealt with it since it was concept and you could have 2 N devices that wouldn't talk.
I have my brother in laws house setup w/ 2 PS3's that are often on at the same time 2 laptops, a desktop and they have zero issues play online and don't complain of lag ever and still browse decent. A little time and effort can go a long way.
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