108Mbps -- is it worth it? Which brand?

[MitchV]

I'm thinking about upgrading my wireless router.

I've currently got an 802.11b router and a USB adaptor/NIC for my wife's machine. My laptop has a built in 802.11b NIC.

My buddy wants to buy a wireless router for his house (he just got married and he needs to hook up his wife's PC).

Going from 11Mbps -> 54Mbps isn't worth an upgrade IMO. Being able to go from 11Mbps -> 108Mbps is worthy of thought though.

This would only be beneficial when pushing large files through my network. I use my laptop very often when I'm at home and I do transfer large pieces of data a few times a week (for now, I just plug my laptop into my router).


My question is whether or not the 108Mbps routers are worth it. I'd end up shelling out $100 or so for the upgrade. While my laptop won't get any immediate benefit, perhaps a future laptop WOULD get a nice speed increase.

My current setup uses Linksys equipment. I've always been happy with my Linksys gear, but I'm on my 3rd Linksys router now, so I can't say that I feel they are all that reliable.

If I buy new networking stuff, I was thinking of going with Netgear. D-link provides this kind of functionality too, I believe.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions? Should I just hold out for the next upgrade after .11g?

Thanks

 

[Jex]

I have friends that work with wireless networking and all that jazz and they usually stick to the standard below the newest for security reasons. As far as your friend goes, is he starting off fresh or adding on?

 

[MitchV]

my friend is starting fresh.... needs a wireless router + adaptor. He'll probably get a USB adaptor for ease of installation.

 

[nut581]

looking at your situation, then going 108mbps is definitely useful, but let's not forget about what happen with the 22mbps (double "b"s) .. it was popular, but once the "g" introduced, updates for the non-standard 22mbps became scarce. might want to think about this as 108mbps is non-standardized technology yet .. who knows what might become the new standard ..??

but, my friend has a dlink extreme and dlink turbo enabled wifi card, and he transfers file at ~35mbps, while my 54g transfers at ~20mbps .. so yes, it definitely is faster ...

 

[skidooosl]

i usually like to stick with a standard... thats just my opinion.

 

[stan03]

i have a WGT624 and i love it... the only time i had a random reset was when it was new and i didn't reallize the reset button had gotten pushed in while it was shipped... all good now

 

[SnP2k]

I don't know what your problem regarding the reliability of Linksys routers are, maybe you just keep buying defective routers. My Linksys has been alive for around 3 or 4 years, it's an "EtherFast Wireless Access Point and Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port Switch" model: BEFW11S4 v2. 11Mbps is extremely slow. My laptops use the 11Mbps wireless, while my desktops used to use the 10/100 Mbps connections until December 2003, when I purchased a Linksys 8-Port Gigabit switch. Model: EG008W; I also purchased some NetGear GA302T NIC's for my desktops. Upgrading from 100Mbps to 1000Mbps is night and day. The only problem is that the two desktops which are connected to the Gigabit switch are not comparable. My computer is a power-house, while the other is not nearly as good. My comp is 2.08GHz Athlon Barton 2800+, an 80gig and 160gig hard drive (both 8meg cache), A7N8X Del., 2x512MB Corsair XMS PC3200LL ram, it's very powerful. Whereas the other is an Iwill mobo, 1.6GHz Athlon 1900+, 512MB of PC133.

Long story short: one comp is bad, other owns. The upgrade from 100Mbps to 1000Mbps was definately noticeable, so you should be able to notice a huge difference between 11Mbps and 108Mbps.....actually a comparable increase to mine because they are proportional to each other. One thing: if you don't think you're going to utilize the upgrade, I don't recommend buying it as the price will decrease later on, and the technology will not be as new.

 

[PAWO]

I have a friend who said that when using 108 wireless it can cause interference with other radio items in the house like cell phones, cordless phones, the tv (if not on cable), ect....so he went to using a linksys 54 router with the speedbooster function(what he called it...some mode it has), and said its very fast w/out the interference. Just a thought.