So Many Considerations ... Please Help

[Ross In PH]

First of all, thanks for all the great info on this site. What an excellent resource!

Here's my situation. I have a Linksys WRT54G that's a four or five years old. It still functions well. I have recently added three new notebooks with internal Wireless N adapters, including the computer that I use heavily all day in my home office. So, to take advantage of the potential higher speed, I am considering adding a Wireless N router to my network, either to supplement or replace my Linksys G router.

My first thought was to simply get a basic N router such as the D-Link DIR-615, replacing the Linksys. But then I read on this site about the effect of older B and G devices on N networks, essentially dragging the speed down to their level.

So I next considered a much more robust router, a dual band dual radio device such as the new Netgear WNDR3700. I would segregate the legacy devices to the 2.4 GHz band, while reserving the 5.0GHz band for the new N computers. This would give me the additional advantage of a gigabit wired connection for my desktop. But apparently having B & G devices connected to the router, even on another band, will still slow down the N machines. Is that correct?

So, having read even more articles here, my latest scheme is to keep the Linksys G router on the network for the older devices, connecting the input of the Linksys to a wired output on a new N router, and of course using the new router for the three N computers and the wired desktop. If I do this, do I still need a dual band, dual radio N router?

A further consideration - I am only able to use WEP on the older devices, because my wireless network printer is not capable of anything better. If I keep the printer connected to the old Linksys, will the computers on the new N side of the network still be able to send print jobs to it? Presumably I'd be able to use WPA or WPA2 on the N network.

Please, some advice on which type of N router to buy! Here's what is connected to the old Linksys now. All these devices would have to be accommodated on the new routers or combination:

HP Desktop - Vista Home Premium 32 bit (Wired)
Sony Blu-Ray Player (Wired)
HP Notebook - Vista Business 64 bit (N)
Toshiba Notebook - Vista Home Premium 64 bit (N)
Another Toshiba Notebook - Vista Home Premium 64 bit (N)
Acer Notebook - Vista Home Premium 32 bit (G)
Dell Desktop - XP Home (G)
HP Multi-Function Printer (B or G - honestly can't remember)
TiVo (G)
HTC Touch Pro Phone (G)

Any help you can lend would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to give me a specific model if you know one or more that's ideal.

Thanks so much!!

[ldesmar]

Hi Ross,

Just joined this forum and read your post. Am in the exact same situation! Am afraid I don't have the answer you are looking for ...but will keep an eye on any replies you get on this topic :)

Luc

[thiggins]

You don't need a dual-band router unless you have dual-band client devices that can access the 5 GHz band. Not all N devices are dual-band. You'll need to look at the device specs.

The basic plan to use separate N and G routers to handle their respective devices is what I recommended in Add, Don't Replace When Upgrading to 802.11n (http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30224/100/). Each router can use separate encryption and once connected, devices will file and printer share just fine.

The D-Link DIR-655 or Linksys WRT310N are fine single-band draft 11n routers. But there are many other choices.

[Ross In PH]

Thanks so much for the info Tim.

Based on your reply, I checked the new N notebooks, and they all have dual band clients. So I could use the 5 GHz band of a dual band router. If I do so, can I have separate encryption for each band? I'd need to use WEP for the older B and G devices, and would like to use WPA for the new N's. In that case I would just use one router and remove the old Linksys.

If I have to use one standard of encryption, then using WEP would dramatically slow down the N router, according to the articles you've written on the site, right? I would definitely use the two routers in that case. Please let me know.

Thanks!!!

[Ross In PH]

Just keeping this thread alive. Anyone know if you can have two different types of encryption on the two bands of a dual band router?

Thanks!

[thiggins]

Just keeping this thread alive. Anyone know if you can have two different types of encryption on the two bands of a dual band router? Each radio has its own wireless security settings in a dual-band, dual-radio router.

[Ross In PH]

Thanks again Tim!