Is it worth going to 108mbps

Hey guys,

Its that time where i feel like i need to buy something and i was just looking at new routers. I currently own a Netgear DG834G (Wireless DSL Router/modem/acess point ALL IN ONE) and its a 54G. I was looking around the i've seen the 108G have gone a whole lot cheaper (well here in aus anyways) I started out on wireless with Ad-hoc on 11mbps and that was bout 2 years ago. Anyways i'm now on 54g and was wondering if its even worthwhile going on to 108. Yeah i know that the internet isn't going to be faster, but how about the range on these things? Better than 54G or just the same? Also how about the new technology with MIMO whats that all about? Some sort of range extender thing? At the moment i'm just thinking not buying as of yet.

 

Well IMO I think it's best to wait until 108 becomes a standard, if it ever will. It basically just combines two 54Mbps channels to increase throughput, theoretically. The claimed benefits are for media streaming, gaming, file transfers etc but there has also been some debate as to whether or not this technology is actually interfering with standard G networks. I personally don't think switching over to a super g card and router will show any marked improvement over local data transfer. As far as MIMO goes (multiple input multiple output) it's bascially a wireless link involving multiple antennas at the trasmittion and receiving side meant to improve the performance of the wireless connection. Primarily a huge benefit to large wi-fi networks but probably not needed for home networks. Hope I've cleared up at least some of it for ya

Anubis

 

Since nothing has been standardized, I'd hold off. With everyone coming out with their own "technique" of getting more speed from their routers, they might not be compatible with any other wireless product (other than their own brand).

I believe the new MIMO type routers are the pre-standard models of the new 802.11N standard they're going to come out with. I'd stick with a standard 54Mbits router for now and then upgrade to the new N standard after 6 months of its release (most bugs should be out by then).

-Vb-

 

is 108mbps just having a faster internet??..or being able to use the internet from much farther away than the router??..or both????

 

Techincally, neither, your internet speeds are determined by your ISP. If you have 5Mbps d/l then you will download at that speed or less no matter how fast you connect to your router or modem. It simply increases throughput to your local devices. In theory it is claimed that 108 increases the range but again, it is their speculation, it has been out for some time and has not been made standard so more than likely there are far to many issues with using this type of technology.

 

ooo..ok..thanks Anubis

 

I guess it would kinda be called a gimmick, where it's new and cool but not much of a use besides that.

Kinda like the 'a' connection

 

A few years back when 10/100 was still more or less the only practical option for wired networks, I thought the introduction of 802.11g was badass. However when gigabit ethernet started to become more mainstream, using a wireless network to achieve at maximum 5% of the transfer speed of a wired network seemed pointless (10% isn't much better). I decided to run all of my wireless adapters at 2mbps to maximize range. Unless you have some kind of direct connection to an internet back bone nobody needs more than 2mbps anyway. If you need to transfer massive files between local systems, just use gigabit ethernet, seriously. It'll get done 10 to 20 times faster than the fastest wireless link you could have.

And a word on MIMO. Did you know that on non-MIMO (single antenna) access points, if a b and g device are connected at the same time the g device must use b speeds? MIMO allows both devices to connect at their respective maximum speeds.

 

Basically, the only use a 108Mbps wireless card would be is when transferring a hard drive or large files between computers.

Same goes for Gigabit ethernet - I have that in my notebook, but I only have a 10/100 switch, and even if I had a gigabit one, I would never be able to use the full 1000Mbps.

 

Nice discussion! ;-)!