Need help buying D-Link "N" Wireless Router

Which one to get? I'm installing an Intel 4965N wireless card into my Sager 5760 and I know that the D-Link N wireless routers work with the Intel card so does anyone have any suggestions as to which one to purchase? I'm running Windows XP 2005 MCE.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127215
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127243
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127241

Pros and cons of each? Price really isn't a concern as wanting a good, reliable router without any problems.

Thanks in advance!!

Brian

 

Haven't looked at 11n, but if you have multiple users, using 11g and 11n at the same time I would look at a dual band router and a different card. In any case if it does not have GigE Lan ports I would pass.

If they are not at version 2 firmware, it may not work with the final spec. I would pass on any that ship with v1.

 

I can't speak to all of those, but I recently tried both the DIR-615 and DIR-625 as cheap stop-gaps until the final 'N' standards are ratified. I also have Intel 4965AGN client laptops.

I started w/ the 615 b/c it was only $50 on sale at BB. I was quite pleased w/ the performance over my older Belkin Pre-N and the range was suprisingly about the same (which was spectacular w/ the Belkin). But, the 615 had some kind of whine/whistle going on that could be heard over my wired PC in the same room, every annoying. I did some reading and posting and seems that it was a bad capacitor. Someone else over on dslreports had the same problem, but I can't say if it was coincidence or a design flaw in the 615.

As a result of the noise, I swapped out for the 625 which had gone on sale a week later for $80 and I am very pleased. The 625 has a generation newer chipset and thruput tests are slightly faster that what I got w/ the 615...both of which, because of being N, tested out over double the thruput of my Belkin Pre-N.

Anyway...long story short, I think you'd be happy w/ the 625 if cost is important and you plan on maybe upgrading in a year when 'N' settles down. I don't think you'd get much more thruput, if any, out of the 655. Yes it's newer, but unless you switch to a dual (2.4ghz/5ghz) band router (which I think the 4500 is) you are still going to connect at the same speed as you would to the 615/625. You may get better speed/range because of the 3x3 antenna config of the 655, but I think it would be minimal. Most 'N' gear is just like 'G' gear w/ respect to the true thruput vs on-paper specs, it's going to be way less than what the marketing material states.

With the Intel 4965, you are going to connect at a max of around 130-140Mbps (what Windows reports) and you will test out at that speed more like 40Mbps. If you go w/ a dual-band router, you might get double that, but I haven't tested that yet.

Chris

 

The 655 has gigNetwork on it. So that will help.
I have the 655 and I had some issue at the beginning n RMA'd it to D-Link so I could get a new one out of their warehouses.
After that I have not had issues.
It also has a feature to prioritize the the bandwidth that goes to programs, which to me is handy as I have vonage.

 

Can someone explain the dual band router? Do you use both frequencies at once so your PC/laptop can collect info faster?

 

From my understanding, not exactly. In the 5ghz spectrum, N can have higher data rates based on it's overall design, but, N can also use the 2.4ghz spectrum. But, b/g can't use 5ghz, it's just never been capable of that. So, what happens w/ a dual-band router is that if you have clients and the router that can operate in the 5ghz spectrum it will, giving you the performance boost. But, keeping the 2.4ghz spectrum in a dual-band router allows for backward compatibility to b/g clients that need it.

I'm sure I'm oversimplifying that, but that's about the extent of how I understand it.

Chris

 

Thanks again Chris!!!

 

i got a DIR-625 about a year ago. And I have never had any problems with it. Very reliable, though sometimes when i try to stream video over the network, it can be bogged down and slow. but other than that, it is a great product and I would recommend it.