Wireless Switch & Upgrade, 2 Questions

I'm switching from cable to DSL and going from all wired to mixed wired/wireless at home. All our old routers, modem, cables are at least 5 years old, so I'm getting new everything.

Can I upgrade my HP 9700t laptop from the Intel 4965 to the 5300 wireless?

I've pretty well settled on the D-Link DIR-655 router I think, since simultaneous dual band is pretty pricey and I see a lot of complaints about those routers, but I still need a DSL modem to go with that, right?
Can anyone recommend an inexpensive bridge/modem to go with that that won't degrade my speed? I'd really prefer not to drop $90 on the modem too, but I don't want a crap one either.

 

You will not get wireline speeds with a wireless connection regardless of how much $$ you spend. 2.4 gz and to some extend, 5.8 gz, has too many potential sources of interference in the typical home including the microwave oven.

You may get occasional 'wow' speeds but those will be just infrequent enough to remind you of what you don't have.

 

So you think it's a waste to time to go to 5300? I thought it might be worth a shot since they're aren't very expensive anymore.

How about modems? Would either of these work with that router? Is there anything known to work ok with Vista 64?

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=11099812

http://www.amazon.com/DSL602E-ADSL2...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245897599&sr=1-28

Is a line filter a good idea?

 

Do you have any idea what your internet speed is?

What kind of role are you planning your network to play? Are you streaming HD movies? LAN parties? Basic file and printer sharing?

These are important question as we can help you save some money here and narrow down your choices in models

 

Not sure exactly what speed I'll be able to get, but not over 6mbps I'm sure.

I do occasionally stream HD movies, bittorrent running nearly 24/7, Xbox Live, file & print sharing. I do a lot of these activities at the same time (not sure if that makes a big difference).

 

In normal usage I don't think you'll see that much of a benefit. I have an XPS M1530 with the 4965. Earlier this year I bought a Samsung NC10 netbook and wanted to upgrade it with the 5300 card. The card arrived before the netbook, so for kicks I temporarily swapped the 5300 into the M1530, replacing the 4965. I didn't do any sophisticated tests, but I carried it all around my house and tested media streaming, file transfer speed, range, and so forth. I didn't see any significant difference. The router at that time was the DIR-655, in "N" only mode.

It's possible that some other combination (say a 5 ghz router) might allow the 5300 to stand out a bit more, but my combo was a wash. Of course I returned the 4965 into the M1530 and now use the 5300 in the netbook.

 

One of the differences between 4965AGN and 5300 (and also 5100) is that 4965AGN could connect using wide 40MHz channel only at 5GHz band, while 5300 (and 5100) could do it at either 2.4GHz or 5GHz band.

Enabling 40MHz channel or channel bonding is required to get connection above 135-150Mbps, that is up to 270-300Mbps for 4965AGN (and also 5100) and up to 450Mbps for 5300 (if paired with next generation 3x3 capable wireless router).

Pairing 4965AGN with 2.4GHz only wireless router such as DIR-655 would only result connection up to 135-150Mbps, as 4965AGN could only do wide 40 channel in 5GHz band.