Wireless Router: To upgrade or not to upgrade?
Posted by: Brad
Tags: 802.11g, 802.11n, broadband, Internet, router, wifi
If you think your olde 802.11g router can serve you for years to come – think again. The main reason behind the very existence of a router is all your gadgets, computers, video game console, blu-ray player, mobile phones, and other devices that need internet connection.
Have you noticed how often you replace your gadgets? It happens naturally – new protocols come, new features appear nearly every month, and it seems just natural to go and get that new shiny toy. The newer ones support higher speed 802.11n wifi. Why would you care? Because besides greater speed, which is so important for most, wifi N allows you to go around your house, to backyard or parking, and still be connected. Alternatively it allows you to hide the not so pretty router out of sight with much better chance to still have excellent reception all over the house.
Internet router connects to the Internet, to your modem to be precise, with regular Ethernet cable. Wireless router acts as an access point – it transmits the signal all around your house, thus creating a wireless network. Any wifi equipped device can connect to the network without cables. Some devices are designed to be wireless bridges; they have network port on the back, and allow another non-wireless device to connect to the same network.
So why do you need best wireless router? With more and more wifi enabled gadgets available on the market, the more wireless communication they do between each other and the internet. All this increases load on the router, and requires more and more “throughput” – amount of information passed through the router. Imagine a pipe with water flowing through it, and now think you need to pass more water then pipe can handle. Yes, you can increase pressure. What happens as a result: accidents, broken pipes, etc. Same is true for a router, if you try to make is deal with more information then it possibly can it will result in hang-ups, unreliable choppy wifi, and frequent reboots.