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I've got an 802.11g wireless router at my apartment. I'm considering an upgrade to 11n after the holidays are over, but I already have issues with my wife's PC having intermittent network connectivity issues.
Compared to 802.11g, does 802.11n offer improved range or some other metric that will improve the quality of my wife's connection? (My PC is right next to the router, so I'm not using the wireless.)
Adam V
Posted 2009-12-10T21:28:59.957
Reputation: 526
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Yes. 802.11g offers 45 meters indoor range and 90 meters outdoor. 802.11n bumps those up to 70 meters and 250 meters respectively.
There are probably other issues affecting signal strength though. 45 meters should be adequate for an apartment. Ensure you have no electronics between the laptop and the router which may interfere. Cordless phones are usually the culprit.
John T
Posted 2009-12-10T21:28:59.957
Reputation: 149 037
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Yes - Wireless N is not only rated as higher speed, but also higher range.
On top of that, this is not scientific, nor are there benchmarks, but I can tell you from a lot of experience that even if you do not upgrade your devices to N but just the router, you should see better signal strength. Again, this is not written anywhere but I have seen it in 80-90% of the networks I have installed, I can only attribute it to N routers outputting at a higher power or just built better.
Picture from Apple.com -
William Hilsum
Posted 2009-12-10T21:28:59.957
Reputation: 111 572
Is there a document somewhere I can reference? I'm shooting for high WAF with this upgrade. :) – Adam V – 2009-12-10T21:35:42.000
Real world figures or manufacturers'? – Nathaniel – 2009-12-10T21:43:03.657
Haha, for sure. I guess the IEEE website wont mean much to her, but wikipedia has a pretty straightforward comparison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#802.11n
– John T – 2009-12-10T21:43:18.210@Nathaniel, it's by standards. – John T – 2009-12-10T21:45:39.283