Dual Band Wireless N Access Point

[Zico]

I'm looking to upgrade from my old 3Com 54G access point to a dual band wireless N access point.

Current setup as follows:

Sky Netgear DG834GT >>> 3Com Gigabit Switch >>> 3Com 11G Access Point >>> 2x laptops with Intel 5300 wireless cards and 3 aerials fitted.

Any recommendations???

[Del Lardo]

For now I really wouldn't bother unless you desperately need the extra bandwidth. There are new chipsets in development that should be hitting the market in retail products in Q1/10 and you'd be far better off waiting for them.

[Zico]

To be honest I don't use either laptop myself and it's only since my brother got his NC10 that the 'issue' has cropped up.

Apparently he is loosing signal while he is using the NC10 in his own room on the first floor, opposite side of the house to where the WAP is located.

I've knocked up a quick floor plan of both floors and added a guesstimate of the area that the WAP is serving without any noticeable loss of signal.

I'm really only looking for an improvement in wireless coverage first and bandwidth upgrade second. I was considering upgrading to N as the only major addition to the network for the next 3 to 4 years (about as long as the 3Com has served me).

Ground Floor
First Floor

The Intel 5300 Wifi cards in each laptop were replacements to the pre-installed Atheros cards that came with the NC10’s (no matter which driver I used they wouldn’t connect using WPA to the 3Com). As the 5300 cards are N ready I thought I would see if that in combination with an N access point would get rid of any dead spots in the house.

[Zico]

I’m still keeping a look out for a suitable candidate.

Albeit a little on the expensive side, the Apple Airport Extreme appears to fit the bill of a suitable candidate.

Does anybody have any recent reviews/comments on the draft N revision? I can only appear to find plenty of the older reviews online.

[Feek]

I've got the new Airport Extreme and it works really well, I get coverage now in areas where I didn't get coverage before and being dual radio it means I can use my laptop which has N while my daughter is using her laptop or her DS which don't have N without any slow down.

I was very impressed by the performance, especially as all the aerials are built in.

[Zico]

Are you using the Airport along side a DSL/Cable modem or as a wireless access point?

I'm still intending to use my Sky Netgear DG834GT and simply replace the 3Com WAP.

I guess that to use it as a WAP only that I would need to disable NAT + DHCP and simply connect it to the Netgear via the Lan port (or would it need to be connected via the Wan port?).

[Burble]

The config utility for the Airports is very very clever - it'll ask you want you want to do with it and will then do the setup itself so you don't actually have to do anything with NAT, DHCP or whatever.

With my Time Capsule it'll even turn the WAN port into an additional LAN port if you have it setup as you want it.

[Feek]

I've got a DSL modem and the Airport connects directly into it, it was incredibly easy to set up. I'm considering grabbing an Airport Express as well to extend the network out so I get good wireless coverage in the garden! I have a cable to the back of the house already so if I just plug it into there then I've got an easy to configure and set up extender.

[Zico]

Originally Posted by Burble

The config utility for the Airports is very very clever - it'll ask you want you want to do with it and will then do the setup itself so you don't actually have to do anything with NAT, DHCP or whatever.

With my Time Capsule it'll even turn the WAN port into an additional LAN port if you have it setup as you want it.

I had read that the setup for the router is software based and not web based like most other routers.

Originally Posted by Feek

I've got a DSL modem and the Airport connects directly into it, it was incredibly easy to set up. I'm considering grabbing an Airport Express as well to extend the network out so I get good wireless coverage in the garden! I have a cable to the back of the house already so if I just plug it into there then I've got an easy to configure and set up extender.

Our home is quite large but has cat5e in all rooms except the kitchen and bathrooms. The only reason for having wireless is due to my father not wanting to be tied to the end of a cable when he's online.

Both my father and brother have Samsung NC10's (upgraded wireless cards to Intel 5300 with a third aerial fitted) but neither have chosen to use them outside (yet). I guess that if the need arises, I could fit an Express extender to the closest cat5e run and extend the network to the opposite side of the house that covers the garden.

[Burble]

Originally Posted by Zico

I had read that the setup for the router is software based and not web based like most other routers.

Correct.