Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PCs Forum

I was looking at a few dual band routers. I looked at the new Linksys one and it had no antenas. Also I looked at this one,

http://computershopper.com/news/article ... ZjU9VgRtwM

In the review they say in order to use the 5Ghz band you have to have specific wireless adapters that support the 5GHZ band. Is this true?. I have looked at several wireless adapters and didn't notice anything in the specifications that mentions either 2.4Ghz or 5. So where would I find this information. I looked at a few adapters at newegg.com.

Actually I just did a search and did find just 1 that has the 5Ghz band listed under "Frequency Band". Others don't even list "Frequency Band". Why have 5GHZ routers without many adapters to support them?. I think I'll wait till more are available.

I found a few more adaptors that support 5GHZ. This one looks nice, but damn pricey,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833124278

Now another question, when looking for hi-gain antenas for a dual band router that supports N must you look for 802.11N compatible antena or just an antena that supports the 5 Ghz range?. I ask this because I looked at few and they actually give specifications saying that they support 802.11a/b/g....

Ok I'm done now. I'm getting ahead of myself.

They may be pricey but for many people they are the way to go. Under the current allotment, the 2.4Ghz channels overlap so only three channels are of any use, 1, 6 and 11. In major cities, you can often find all three occupied by strong signals. So when you introduce yours you compete and your transmission rate drops. Additionally a lot of devices like wireless phones occupy the same space.

With the 5Ghz you have (from memory?) 23 discrete channels. Much less equipment is operating in this range...but that will change. Fewer malicious hackers trying to penetrate your system, or listen in. That will change.

The N band protocols are faster and have more distance, and fewer people using them...you can set you transmitter for N only if you do not need to support B/G, and you can shut down the 2.4Ghz transmitter if that is not needed as well. Fewer ports for crackers to enter. [This assumes you are using a very long randomly composed WPA2 AES+TKIP password to keep them out.] I am sorry I did not wait before updating to N @ 2.4Ghz. I would have gone 5 for sure. Fortunately my neighbors all seem to be either very weak signals or in channel 1 and 6.

I don't think I really want to go with 5Ghz. Sure it may be a "cleaner" frequency range but like you said that will change and also it won't have the range of 2.4Ghz. Scott kind of convinced me to use wired whenever possible, and since I had that problem with my laptop I am using it wired and won't go back to wireless unless I am traveling.