Fastest Wireless Router
Posted on 13. Oct, 2008 by admin in Networking
In computing, the name of the game is speed. Internet speed and network speed are areas of particular concern. The router is the main component that affects Internet and network performance and most people opt for the convenience of a wireless network. Therefore, everyone wants to know what the fastest wireless router is.
What are the Limitations?
Most people want the best router speed that they can get so they can get the fastest Internet downloads and uploads. Internet download speeds are much higher than upload speeds. Linksys has indicated that the highest download speeds that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) offer is less than transfer rate provided by some of the slowest routers.
Routers are manufactured according to 802.11 protocols which specify how the data is to be handled and what frequency (something like a TV channel) it should transmit at. The following table indicates the frequencies and the transfer speeds of the commonly used protocols.
| 802.11 Protocol |
Freq. (GHz) |
Mbits/second |
| a | 5 | 54 |
| b | 2.4 | 11 |
| g | 2.4 | 54 |
| n | 2.4, 5 | 248 |
Even the slowest one here, b, has an 11 Mbps transfer rate which is higher than the maximum internet speed that most ISPs provide. Verizon Fios is the fastest Internet service and its pricey highest level provides 50 mbps which 3 of the 4 standard protocols beat.
The bottom line is that paying extra for a super fast wireless router for downloading movies or the like won’t buy you any speed improvement for a single computer.
The Uses of Router Speed
If you have a number of people playing high intensity games or you routinely copy huge files between different computers on the network, the speed will help you.
However, VRBones of vrbones.blogspot.com states that latency (transmission start up time) is also an issue. He says that wireless adds a delay to your network traffic as it needs to encode to analog (radio frequency) and then decode back to network packets. Wifi hotspots can add as much as 100ms to latency, which will make FPS (first person shooter) games feel like playing over a modem. Most will add at least 10ms although a perfect environment can reduce it to approximately 1ms.
Added to that it is MUCH more likely that you will have dropped packets over wireless. If you are playing a game that is using TCP rather than UDP for packet delivery you will regularly see the game freeze as it waits for a lost packet (up to 2 seconds). This once again can ruin your timing and overall game play. You will need a very strong signal to combat packet loss which can be achieved through reducing the distance to the hub, having direct line of sight to the hub, or boosting the signal.
Getting solid equipment will help in both the latency from transferring to Wifi as well as the signal strength, but it you are serious about gaming (especially FPS gaming), avoid wireless altogether. A wired connection is also cheaper though more inconvenient to set up.
The Fastest Wireless Routers
The actual fastest wireless router in the world at this time is an experimental model developed in a University in Pisa, Italy. It transmits data at an awesome 1.2Tbps over a short distance. It is based on blinking laser optical technology which means it requires line of sight so no physical object can come between the transmitter and receiver line of sight. It’s not really a practical solution any time soon. If you want to find out more about it, Engadget discusses it.
The fastest commercial router that has been reviewed by significant web sites and forums is the
D-Link DIR-655. You can get it at a discount using coupon code 650 from The Nerds
D-Link Xtreme N DIR-655 Gigabit Router
It is top rated by Consumer Search . It also received a favorable review from Geek with a Laptop
Cnet also reviewed it . Their main knock on it was that it was made according to the unfinished 802.11 N spec. However, all the better routers today are designed according to this spec so this is not really an issue.
Another interesting router is the Sitecom WL-308 Wireless 300N XR Gigabit Gaming Router which touts 300 mbps speed.
In order to support this speed, you would need a Gigabit capable network. Even wired home networks max out at 100 mbps and don’t generally reach 1,000 mbps. I haven’t been able to find a wireless adapter that will accept over 100 mbps so the only way this router could be used would be split up its bandwidth among multiple computers.
The Sitecom site has details of the innovative technology
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cwxwwwxdfvwwxwx
25. Dec, 2008
well, hi admin and people nice forum indeed.
Forest
06. Feb, 2009
I have a top of the range lynksys but about 9 people on our 5mb connection…. itwas working fine but recently been incredibly slow and only 2-3 people are using it at once. Is it true that the more people using it (even if not using large ammounst of the connection) the slower everyones connection will be?
admin
06. Feb, 2009
Hi Forest,
You are provided a set supply of Internet power known as bandwidth. The more people that use it, the less supply for each.
It is definitely true that the more users you have the slower your connection will be especially if they are really using up bandwidth by downloading a large movie or playing a highly interactive game.
If you have wireless and you have used encryption so that anyone needs a password to get in, you don’t have to worry about strangers leeching off your connection.
In any case, you can check who is on by getting into your router and checking the DHCP Client Table (status, local network) .
Brian S Aery
25. Feb, 2009
Hi,
Ok ill be honest, I dont know very much about networking but I just purchased the D-link DGL-4500 xtreme N wireless gaming router. I have one computer hard wired, 2 laptops and 2 xboxs which leaves me with a total of 4 wireless devices connected to the network. Here is the problem I am having, both of the wireless xbox adapters are compatible with 802.11 a/b/g but not 802.11 n. The new router I just purchased is capable of 802.11 a/b/g/ and n as far as I know but, when I open my Intel PROset/wireless configuration menu (you know, where i connect to my wireless network) is says im my “Band” is still running 802.11 g… I bought this router because i wanted to run “n” but that is pointless because my adapters for my xbox dont support as I stated previously so, here is my question. How do i change my band to run a better band like “a”, that is if “a” is faster?
admin
25. Feb, 2009
As far as I understand from the chart above, a and g are the same speed of 54 mbits/second.
I will look into this a bit further.
admin
25. Feb, 2009
@ Brian S Aery,
An expert that I consulted told me the following;
The D-link products will support: 802.11A, 802.11BG, and 820.11N. However, it won’t do all of these at the same time. You have to pick between mixed 802.11N/ 802.11BG or mixed 802.11N/802.11A.
This means that it cannot operate in an 802.11A/802.11G mode which is what you want since the Xboxes really should connect using 802.11A for best results.
In order to change the operating mode you must get into the management console and select the 802.11 mode under the the wireless settings tab.
If you can use the A/N mode, that would be best but you may have to use a different card on your PC to do this.
Adorno Systems
09. Sep, 2009
I cannot believe this is true!
admin
09. Sep, 2009
@Adorno Systems,
You better believe it. These are the real facts of the story.
Robor
15. Sep, 2009
Amazing! Not clear for me, how offen you updating your http://www.askthecomputerdoc.com.
Thanks
Online payday advances
15. Sep, 2009
Awesome I need one of those!
AlexAxe
18. Sep, 2009
Hi, Super post, Need to mark it on Digg
Have a nice day
AlexAxe
admin
18. Sep, 2009
@AlexAxe,
Thanks for your support.
Elcorin
21. Sep, 2009
Interesting, I`ll quote it on my site later.
Thanks
Elcorin
SpeedingUp
01. Nov, 2009
I found this post when i was trawling through google trying to speed up my own darn computer. Didnt manage to help me with my original problem, but still was good to read. I reckon computers are made to die within a year of buying them, makes us have to spend more money getting a new one!
admin
01. Nov, 2009
@SpeedingUp,
I’m sorry if you have experienced computer death. That hasn’t been my experience but after a while, computers become out of date and don’t have many of the latest and greatest features.
Check out my how to speed up your computer article for some good tips.
bill
03. Nov, 2009
Just what i was looking for!
Hien
27. Nov, 2009
If Wireless N is running max at 300 mb…. and the router ports is only currently 10/100… does that mean the wireless is actually faster than the port can support? Why would my router do that if one cannot support the other?..I’m confused.
admin
28. Nov, 2009
@ Hien,
The 10/100 refers to the wired ports of your wireless router not to the wireless transmission rate. It works out in this kind of configuration that your wireless connection will actually be faster than a wired one.
In any case, as noted in the article, no Internet provider provides a feed anywhere near those values anyways so your router capability is higher than you can get anyways. It can make a difference in splitting bandwidth across multiple receivers which is also discussed in the article.
Broadband Routers
26. Jan, 2010
this is so true! d-Link is far better than belkin.
bandsxbands
04. Feb, 2010
My friend and I were recently discussing about technology, and how integrated it has become to our daily lives. Reading this post makes me think back to that debate we had, and just how inseparable from electronics we have all become.
I don’t mean this in a bad way, of course! Societal concerns aside… I just hope that as technology further develops, the possibility of downloading our memories onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It’s a fantasy that I daydream about almost every day.
(Posted on Nintendo DS running R4 SDHC DS OperaMod)