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• July 28th, 2009

  Does a 802.11n router's speed decrease if g or b devices connect to it?

  the n based devices will only slow down when the g-based devices are in the process of transmitting or receiving. a wireless router, be it n, g, b, or a in a certain instant in time can only be receiving or transmitting from a single client. During these instances the router is communicating with the client at the speed and coding that creates the best throughput for that situation. So when communicating with a g-based device at close range it may be running at the peak 54mbps in that instant in time. At a later instant in time when communicating with an n-based device it will communicate at the optimum rate and coding for that situation. this is what occurs in most wireless routers (those that are properly designed) there are a couple optional improvements with the n-based infrastructure that may be disabled when in compatibility mode: these are foremost the broader spectrum (going across 40mhz instead of 20mhz) as well as the option of using a shorter guard interval that were not included in previous standards. the slowdown that people might be referencing here is that when a g-based device is connected to the network that device will take more time (a greater number of those previously mentioned instants) to transfer the same amount of data, and since only one client can either be transmitting or receiving during each of those instants it means that there are fewer such instants available for transmitting data to and from the n-based device meaning a lower perceived throughput. in short the mere act of connecting the backwards compatible device does not inherently slow down the n-based network, but it will use more time when it is transmitting and receiving data leaving the n-based device with less time (which also would happen when connecting a second n-based device, just not to the same extent)
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• July 28th, 2009

  Can I extend the range of my wireless network with a spare wireless router?

  this can be done without question; but must be supported in the firmware that you are using; if there is not currently an option there for a “repeater mode” (this is more compatible between router and firmware revisions than wds. bridging actually refers to using an ap as a client node) then you will need to switch the firmware. Currently to the best of my knowledge openwrt works with the most different router chipsets but the questions does remain what is the model of the router you plan to use. side note: the repeater mode works as follows; the repeating ap(router) will create a second wireless network with the same ssid (name) and encryption as the original with the information you supply it. it will then make a client connection to the main router in your house using those same credentials that you supply to it; it will then use this as a backhaul to send the data that clients (such as your laptop) send to it. keep in mind that even if you have great reception to this repeating node from your laptop, you will only get a connection as good as the link between the original router and the repeating one if you would like a recommendation for 3rd party firmware assuming that your device does not already support this mode please leave the model number of the router you plan to use
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