Re: What speed is the wireless on my laptop?

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 12:25 PM, Lukas Beeler <
lukas.beeler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 18:00, Dan <dan27649@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm using a Lenovo ThinkPad T61, which has an Intel 4965AG adapter.

That's a 4965AGN, stripped of 802.11n functionality.

Kind of figured that, but there's no clear documentation on that. If you
search for 4965AG on Intel's website, you get the specs for 4965AGN.

Due to some new flakyness on my current router (affecting both wireless
and

wired), I am shopping for a new wireless router. Will an 'N' router

perform

better / faster for me, given the adapter I have, than a 'G' router?

No. But a router that is capable of 802.11a (basically, 5Ghz 802.11g)
will perform better, because fewer people use the 5Ghz band.

O.k., this is where I got messed up. I made the bad presumption that the a,
b, g, n amendments each represented an upgrade on the data transfer rate.

> How

can I tell from a given wireless adapter what the maximum speed it will
support, so I can know whether to just stick with 'G' and avoid wasting
money on 'N' which has features I can't take advantage of?

Look up the spec sheet.

As described above, it doesn't exist. However, what I've been able to glean
so far is that I would be wasting money on an 802.11n router because 4965AG
doesn't support it.

Be aware that there's a mutltitude of 802.11n classes - 802.11n is
available in 150 Megabit, 300 Megabit, 450 Megabit. 600 Megabit is
currently planned, but as far as i know, no products have hit retail
yet.

802.11n is also available in 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz modes. 5 Ghz has worse
wall penetration, but the 5 Ghz band is used by fewer devices, thus
often offering advanced performance.

Thanks Lukas!

- Dan