Wireless N and old G devices

[Lope]

I've got the netgear DG834N which can run at up to 270mbps.
If I set it to 270mbps, my N and N lite devices are happy, but my old G devices can't keep a stable connection to the router. So I have to run it on 54mbps, it really sucks.
This is using WPA/WPA2.
Other than just upgrading all my old wireless cards, is there any way this can be solved?

 

[Hydrofire]

The only way your router can do 270mbps is when it is using the multi-antenna, MIMO and spatial multiplexing capabilities of the 802.11n specification. So, when your old G devices come along, the router has to stop doing its N-specific tricks and communicate in 802.11g mode, which is limited to 54mbps. I suspect the lack of a stable connection is occurring because the router is flip-flopping back and forth between N and G depending on which device it is communicating with. When you force it to G mode, things are stable again because it doesn't have to do this switching.

Two possible solutions to your problem: upgrade the G devices to N devices, or get an old G router and set up a g-only network for the older cards to use.

 

[D4N]

yeah the max throughput of 802.11g is 54Mbps, so if you want higher speeds you'll have to upgrade

 

[kayvee]

If only there was compatibility between all N devices out there the world would be a better place too.

+1 for splitting the networks.

 

[Lope]

Hydrofire: Brilliant suggestion man, I did not think of having a second AP for the slow devices. This is a good solution in a situation where G devices will always be a possibility.
kayvee: Indeed.

Its strange waiting for stuff to become mainstream. A lot of new computers are still coming out with G wireless stuff, and 10/100 LAN (instead of Gigabit) Really lame.
I've read an article that said the more antennas (up to 4 or was it more?) on an N device the better the signal can be sent/received. Theres some pretty advanced stuff going on with wireless.
But a lot of N stuff only comes out with 2 Antennas. Of course the complexity increases a lot for the devices to reconstruct a signal from more antennas.

Whats strange is that some technologies just take over without a problem, like SATA2. SATA fell away really fast. USB2 was the same. (replacing USB1)
I think the problem is that G is still sufficient for the crappy internet connections in most countries. and 10/100 is also 'sufficient' for 99% of internet connections.
(I've used a 100Mbit uncapped connection in Holland for 3 months, it was awesome
Whereas a USB1 host is really pathetic, and windows gives messages saying your host controller is crap if you plug in USB2 devices.
I dunno why SATA2 took over so fast, though I think it was also compatibility issues.

I think we're going to have to wait til 2012 before BlueRay Blank discs become affordable. The cost per gig is still way higher than HDDs.
I remember when DVDs came out over 10 years ago. I was still in school. People had not even heard of a DVD writer. I looked one up on CNet at the time, they were selling for over $4000.
Now you can pick them up for R200.
They really make the early adopters pay dearly. What I always wonder, is if they didn't rip the early adopters off so much, if their new tech would get adopted quicker.
Its nice when technology just becomes universal instead of 'speciality'.