The new Wireless N router runs five times as fast as the Wireless G router with an indoor range of approximately 70m, twice that of the the wireless. The price of the G router is not incredibly expensive; at $180(US) it’s affordable to the average person. But does the average person/company need it? It depends on three factors.

1) How fast your Internet connection is.
2) How many computers are on your Local Area Network.
3) How much non-Internet traffic is going to be on the network.

The more traffic on your network, the faster your router will need to be to keep up. Wireless signals are contention based. Contention basically means most of the time its sending signal that is not received because it crashes. As soon as a crash occurs all computers shut up and wait a random time until they start talking (transmitting) again.

So if you have fiber, more than 7 computers on your network or like to be constantly sending movies and other large files back and forth between computers wireless, upgrade and you will have noticeable reduction in lag for a small cost.

If you like to keep your hard wired technology, you can upgrade it. Two new options for wired Ethernet technology that have recently become available are; Giga Ethernet and 10Giga Ethernet. Giga Ethernet is 10 times as fast as fast Ethernet but has a small difference that it runs in half duplex mode, not full duplex like fast Ethernet. Half duplex means that you can either send or receive but cannot do both at the same time. Upgrading isn’t essential unless you are working with massive databases that are constantly being moved back and forth.

10 Giga Ethernet the next step above, was invented in 2006 and is an incredible 100 times faster than fast Ethernet. It’s harder to install than the other two due to its very picky installation practices and its maximum length which is 55m shorter than other Ethernet by 45m. Work on increasing the range to 100m is uncompleted as of April 2007. YouTube despite the range restrictions is a company that currently uses 10 Giga Ethernet to support its workstations but as growth continues it may become difficult to maintain only a 10 Giga Ethernet connections. Currently in development is the 100 Giga Ethernet standards. Not that many companies currently need this but as soon as it comes out it a replacement may already be needed…. again.

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