N routers: Are they worth the hype?

Over the past few months it’s become all the rage for broadband providers to advertise N routers free with their deals, often pushing them in your face in the hope that you see it as a key benefit over other providers. As a matter of fact, though, it’s also become all the rage for them to advertise “a super-speedy third-generation N-router absolutely FREE when you sign up.”

You could say that broadband providers are a bit melodramatic like that.

So is this almost meaningless marketing speak all that it’s cracked up to be and more importantly, is it a feature worth looking out for? Read on to see what we make of it all.

G to N: worth it?

N is indeed more than just a name.

The newer ‘N’ standard of router includes payload optimization, MIMO and non-overlapping, jargon heavy ways to describe improvements that increase data transfer speeds and wireless network range.

In practice, that means that an older style 802.11g router promises up to 54Mbps and typically delivers about 22Mbps.

Most routers operating the ‘N’ standard, however, promise 100-140Mbps and lose less of that speed in the transfer to Wifi. They also offer around twice as much coverage as the older G routers.

In short, you might think, it’s not really worth getting an N router unless you’re getting cable broadband or some description.

ADSL2+ delivers speeds of up to 24Mbps and typically much, much less than that.

But that’s not really true.

For one thing, wireless routers affect broadband speeds more than you might expect. Wifi is inefficient and a recent study found that the average router reduced speeds by about 30%, compared with plugging in an Ethernet cable. Any little boost helps.

Even if your only problem is particularly thick walls which slow down the wireless signal in your home an N router would give a bit more reach.

Repeating yourself

Having said that, N isn’t the only way to upgrade wireless-wise these days for schools broadband.

If you’ve got an old 802.11g router, using it as a repeater to boost wireless signal is possible, if a little bit tricky for non-techies.

Note, though, that this largely only solves the problem of reach. Speeds will be the same if you’re lucky and, very likely, a little slower as the signal repeats itself.