Xelkos

Belkin's Pre-N wireless networking line also dramatically improves range--even for 802.11b and 802.11g gear.

Wireless networking products are never modest in their performance claims. However, Belkin's new Wireless Pre-N Router ($150) and Notebook Network Card ($100) promise--and deliver--dramatically faster speeds and much better range than their fastest 802.11g predecessors.

Not only is the new gear compatible with 802.11g and 802.11b equipment, in our tests 802.11g clients actually performed better on a network based upon the Pre-N router. (The Pre-N name refers to the 802.11n standard that is still in development. More on that later.)

This impressive performance wouldn't matter if you used a wireless network only to share broadband Internet access (which tops out at 1 to 1.5 mbps) and were happy with the range of your existing setup. But Belkin's Pre-N products would clearly benefit users who want to move large files, stream video, or extend the range of their home or small-office Wi-Fi network.

Speedy Transfers

In our tests transferring data between a PC connected to the Pre-N router via ethernet and an IBM ThinkPad R40 notebook equipped with the Pre-N PC Card, throughput speeds from a distance of 10 feet were between 37 mbps and 42 mbps, with an average of 40 mbps. When we ran the same tests with a network using Belkin's own 802.11g router and PC Card, throughput ranged from just 13 mbps to 23 mbps, with an average of 20 mbps. (See the chart below.)

When we moved the notebook some 50 feet and several rooms away from the PC and router, the Pre-N throughput declined, as we would expect. Speeds ranged from 12 mbps to 33 mbps, with an average of 20 mbps. But the 802.11g PC Card and router could not transfer data at all.

However, when we replaced the 802.11g router with the Pre-N router, the notebook with the 802.11g card was able to connect from 50 feet, though at speeds we'd expect from the slowest Wi-Fi standard, 802.11b. And when we connected an 802.11g notebook to a network that otherwise included all Pre-N equipment, the network didn't slow down in an informal test.

The Pre-N products achieve their performance gains mostly by using technology called MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output), in which a number of antennas transmit many unique data streams in the same frequency channel (other Wi-Fi products transmit data in a single stream in a single channel).

Belkin says it calls the products "Pre-N" because some implementation of MIMO is almost certain to be the basis for the IEEE's upcoming 802.11n standard, the successor to today's 802.11a/b/g standards. Certified 802.11n products likely won't appear until early 2007. When they do, it's possible that Belkin's equipment will be incompatible with the certified gear.

But if you want to improve your net's speed or range, we see no reason to wait the two-plus years until the 802.11n standard is finalized.

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/artic...,118666,00.asp

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Zero_DgZ

For what it's worth, I run a Belkin "54g" router and I use a whole slew of different wireless equipment with it. For starters, my X50v, which is only 802.11b/11mbps. I also have an Averatec laptop that's got built in 802.11g, an old Toshiba with a G card stuck in it, a machine that runs off a Compaq USB 802.11b adapter, and my old man's laptop with a Linksys B card in it.

The 802.11g stuff connects at 54mbps, and the 802.11b stuff connects at 11mbps. No big deal.