Over the last couple of weeks, I’d run a few experiments trying to improve connectivity for some of my PCs that use a wireless G card. Changing the wireless antenna to a high gain antenna purchased off eBay gave an increased range and some performance improvements. But it still was not enough for Hulu and download speeds were still not satisfactory.
I decided to shop around for a new Wireless G router becuase I Wireless G was good enough for my needs provided it worked at optimal speeds.
After some research I came upon the Netgear WPN824NA Wireless G Router – 108Mbps, 802.11g, 4-Port. A recertified version was on sale for $20 at Compusa. This router is a RangeMax router that uses multiple antennas to compensate for interference. I also intended to replace an older Netgear router and so a newer Netgear was appealing.
Connecting it up took less than 1 minute. It has a wizard that auto detects the type of network you are on. in my case it’s PPPoE. I had my ISP’s username and password handy which is all you need to get connected and to replace an existing router.
The performance improvement is amazing. Wireless signal strength on a PC with 70% went to 95%. 380Kbps downloads became easy where 90Kbps was difficult. Connectivity just does not drop any more.
I can easily say that this will be the best $20 bucks I spent this year (considering the year is still young). The bottom line is, if you have several PC’s with a wireless G card, and you suffer from poor connectivity problems consider the Netgear RangeMax series of routers.
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