To B or not to B

Given the fact my temporary D-Link router is a bit wonky when it comes to Wireless G, for kicks I purposely set it up to only accept Wireless B connections.

What I noticed was pretty interesting.

On G, the best possible signal I can usually get in the other room where I use my laptop is around 70% no matter what wi-fi router I use. That is 5 bars and strong, but it bugged me that I couldn’t eke out any more signal considering I’m so close to the base.

On B, the signal is a solid 100%. This makes no sense considering B and G both use the same 2.4GHz freq, yet I have full-green across the board.

On top of that, I also noticed that B really isn’t that bad at all concerning speed. I mean, yeah, it’s notably slower compared to G, but the only thing I really couldn’t do well was stream YouTube videos. Other than that I was able to mosey along just fine. The only time I really noticed I was on B is when downloading large images.

To give you an idea of how much wi-fi network traffic is around me, at any time there are usually at least four to five other routers aside from myself in range:

Mine is the red one.

A main reason why I cannot get anything over 70% signal strength on G is because I’m always fighting a crapload of other 2.4GHz G routers.

You probably noticed a couple of the routers above are completely open and have no security on them. Those are from neighboring apartment complexes that offer free wi-fi, and in fact I can connect to them even from inside my own apartment. It’s a very weak signal, but I can do it and surf the ‘net successfully. It’s cool I can do that just in case my primary Internet goes out for whatever reason. The drawback however is that those super-powerful routers mess up my signal from my own router.

This brings me back to B. Why is it that I can magically get 100% signal strength on B and not G? Remember, it’s the same 2.4GHz freq, so it shouldn’t happen – yet it does. Is the fact almost nobody uses B a factor here? I have no idea.

The knowledge I’m taking from this is that if I’m ever in a situation where there are so many G routers that I simply can’t connect, I can purposely force B-only connections and it should work.

On a final note that has nothing to do with the above, if you do have a bunch of wi-fi routers near you where you know people will periodically see your SSID, you can have some fun with that. Change it to something like “PARTY OVER HERE”, “ZOMBIE ATTACK – HELP ME”, “I AM READING YOUR EMAIL” and so on. An SSID can be up to 32 characters long (including spaces), so if you have the audience, so to speak, go for it. :)

New wireless router – Part 2

I returned the Linksys WRT120N and I’ll explain why in a moment.

A few minutes before I wrote this I bought a Linksys WRT54GL (pictured) via Newegg. 60 bucks, free shipping. It will arrive probably by Wednesday or Thursday. For now I’m using my old D-Link DGL-4300. It has crappy Wireless G, but it will do the job until my Linksys arrives.

The quick story about the D-Link DGL-4300

I bought that router years ago because I thought it was the best available considering how expensive it was. If I remember correctly, it cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of $160 or $175. However as I found out – and is a well-documented fact – it drops wi-fi connectivity for basically no reason. As a wired router, it’s fantastic. For wireless, it sucks. I refuse to part with it because it makes for a good backup (which is how I’m using it right now) and the fact I spent so much frickin’ money on the thing to begin with.

Why I returned the Linksys WRT120N

The WRT120N does not deliver true Wireless N as it has a maximum data rate of only 150Mbps (true wi-fi N is 300Mbps). In other words, it’s just barely better concerning speed than a wi-fi G. I tested a connection at N and wasn’t impressed with it at all. Yes, I was connected at a faster data rate, but I didn’t notice any real difference compared to G.

When sitting there idling, the top of the chassis gets warm. Not hot, but warm. The fact it does that means that during heavy data transfer it most likely will get hot and result in a short lifespan over time. Linksys should have made the chassis with a higher profile.

It is for this reason I did not purchase a Linksys WRT54G2. When you look at it, you’ll say, “Um.. that looks identical to the 120N”. All newer Linksys routers to the best of my knowledge share the spaceship-style design, which I think sucks because if the 120N gets warm, so will any other that has this style of chassis.

Why I purchased a Linksys WRT54GL

For those of you that know Linksys routers, a question you may ask is why I didn’t purchase a WRT54G instead of the WRT54GL. The answer is simple – NewEgg doesn’t carry it longer. If they did, I would have went for the 54G and not the 54GL to save a few bucks. The only advantage to having a 54GL is that DD-WRT allows you to do a bit more with it compared to the 54G, however I have no intention of using DD-WRT because all I was concerned with is getting a solid reliable wi-fi G router.

The WRT54GL has the old-school chassis (pictured above) with a much higher profile. As such it dissipates heat a lot easier – and for me that’s absolutely required. After my experience with the WRT120N’s warm-for-no-reason chassis, I’m duly convinced the new design sucks no matter the model.

Yes, I could have purchased a refurb 54G from Amazon, but I wanted new. Certain things I’m okay with buying refurb, but not network equipment.

Years ago I bought a WRT54G. I gave it to my father so he could use it as his house. It still works and might in fact be literally 8 years old (the 54G was originally released in 2002). If that doesn’t say “reliable”, I don’t know what does.

What about N and the future of N?

Wi-fi N is a waste of time for me and most other people. The only ones who truly care about it are gamers wanting to connect their Sony PlayStation 3′s wirelessly using that spec for the speed. Otherwise, few give a crap about it.

My netbook has a Draft N card in it, but as long as I can connect on G I’m good. And it’s not as if I’m using the netbook for anything that requires me to download huge files.

Also, my Nintendo Wii doesn’t support N. The max it will do is G. If I had a PS3, then maybe I’d give N more consideration, but I have no intention of buying that console so it’s not even worth the bother.

Concerning the future of N, at this point it’s all screwed up. The way wi-fi router speeds are measured is by Mbps, and the three major “up to” speeds are:

1. Up to 54Mbps
2. Up to 150Mbps
3. Up to 300Mbps

54 is G, 150 is what I call “Half-N” and 300 is “Full-N”.

If you’re budget-minded and don’t game over wi-fi, use G. If you want wi-fi speed for gaming, use Full-N.

The one to avoid is Half-N like the WRT120N I just returned because it serves you no advantage at all. All you get is slightly faster data rates with a router that is not fully N spec’d. You’re getting cheated because you’ll never be able to achieve the full data rate capability of your Draft N wi-fi card.

Companies should really, really label 150Mbps in a more human-friendly way. If it’s not the full spec, it should state so right on the box in plain English, like “N1″ being 150Mbps and “N2″ being the full 300.

Hopefully in the next few years all of the 150Mbps wi-fi routers will be completely taken off the shelves – but as long as they exist, it gives people pretty good reason not to go N. Heck, it convinced me to ditch it for G.

Then comes the argument of how much bandwidth does one really need on wi-fi. For the vast majority of stuff people do on the Internet, G will handle it all with relatively little wait time. The only thing I can think of besides gaming that G cannot do is stream 1080p-quality YouTube videos and that’s it. Everything else is a-okay with G.

Here’s a kicker for you: If we didn’t view video online, most of us would be content with wi-fi B. The B spec may only be a raw 11Mbps with an average practical rate of 4 to 5Mbps, but when you take video out of the mix, you’ll notice the load time really isn’t too long of a wait as long as you have a strong signal. I think this is part of the reason all new wi-fi routers still have B as an option.

Anyway.. my WRT54GL will be arriving in the mail in a few days.

Assuming it’s built with the same quality WRT54G series always has had and barring any unforeseen circumstance (such as the router getting fried from lightning), I shouldn’t have to buy another wi-fi router for at least a good 5 years.

New wireless router

I’ll be explaining the new router talked about here in a work article, so if you follow me there as well as here (which several of my readers do), watch for that next week. :)

Today my lil’ Belkin F5D7230-4 Wireless G router (the gray one with the single antenna) starting making a high-pitched electronic whining noise. It was barely audible, but I could hear it. This was most likely indicative that a capacitor was going bad and threatening to erupt/explode. I decided to retire the router, because a little noise like that can turn into a big noise, and that’s usually followed by a loud SNAP accompanied with a burning smell and/or smoke. Ah, the wonders of electronics.

It was ruled out that interference was causing the noise, and being that wi-fi signals and network cables don’t whine like the noise I heard, a semi-bad capacitor was most likely the culprit.

I really can’t complain because the lil’ Belkin did provide somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 or 5 years of faithful service. Home routers typically do conk out in that amount of time, so to gripe about it would be pointless. It lasted as long as could be expected, given what it was.

Being I need Internet to do of lot of the things I do (including my job), I trotted on down to Target to buy another router. I bought a cheap 30-dollar Belkin F7D1301, otherwise known as the Belkin “Basic”. Heck, the price was right so I couldn’t say no to that.

Big mistake.

The Belkin Basic is absolute garbage. Ridiculous setup process, bad network choke.. it was just awful. I returned it less than an hour later.

Target refunded the full price, and then I bought a Linksys WRT120N. Fifty bucks.

The difference between the 30-dollar Belkin and the 50-dollar Linksys is like night and day. No problems whatsoever with the Linksys. Easy setup, easy connect, no network issues whatsoever. It’s a darn fine unit.

I haven’t tried the wireless yet, but the wired performance is excellent. My Internet hasn’t been this fast in a good long while. Had I known replacing my router would have given me an instant speed boost, I would have done it a lot sooner.

The WRT120N is also my first Wireless N router, but like I said I haven’t tried the wi-fi yet. My Dell mini 10v does have a Draft N card in it, so it’ll be interesting to see if N truly performs better than G does. Everything I know about N tells me it won’t.

Wireless G has a raw data rate of 54Mbit/s. Wireless N because of something called “four spatial streams” at a “channel width of 40MHz” can supposedly deliver a raw 600Mbit/s.

But as anyone knows, “raw” is not what you get. Instead you get something much slower.

G on its best day is dog-butt slow compared to wired even at 10Mbit/s, never mind 100. N is supposed to be far superior – but we’ll see about that.

To be blunt honest, I’m not putting high hopes into it. I have my WRT120N purposely configured to be N-only on wi-fi so my netbook is forced to connect using N and nothing else.

If N proves to be stable and works good, I’ll use it. If not, I’ll just go back to G. I know G is slow, but it’s stable and gets the job done.

Home is where it’s hotter than…

I’m not a tattoo person, but these two are pretty frickin’ awesome:

Click each of the above to enlarge.

The first one is easy enough to figure out. Florida is hot. Very hot. In fact as I write this it’s 90° F at 6:18pm. Yes, it’s hot here.

The second one will take a bit to explain the significance. It says “FL DRIVERS NO SURVIVORS” with a shield for Interstate 4 in the middle.

I-4 is the lowest-numbered interstate in the USA and is a Florida-only east/west highway. When you see 4, that’s Florida and nowhere else.

Interstate 4 has, put mildly, a tumultuous history to it.

Yes, I have driven I-4. It’s the fastest and easiest way to get to Orlando from Tampa. However getting on I-4 in Tampa requires you to connect to it via what’s known as Malfunction Junction where I-275 hooks up to I-4. Why is it called that? Because there are traffic jams there every day in all directions during any rush hour. Outside of rush hours it’s actually quite civil, but during them, well.. you’re gonna wait. A long time.

I’m pretty sure the reason the guy has the I-4 tattoo is due to the 70-car pileup that happened in January 2008. That’s not an exaggeration by the way. How did it happen? It was from an approved burn by the Florida Wildlife Commission. The smoke mixed in with morning fog and made it so thick that it was near-zero visibility conditions, morning rush hour happened and all hell broke loose. Four people killed, 38 injured. Fifteen miles of I-4 were closed down almost the entire day.

The I-4 pileup certainly wasn’t the worst (although this might be), but yeah I suppose it does warrant a tattoo if you’re into that sort of thing.

An accurate Florida map

I received this in email. 99% of the time I can’t stand receiving joke emails, but this is the 1% of the time where it’s pretty good.

Today is Friday, July 30, 2010

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