802.11g "penalty"

[Cave Man]

I have an AEBSn/100mbps and all of our wireless Macs (and Apple TV) have 802.11n, except for our GMA950 Mini that has 802.11g. As I understand, this means our AEBSn is broadcasting at 802.11g speeds because the Mini forces it down? If so, would the addition of an 80211n USB card to the mini, such as this one, restore the AEBSn to 'n' speed?

 

[skorpien]

From my understanding, the network speeds get reduced only when the 802.11g device is actively using the connection. And from what I've researched, it doesn't fully reduce it to 52Mbps, but it will slow it down from the full 170Mbps. You're correct in assuming that the USB adapter will let you connect everything at full Wireless N speeds. Just disable the wireless adapter in your GMA950 and use the USB adapter to connect. Also, if your AEBS is capable of broadcasting at 5 GHz, you can set it to 802.11n only (5 GHz) and it will allow speeds of up to 300Mbps. Although you should be warned that it will have reduced range.

 

[aristobrat]

IIRC, while it does slow the 'n' network down, it's still faster than 'g'.

If that card works with OS X, and you disable the internal 'g' card, then yeah, your network should maintain native 'n' speeds.

Another more expensive option would be to get one of the newer Airport/TC routers that support dual-band, so you could run simultaneous b/g and n networks.

 

[Cave Man]

Thanks for that information. So the current AEBSn is dual band and would obviate my problems? If so, I'll probably just go that route.

 

[kolax]

My Airport Extreme is N but configured to operate on G if any G devices join. On a good day (i.e. when the walls aren't being too obstructive) I can get 130Mbps. I always thought it slowed down to G, but it's never gone below 70Mbps, even with three G devices connected.

 

[mbburn]

I have a newer AEBSn/dual band. Have it set up for n for the macs, and g for the other non-mac devices and my iPhone. Works very well.

 

[skorpien]

I have my AEBS dual band set up as 802.11n only (5 GHz) and 802.11b/g/n (2.4 GHz). Works flawlessly and allows for 300Mbps connections as well as b/g devices to join). Also, make sure to create separate SSIDs for both bands to prevent any N devices from slipping onto the b/g/n network automatically.