Need help choosing a wireless router?

Need help connecting Netgear wireless N router and AT&T 2wire dsl modem/router.?

• I have AT&T DSL that came with a wireless AT&T 2wire Gateway (modem/router combo I guess). It's kinda slow and the connection strength drops in the back rooms of the house, so I wanted to upgrade to a wireless N router. I purchased a Netgear N600 router from Best Buy, and spent several hours trying to hook it up this morning, to no avail. I'm not a total computer dummy, but this was over my head. I did some research and realized I had to take away the router function of the 2wire, so I got online into the advanced settings and disabled the "ATM PVC Search" and changed the connection type from PPPoE to Direct IP. I then went through the process of connecting the 2wire to the Netgear router, and the router to my computer, and following the installation disk instructions. Long story short, it took forever to get it working right, and it finished installing and SAID I had succesfully installed it, but I certainly did not. I had NO internet, and I ended up having to connect my 2wire with an ethernet cable (I think that's the right term for what I used? Cat5/ethernet??) directly to my laptop and undo what I did to get the internet back. The Netgear is now back in the box and I'm ready to return it, but I hate to give up. Can anyone help and explain how to set this thing up properly? I'm afraid to even TOUCH it again for fear of doing more damage and losing my internet. I'm in online college classes (NOT majoring in Computer Science, haha) and I can't afford to have any down time. Thanks for your help! :)

• Answer:

  The addition of a wireless N router won't speed up a slow Internet connection. Wireless N requires not only a N router but also a N adapter on your laptop or whatever you are using to connect to the router with. It will default to the slowest speed. For example, if you connect your wireless G (54Mbps) laptop to a new wireless N (300Mbps) router, the speed will default to G (54Mbps). A point to consider is, even if you have a wireless N laptop connected to a N router the LAN speed will be up to 300Mbps. However this is only the local area (LAN) connection speed between your laptop and your router. Your router connects to the wide area network (WAN) via your DSL modem. Your WAN speed is determined by the plan you purchase from the provider. For instance you may have a ADSL plan with 6Mbps download and 2Mbps upload speeds. Even a slow old wireless B (11Mbps) router has a faster connection speed than your 6Mbps DSL connection, therefore the Internet will not be faster by upgrading the router, Only file transfers between computers connected to your LAN in your house would benefit from an increase in wireless speed. I would probably return the router and test your Internet (WAN) speed. http://speedtest.net If it is slower than 1.5Mbps you may want to consider upgrading. You can call At&t and see what faster speeds they offer in your area. If they don't have anything faster you could compare the cable and fiber offers in your area. Go to a ISP comparison site that lets you input your address, http://isp1.us/find/ and compare the pricing and terms of the offers that are available in you area. You'll want to pick the fastest plan that fits your budget. In some areas this can be 100Mbps+. But these high end broadband plans are expensive. You may find that something in the 3 to 30Mbps range might satisfy your needs at a much lower cost. Choose the best one for your Internet usage and budget. Good Luck