Do i need a wifi adapter upgrade#

To know that a router is ac-ready, simply look at the name of the model to learn everything you need to know about what kind of power you should expect straight out of the box. RELATED: HTG Reviews the D-Link AC3200 Ultra Wi-Fi Router: A Speedy Spaceship for Your Wi-Fi Needs 802.11ac Routers: Do I Need One Yet?Д«ecause 802.11ac was only approved for the consumer market so recently, router manufacturers have just begun the process of flooding the shelves down at your local Best Buy with wireless networking hubs that bear the new brand. This means that if your router sits a number of rooms or floors away from your wireless devices, it may not be the best pick for your household despite the possible increased throughput. As we explain in this article, while the 2.4Ghz band is much more crowded than 5Ghz and can suffer from increased interference, its larger wavelength allows it to penetrate walls over longer distances without much signal loss. Also, itвЂ™s important to note thatВ opposed to 802.11n, 802.11ac can only transmit over the 5Ghz spectrum. Theoretically capable of maxing out at a whopping 1.3Gbits per second (162.5 MB/s), the throughput of an ac-enabled router is more than double what you can expect with the more common 802.11n.

This, of course, is the theoretical max point for the technology achieved in carefully controlled lab settings, but itвЂ™s still plenty fast enough for the average household to run multiple Netflix streams or gaming sessions at a time without anyone noticing a slowdown.ДЁ02.11ac on the other hand is quite a bit newer, having only been approved by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) for consumers in 2014. To start, it helps to know that on the whole most routers made within the past five years will support 802.11n, which at its peak can transfer upwards of 450Mbits/s, or around 56 megabytes per second. You can read about what all of these mean in our handy guide here, but to cut to the chase the only two weвЂ™ll be talking about today are 802.11n, and 802.11ac. Without getting too deep with the technical details, what youвЂ™ll want to pay attention to is the letter that follows after this number, which signifies both the generation of the router and the maximum speed you can hope to transmit or receive between the base station and other wireless devices. Whenever you buy a new router, the first thing you probably notice is that no matter which model you eventually go with, they all share the denotation of вЂњ802.11(something)вЂќ somewhere in their name.

Do i need a wifi adapter upgrade#

RELATED: Upgrade Your Wireless Router to Get Faster Speeds and More Reliable Wi-Fi