Re: Difference between wireless G and wireless N

["Jones, John (US)" <John.Jones@xxxxxxxxxx>]

802.11n is still a draft specification so in theory any "pre-n" products
you buy today might not be usable in an environment made up of "actual n
certified" products in the future.  That said, the draft is unlikely to
have any substantial changes between now and final certification
(expected in '09 or '10).  Most folks are working under the assumption
that pre-n products today will work with actual n products tomorrow.  It
may require a firmware or driver update but compatibility should be
fine.

n is backwards-compatible with g (and b).

Downside to n is higher cost to buy the hardware.  Another downside is
in a mixed g/n network it's possible that all n devices will fall back
to g speeds.

Upside is that in an all-n environment speeds will be 4-6 times that
available with g.  Note that speed bump only truly matters for LAN
access - file/printer sharing and whatnot.  Unless your Internet access
is >54Mbps (extremely uncommon in the US) then n equipment will not
boost your browsing performance.