A need for speed: 802.11n router roundup
The IEEE 802.11n standard is not official yet, but a host of Draft N routers are already available. We rounded up three of the most popular, threw them into the deathmatch cage, and locked the gate. The fight was brutal, but we gained a solid appreciation for how each device performs and whether any of them make a worthwhile upgrade to your current gear.
Buying a new router can be a pain in the butt. Stroll into any electronics store and you're bound to see boxes of routers with different wireless standards. It's easy to get sucked into the router with the best deal. However, as I hope to point out in this review, that's not always the best choice. If you want to upgrade from your current wireless router, it may be worth spending the extra money on a router that's proven to outperform your current setup. Wireless-n boxes all make claims like "270Mbps throughput" or "12x the speed" of wireless-g routers, but we all know that your wireless-g router doesn't actually provide its rated 54Mbps, either. Let's take a look at the actual throughput of three wireless-n routers and discover which one fits your needs best.
In the ring we have a Linksys WRT350N gigabit router with support for external USB hard drives, a Netgear RangeMax Next hiding antennas up its sleeve, and a D-Link Xtreme N gigabit edition router. All three routers installed without a hitch, and each offered support for previous 802.11b and 802.11g standards, so it's possible to use a mixed broadcast mode (though this will affect 802.11n performance).
