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Gankdawg · Mar 27, 2008, 11:44 AM

Both my iMac and MacBook are n capable but my Wii is only b or g. If I upgrade to an n router, will the Wii drag it down to g and therefore limit my 2 machines to g?

ghporter · Mar 27, 2008, 07:23 PM

Probably the answer is yes; at this point in time I don't know of any N routers that have multiple radio systems so they can handle both B/G and N simultaneously. But how much of your time will you be using the Wii at the same time you're really worried about bandwidth on your computers?

tridentinecanon · Mar 27, 2008, 08:07 PM

It WILL be slower. ghporter gave you the best advice: Leave the Wii off.

Gankdawg · Mar 27, 2008, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

But how much of your time will you be using the Wii at the same time you're really worried about bandwidth on your computers?

That's a good point. Probably some of the time, maybe when the kids are playing and I want to just sit and surf. I assume that if the Wii is on, it's connected to the network?

ghporter · Mar 27, 2008, 09:57 PM

Originally Posted by Gankdawg

That's a good point. Probably some of the time, maybe when the kids are playing and I want to just sit and surf. I assume that if the Wii is on, it's connected to the network?

That's the default behavior of all the other game systems I know of, and I have no reason to believe that the Wii is different.

Gankdawg · Mar 28, 2008, 10:27 AM

Another issue: when someone is playing the Wii, I get feedback through my computer speakers in the office, which is probably 30 feet away. If I put my iMac to sleep, I still hear the feedback (game sounds and such). The only way to eliminate the feed back is to turn the volume down or turn the speakers off (I have a 3 piece Yamaha speaker system).

I figured it's RF interference of some kind given that I have a cable that runs from my office up and over the rafters and down the wall next to the stereo (we had our house built so I ran the wire the weekend before the drywallers came in). The way it's setup is I use a headphone Y-adapter in which one side goes to the cable to the stereo in the other room and the other side goes to the Yamaha.

But here's the kicker: I booted into Bootcamp (XP Pro) to do some updates and there was no feedback.

Stizo99 · Mar 28, 2008, 02:37 PM

As far as multiple radio systems are concerned wouldn't the Linksys WRT600N work for this? I'm not any sort of networking guru so I may be wrong.

ghporter · Mar 28, 2008, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by Stizo99

As far as multiple radio systems are concerned wouldn't the Linksys WRT600N work for this? I'm not any sort of networking guru so I may be wrong.

Are you referring to the "Two simultaneous, separate, radio bands double your available bandwidth" bullet? Like most (but for some reason not all) N devices, the WRT600N will operate in either the 2.4GHz band or the 5GHz band.This is somewhat different from what I meant; there is nothing to indicate that the "radio system" in the WRT600N can operate in both B/G mode and N mode simultaneously.

turtle777 · Mar 28, 2008, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by Gankdawg

That's a good point. Probably some of the time, maybe when the kids are playing and I want to just sit and surf. I assume that if the Wii is on, it's connected to the network?

You have an ISP that provides MORE bandwidth than 802.11n can handle ?

I doubt that. You will not notice the WLAN switching to n just when surfing.

-t

ghporter · Mar 28, 2008, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

You have an ISP that provides MORE bandwidth than 802.11n can handle ?

I doubt that. You will not notice the WLAN switching to n just when surfing.

-t

Unless one's downloading big files while watching streaming video, one is not likely to notice much of a difference between G speeds and N speeds. But if you put a fairly large load on the whole network, you may notice when you saturate your ISP-provided bandwidth. For example, I get about 5Mbps download on my DSL connection; there's no way I could saturate a G connection with surfing, gaming, and anything else I could do on the Internet-it would max out that 5Mbps WAY before I maxed out the G wireless bandwidth. The SMALLEST bandwidth in the whole system is what controls what you can and can't do, and with very few exceptions (I can't think of one right now) that's going to be the connection to the ISP.

Gankdawg · Mar 28, 2008, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

The SMALLEST bandwidth in the whole system is what controls what you can and can't do

Yes, this is what my concern is.

Any ideas as to the feedback coming thru the speakers in OS X but not XP?

Gankdawg · Mar 29, 2008, 12:08 AM

Another idea: Buy an n router and still keep my older b/g router for the Wii. Make the n router the primary one that comes off of my DSL modem and the plug the b/g into the n. Will that work?

ghporter · Mar 29, 2008, 01:35 PM

That will work fine. Just make sure you put the new one on a different channel and give it a different SSID.