upgrading to 802.11n... bad idea?

my wireless has been horrible on my 13" Macbook core - duo that i got in late 2006

after many apple store trips no one has been able to fix it short of spending 350 dollars to replace my airport card....so i have decided to just replace my airport card on my own

since im doing this i wanted to do it right and get the best airport card out there which my research has revieled is the 802.11n... which is not compatable with my computer?... but there are ways of getting around that apparently as long as you buy a base station and are able to install the drivers

i guess my question is that is it worth it upgrading to 802.11n? i don't want to buy a base station, so is it even possible? or should i just get another 802.11g

please help, this has been the most frustrating 6 months of my life (as far as computers go)

Airport cards are backward compatible, meaning they'll do a/b/g/n just fine.

Upgrading the MacBook Pro Core Duo to 802.11n Wireless Connectivity

This article is right up your alley

I have an 802.11n router at home and my MacBook is also capable of doing 802.11n. Where I work, we use a system that provides 802.11g. I can't tell the difference. There's a difference in download and upload speed because of the type of connection that I have at home versus the office. But as far as transfer speeds or security is concerned, I see no difference.

If you can get the 802.11n airport card to work in your older model MacBook, that's fine. However, I don't think you have to get a Base Station to take advantage of it as most newer routers already have 802.11n. If drivers are needed for the newer card, you should be able to get them from Apple. Or, upgrade to Leopard or Snow Leopard which has built in support for 802.11n.

Regards.

chscag said:

I have an 802.11n router at home and my MacBook is also capable of doing 802.11n. Where I work, we use a system that provides 802.11g. I can't tell the difference. There's a difference in download and upload speed because of the type of connection that I have at home versus the office. But as far as transfer speeds or security is concerned, I see no difference.

If you can get the 802.11n airport card to work in your older model MacBook, that's fine. However, I don't think you have to get a Base Station to take advantage of it as most newer routers already have 802.11n. If drivers are needed for the newer card, you should be able to get them from Apple. Or, upgrade to Leopard or Snow Leopard which has built in support for 802.11n.

Regards.

Click to expand...

oh! im running snow leopard already, so the drivers should already be on my computer?

There is a misconception that 802.11n will make internet browsing faster than 802.11g. The truth is that N increases wireless range and network transfers between resources, but it won't make a difference in speed. That is still controlled by the ISP.

And yes, SL should have the latest Airport drivers.

Yes pure and simple regarding drivers and your issue may be at the ISP end of things.

harryb2448 said:

Yes pure and simple regarding drivers and your issue may be at the ISP end of things.

Click to expand...

There's a simple way to test this too. Turn off AirPort and connect an ethernet cable directly to your modem or router. Wait about 15 second and test the connection. Is it faster?

If yes, your WiFi connection is being impeded in some way (this could be a function of interference or bad hardware, more likely the former).

If no, you have a different issue. It's either the ISP, the configuration of your computer.

deus_ex_machina said:

There is a misconception that 802.11n will make internet browsing faster than 802.11g. The truth is that N increases wireless range and network transfers between resources, but it won't make a difference in speed. That is still controlled by the ISP.

And yes, SL should have the latest Airport drivers.

Click to expand...

Nicely put. Yes, a/b/g/n just increase the range the signal can reach and how strong it will be at certain distances. It will not make a difference in speed.