802.11n & 802.11g router - incompatible?

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Lex

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does this sound pretty obvious in that these two are incompabitle and could encounter symptoms such as dropping of signal etc?
 
No they arent incompatible, but if you connect them over wireless you will only get 11g speeds obviously, the 11n router will drop to match the 11g. Im told that 11n signal can overwhelm non 11n signals in the area though, dont know how much but thats what our tutor said.
 
I think your tutor's being a bit daft. Two networks on the same channel (or similar channel) can "get in the way of" each other, but unless it's your next door neighbour it won't make a difference in their house or yours... any wireless signal degrades rapidly (inverse square law etc) so if they're 4m from the G source and 20m from the N, even if the N is 25 times stronger they'll only be the same strength(-ish).

I = something divided by r-squared... my physics escapes me.
 
a 802.11n device can connect to a 802.11g router, but will operate using the 802.11g standard. 802.11n provides many features, such as can use the 5GHz part of the spectrum as well as 2.4GHz, which 802.11g is limited to. Also 802.11n has features such as MIMO, which basicaly mean you will get a better signal due to the multiple antennas.

As for does a 802.11n device interfear with a 802.11g device, well it can if 2 different networks operate on the same part of the spectrum, but a 802.11n router is still retricted by refulations that mean it will not interfear any more or less then any other type of wireless standard.

I think your tutor's being a bit daft. Two networks on the same channel (or similar channel) can "get in the way of" each other, but unless it's your next door neighbour it won't make a difference in their house or yours... any wireless signal degrades rapidly (inverse square law etc) so if they're 4m from the G source and 20m from the N, even if the N is 25 times stronger they'll only be the same strength(-ish).

I = something divided by r-squared... my physics escapes me.

Dont forget that the inverse square law is for empty space. In a real life wireless devices cover a shorter area then that which the inverse square law would show.
 
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Yeah he never really gave us the facts on why that happens, just said that it did. I have an 11n setup but Ive never asked the neighbours about their networks or if they are affected. Also what you said about 2 networks on the same channel not being able to affect each other, without wanting to sound a git, thats exactly what they do. Its good practice to set your wlan to as far a seperated channel as possible to any others in the area. The overlap between channels is 6 channels according to Cisco, so if you ran 3 wlans, you want to have them on 1, 6, and 12. There again I might be jumping ahead of myself because thats for roaming mode, but surely it stands to reason if you have 2 networks on the same frequency range in the same area, they will interfere with each other. Youre looking for a packet on a certain frequency and you get one destined for another network, youve still wasted time checking that packet to see if its yours or not.
 
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