Gigabit ethernet or 802.11N wifi?

I am heading on buying a VAIO SR laptop. However, the laptop only has 10/100 ethernet. With my limited amount of money, I can only do one of the following: 1. get a port replicator (dock) for the SR, which has gigabit ethernet; or 2. get a wireless-n wifi router.

Which one should I invest on? Pros and cons? Difference in speeds between wired and wireless internet? What's the difference between draft-N and wireless-N wifi?

Sorry for all of the questions! And thanks in advance!

 

Depends on what you are doing with this system, are you transferring HD videos over your network? Are you just connecting to the internet?

If all you are considering is internet connectivity, I'd opt for the N Router.

Wireless N is actually quite fast when your network is running in N-Only mode. It is actually faster than 10/100 Ethernet. There is no difference currently between Wireless-N Wifi and Draft-N. They are the same thing, the 802.11N standard has yet to be ratified. What you want to look for are Draft 2.0 N Routers, because Draft 2.0 N is the most recent revision of the N standard.

How many other computers are there in your network? How many use wired connections versus wireless?

 

This is totally wrong. Wireless N never become faster than typical fast ethernet network. Wireless N can run up to 270Mbps, but it never really reach that perfect speed. You also forget that fast ethernet with 100 Mbps is just a half duplex rate. All the network today is running full duplex, so the speed is 200 Mbps. Wireless technology is still running at half duplex. In the best case, 200 Mbps on wireless is still slower than 200 Mbps on wire because it is full duplex. When you run the network on full duplex, you can send and recieve data at the same time unlike half duplex.

Yes, wireless will give you more flexibily than wired network. If the speed is important, wired network always the best option. I wouldn't be surprised that Cisco catalyst 6500 has a backplane speed of 720 Gbps, and it uses for core network. Wireless always slower than wired network.

 

Please don't negate my entire post because a wired 100 Mbps network is *always* faster than N. For the record, it is surely faster than 10 Mbps.


Flip through this, why don't you?
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30588/96/1/3/

And find me proof of any PC reaching even 90% maximum 100 Mbps wired throughput. That 200 Mbps ceiling is never reached. I'd call them competitive.

Don't get me wrong, I opt for a wired connection wherever I can, but to deny that 802.11N has made progress toward 100 Mbps wired...that's ridiculous. When you consider real world scenarios, when are you transferring files in both directions? Even in a heavily media centric household, find me any common example. When is an extender transferring data to a server while receiving data back? Full duplex is definitely great, but it doesn't prove that useful in a home network.

 

StormEffect, it (100baset speed) can easily be beat if you are using FTP, not with SMB. You have your facts wrong and need to do some more reading and actual real life testing. 100 baseT Full duplex means it can do 100 in both direction at the same time, not 200mbps in one.

Merlin, if you do not have a router I would go that way. I could be over a year before the 11n spec is ratified. MFG are now just starting to get products Certified to the 11n specs. As this starts there will still be alot of firmware problems. Personally I would hold off if you already have a router, and let mfg get most of the problems fixed with the firmware they will have to run to meet the spec. Once there Certified they must comply with the play nice clause. This will prevent most 11n router from channel bonding unless it's in the 5ghz band. The 11g bandwidth is very crowded, so if you can see more than 3 AP it's a good bet that you will not see speeds greater than 130mbps with 11n.

If you have a router and need more ports I would go the GigE Switch route.

 

I don't think you understand full duplex and half duplex concept. Go to ask any Cisco engineers for yourself, and they will explain it to you. I am not going to spend time and find you a proof on the internet for you because it is pointless. The link that you send me is just wireless at optimum setting, which is almost never happend in the real world.

Why don't all the companies use wireless technology as their backbone then beside scurity? Simple answer is the wireless, which is N, could not reach the maximum potential. I have Cisco NAM to measure the throughput of my company network, but I am not going to show you on a public forum.

Fast Ethernet does reach that speed if you home router can switch the frame fast enough. We are talking layer 2 here not layer 3, which is routing. The problem is your router engine can't handle it, but it is still faster 802.11N anyway.

 

To blue

What I meant was, fast ethernet will have the throughput of 200 Mbps. Well, it means 200 Mbps bandwidth. Yes, it won't do 200 Mbps in one direction.

 

I understand pretty well, merlin explained it well up above, my response was a hypothetical (in which full duplex was a full 200Mbps one way connection instead of 2 opposing 100Mbps connections) to show that N performance is a realistic competitor in a household network setting.

What on earth are you spouting on about? I accepted your answer for crying out loud! Why do I have to ask a Cisco engineer? I believe you! Dear God. Of course a company or ISP uses a wired backbone, but what on EARTH does that have to do with a home network? The proof was more a figure of speech, but I can see it really bit you hard.

I'm sorry for all anguish and FUD and despair I caused, I was under the impression the OP was asking about a home network. In my experience, a wireless N network in a residential setting does pretty well, especially if the router has gigabit ethernet for desktops or stationary laptops.

I'll remember that this forum only deals with commercial and industrial networks from now on. Got to get my Cisco certification before I post again.

 

If you plan on using your laptop in multiple locations in your house, then get the router. For every day applications (yes, even watching streaming video) the wireless connection will be fine. I watch movies on my laptop (streamed from my WHS, watched in Vista Media Center), while my sons watch Netflix via the Roku Netflix player, and while my wife surfs the internet. All of this is done wirelessly, and since the Roku is 802.11g, that means I don't get 802.11n speeds - and I still have no issues during playback.

If you need to transfer large files on your network, then plug the laptop into the router. File transfers are quite a bit quicker on the 100Mbit LAN.

 

Hey, just chill man! I don't mean to upset you. My theory isn't only apply to commercial or coporate network. The principle is the same for SOHO too. I may talk to much like an engineer, who is never really friendly to an end user.

I am sorry. Don't get mad at me. I was typing while I ate the breakfast.

 

Thanks for all your post