Help Please!! Where is my "N"?

Hi!
my Asus U3s has "N" draft inside.
i'm using the Linksys wrt300N router.
configuration of the router is on mix (a,g,n)

but from some reason, my laptop still sees the connection as "G" and not "N".

why?

thanks in advance,
Eitan.

 

if you just select N rather than A G N mix on your router does your laptop still see the connection?

 

if i choose N ONLY then no other laptop aroud will be able to connect.

 

I believe you have been bit by the marketing gurus of these hardware companies. Though I am not an expert, allow me to share what I have learned. First, technically THERE IS NO "802.11 (N)". There is no N until the standard has been ratified by some standards council. Don't remember the name. This ratification is to ensure that all products are the same technologically. 802.11 a/b/g are all ratified so you can mix and match components from different manufacturers. Since N has not been ratified, companies cannot call it "N". The marketing & legal geniuses have figured out that you can call it "Pre-N", "Draft-N' or other-N

Because the technology hasn't been standardized, manufacturers have made their products based on the technology (chipset) that they want. All this to say is that in the pre ratified N world, plan on using equipment from the same manufacturer. You can mix parts but the "pre-N" will retreat to slower g/b speeds. The question that many (including myself) have is if these companies will upgrade via firmware or hardware, loyal customers who went with their products early on so my hardware is ratified compatible with N. When will this be? Who knows. I have read articles saying 2008 and some saying 2010. Don't know but I do know that the timing will boil down to one thing. Dollars and cents.

 

My idea behind switching the router to N only was to see if your N laptop could see it.

If it can't then it may be that (sort of inline with davidB4775's post) the company who made the wifi card in the laptop might be using a slightly different standard to that of your router. When draft N becomes finalised/ratified then a firmware update would hopefully fix the problem.

If your laptop can see it when the router is set to N only then I'm not sure why it would only see it as a G when the router is set to A G N.

You could always see if you can find up to date drivers for the laptop and see if that helps?

 

Sananac's idea is a great one. Just to see if it will connect as N. Even if it doesn't, I read somewhere that Asus is one of the few (if not only) pre-n manufacturers who guarentee that their product will be future compatible with the final n version but I have not confirmed that. You may be stuck (like me) into buying a wireless card. Asus' are at http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=12&l2=42

My problem is that Belkin does not make an ExpressCard for "Pre-N" and I'm finding that most of todays notebooks are using Express Cards and not the Full size PCMCIA cards.

 

davidb: you always can buy a minipci or minipcie card (depending on your notebook)
http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/MiniPCI-EXPRESS-Wireless-Cards/c42/index.html

 

Unfortunately, Belkin does not make anything smaller than a full size pcmcia card in the "Pre-N" flavor. They informed me that their "Draft-N" Express Card would work but at g speed. For surfing, that would be fine. Not so great if I want to stream video/movies from a server to a notebook.