new to wireless

i just brought a new hp hdx18-1180 and never used wireless internet before. i have a linksys wrt160n router. is there a way to tell if im connected via the wireless n. or is it automatic.

 

What speed are you connected at? That will tell you.

 

im at 54 mbps sometimes 64 mbps

 

thats more like slow G........

N should be around 270 or 300mbps, if the card and router like each other- compatible.

If not it may show as 130mbps.

we need for more information such as your router and card settings

 

im not sure if this is what you need but my router is a linksys wrt160N and i have a intel wi-fi 5100agn.

 

Do you have other people on the network using it with regular g devices?

 

no im the only one on the network. do i need to buy a wireless n card or am i ok with what i have

 

If you get over 54Mbps sometimes, it means that your NIC is n and that is trying to reach a higher throughput, which will largely depends of many environmental conditions, for example how close you are from the router, are you LOS, etc. Also, if your NIC has the same chipset than your router, then you should get higher speeds.

Make sure that you set your NIC to work on n mode.

 

You're only connected at N speeds if your internal adapter (Intel) is a 4965 AGN, or other adapter with N capability. For dual-band setup, you have to use a dual-band adapter, so your internal adapter won't work for DBN setups.

If you've not setup network connection yet, you need to do that first. Click on Start (or Pearl, for Vista), then click on Help & Support, then on Wireless
Networking. All the topics and procedures are there to show you how to setup a network and wireless connection to your Router.

The only way you can really tell if you're connected at N speeds is to view your current wireless connection speed:

1. Open your Control Panel, then go to Network and Sharing
2. Just to the right of the Connection display, you'll see a link that says "View Status". Click on it to open out the Properties window.

The speed, signal strength and other parameters will be shown here. Anything over 54mbps indicates your networking at N speeds, since Wireless G max speed is 54mbps. If your router and adapter are setup correctly, you should see speed averages between 140-270mbps, depending on your setup and broadband connection. I normally average around 200mbps on my 600N Dual Band, and my entire network is configured and set for Dual-Band networking.

There are 2 programs that will help you if you're new to networking in general - one is an expansion of the LELA program that comes with the Router called Network Magic. The other is Speed Meter, which monitors your network speeds. You can get them both as trial versions on the Cisco/Linksys site:
http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/CNMPRO

You should also consider viewing the different tutorials on the Linksys site about networking - they're pretty good and give you a good handle on wireless fundamentals. The one thing that most people fail to do is to adequately learn proper network setup, and because of that they wind up with a system not running to its full potential. Port setups, security, QoS, Priorities, Adapter settings, all are key to fine tuning a network, but if you don't learn you won't get the benefits. Linksys tutorials are on their Support page: http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/support

Linksys Customer Support is also very good at spending whatever time is necessary to help you get your network running properly. However, they only do that for customers with registered Linksys hardware, so be sure to register you Router on their site.