Advice Needed: Dual Band Router or not?

I currently have a 802.11b wireless router (yes, pathetic, I know). Its come time to upgrade my sad wireless home network. Below are the wireless components I have:

1) a 802.11b PDA (wi-fi)
2) a 802.11g PS3
3) a 802.11n (draft) Laptop [Intel 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini-card]
4) a future wireless printer at some point maybe

I am considering buying a Dual Band Wireless router so all the above components can perform at maximum without dropping down to the speed of the lowest component (as I understand it would do). I figured a dual-band router might be the best option.

I was considering the Linksys WRT600N and have been trying to read as many reviews on this as possible. I have the following questions:

1) Will Dual-Band make that significant a difference - will the laptop (draft-n) run at 802.11n speeds if the PS3 is running at 802.11g speeds?

2) Should I try to find something with the MIMO capability? From what I've read online, this doesn't seem to provide consistent speeds - consistency is important. Am I wrong in my understanding?

3) I read somewhere (can't find it now) that having WPA security on the WRT600N drops the speed down (as opposed to using old WEP)? Anyone know about this?

4) Any suggestions for other Dual-Band routers would be helpful - and any real life experience using these. I just wonder if I should just upgrade to a single band router - since I've lived this long with 802.11b.

EDIT: Or am I confusing Dual Band with multiple mode performance??

Thank you in advance for your advice.

First, you only want a dual band router if your have a network with devices that are using both 5 gHz and 2.4 gHz bands. A operates on the 5 gHz frequency, and B/G works on the 2.4 gHz frequency. So unless you have devices that work on the A frequency, then there is no point in investing in a dual band router. Besides, most wireless N routers support dual band devices. And no, you have to have all N devices in order for your network to operate at full speed.

I would only recommend a wireless A network if your in a 2.4 gHz heavy area. I mean, an area or location which has a lot of devices that operate on the 2.4 gHz band, like wireless phones or other networks.

MIMO uses multiple radios signals to help transmit to the client, or the computer with the wireless device. I haven't seen any routers that have great MIMO capabilities. The technology will help to stabilize the signal and help eliminate dead spots, but there just aren't many routers out there with MIMO that perform consistently. So I wouldn't bother focusing on getting MIMO.

I haven't heard about that. But you have to remember....wireless N has NOT been ratified yet. Wireless N devices are basically still in the experimental stage, but companies have released Pre-N devices. So everything out there you see that has wireless N anywhere on it or in it, is Pre-N, and has not been ratified yet...and probably won't be for about two more years . Plus, you really don't want to be using any kind of encryption besides WPA because I've heard that you can hack a WEP network using XP in about 15 minutes...


In your case, I would just go with a regular G router. They say you can get 300 mbps speeds on wireless N, but really, you'll never get it to go that fast. Wireless N has a lot of capability but it is not ratified yet, so I wouldn't bother with it. I use a D-link, and it works pretty good. the DGL-4300 had better range that an old wireless N router I used to have .

Borgslayer