wwp8

can someone explain the G, G+, N , N1 to me... and anything else like that

Mark/WRX

what do you need the network for?

wwp8

its just that its a common question at pcw. and customers ask whats the diff between........

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Those acronyms aren't for router speed, but denote the different wireless standards and speeds available, in for example a wireless router.

This explains the standards,
Wireless Standards - 802.11b 802.11a 802.11g 802.11n - Which Is Best?

Mark/WRX

They are different transfer rates, G is an older standard then the new "N".

for broadband and what not, there would be not difference as they are far below the bandwidth saturation for G networks.

Removed.

Simple(!) Non-Techie answer. They relate to the speed of the wireless part of the router. 802.11G is the only full standard out of the list you gave. This is 54 Megabits/sec. G+ is is a manufacturer specific "tweak" usually to 108 MB. Belkin's version is different for Netgears, so if you buy G+ kit, you need to buy all the cards, routers etc from the same manufacturer. N is currently still a draft spec, and isn't officially released, but there are various routers around that support "Draft N" , "N1", "N2", "N+" all use various variants, and again, you should by all the kit from the same manufacturer. Once N is finally ratified, and manufacturers start using the official standard, the kit from different manufacturers should work with each other.

There are numerous other manufacturer specific speed enhancements, some even offer a Turbo mode usually 125Mb, and MIMO, which uses multiple channnels to improve range and performance. Bear in mind that these are maximum speeds, real life speeds depend on things like, what sort of materials your house is made of, block walls reduce the signal more than studwork, microwave ovens and cordless phones can cause interferance, and if lots of your neighbours that have wireless networks, things get even worse, as there are a limited number of channels you can use.

Hope that helps.

Removed.

Blimey we're like buses, nothing for a while then 3 trun up at once!