Wireless N Adapters:
One of the most overlooked parts of your wireless network is what type of wireless adapter you have in your desktop or laptop computer. Most people focus on what type of wireless router or wireless access point they will install as a gateway. The problem with this is that your wireless N router is just the road and the wireless adapter is the car you drive on the road. If your adapter is slow, then your network will be slow.
First, you don’t want to allow 802.11b wireless adapters on your network. If you allow an 802.11b wireless client on your network, your network must adjust to the slower speed by allowing additional management frames to allow 802.11b to keep up with wireless G and wireless N clients.
Second, if you just bought a wireless N router and bring it home and it has the same speeds as before, you’re more likely to have a wireless g network adapter installed in your laptop. You’ll never get the advertised 300mbps throughput that’s advertised, but you need a wireless N adapter in your laptop to have any benefit. Even better would be to have a manufacturer-made adapter like your wireless router or gateway. Wireless providers have interpreted the wireless n comp in many ways and often have their own engineering twist with their drivers to achieve faster speeds.
Wireless adapter sensitivity means how good the “ears” of your n wireless adapters are. The further you get from your wireless router, the slower your speeds will be. If you have a wireless adapter with a low sensitivity rating, your speeds will drop very quickly.
Finally, you need to make sure that your wireless adapter driver is the most up-to-date driver available from the vendor. These updates are very important and may fix any connectivity issues you may have experienced.
Wireless N adapters are the best adapters to buy right now, even if you have a wireless G network. They are newer and have the best sensitivity ratings.