I went with N for this most recent router and have been thrilled with it. It was future-proofing at the time, but since then both of our computers are N capable, so we really see the difference in file transfers. Not applicable with broadband because we're on the cel phone modem.

Yeah, but the one linked to was a G.b. G.b is 11 meg. High end G does have 54. But not neccesarily and cheaper than N which is more standard.

Regular 802.11g is 54 Mbps. A router capable of both 802.11g and 802.11b can still support full speed on 802.11g devices. There are some non-standard G devices that say that can do 108Mbps. At a similar price though I'd say an 802.11n device is definitely the way to go, though you might want to go with dual-band if you are going to mix 802.11g and 802.11n devices on the same network.

It looks like the thing in my computer is 802.11b/g -- should I still get n?

Most N will be backwards compatible, but you won`t see the benefit now. It only matters for futureproofing then.

Since I am interested in buying something cheap anyway, I won't worry about it working with my future computer, then!

THANKS YOU GUYS. I know I only come here with questions I should be able to figure out myself, but I am easily overwhelmed.

So I`m on my phone. This is all new territory for me, phone luddite because FEAR. But now I don`t have to talk on my phone so win. But a) why can`t I see blockquote formatting? and more irritatingly, b) why can`t I enter paragraph breaks? I`m textually verbose, y`all, you want me to have paragraph breaks.

what phone do you have?

Hee. And also obviously I can't get rid of the smart apostrophes. Hmm.

It's an LG ENV3, omnis. Not a smartphone, just a wannabe, but it's a big step up for me. Of course, Droid was available when I went in, and with Verizon's proprietary junk I wish I'd gone that direction instead. Just can't afford the extra required data plan.

I have no base of reference to help you with that one. Good luck.

From Slashdot: [link]

itwbennett writes "Google is giving you something to be thankful for as you travel this holiday season. The company announced today that it is offering free Wi-Fi at 47 airports across the US between now and January 15. If you haven't booked your flights yet, you want to factor this into your plans. Here's a list of the 47 airports, which cover about 35% of all US passengers, according to Google. The Burbank and Seattle airports will continue to offer the free Google Wi-Fi indefinitely."

The HuffPo notes another altruistic note in Google's gesture: "As another way to pass on the spirit of the season, once they log on to networks in any of the participating airports, travelers will have the option [of making] a donation to Engineers Without Borders, the One Economy Corporation, or the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Google will match the donations made across all the networks up to $250,000, and the airport network that generates the highest amount per passenger by January 1, 2010 will receive $15,000 to donate to the local nonprofit of their choice."