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It's best to use the router's Web interface to configure its settings. This is the Web interface of a router from D-Link.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

You finally received a wireless-N router as a Christmas present and are now ready to move on to the new and faster standard. (And even if you didn't, I would recommend that you go get one yourself.) Now that you have some relaxing time, let's go through the basics on wireless networking and how to generally set up your router like a pro.

Wireless-N router basics

The year 2009 is a very significant year for wireless networking as the N standard (or 802.11n, which offers speed up to 300Mbps and higher) was finally ratified in September after seven years of being in draft. However, chances are, your new router is still based on the latest revision of the draft N. As far as I know, there aren't any final N products on the market yet, though there will be soon.

Nonetheless, as long as has been certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, it's guaranteed to be interoperable with N products when they come out. Even if it's not certified, it's likely that it will still work, and all existing draft N wireless routers can be upgraded via firmware to be fully compliant with the final N.

As some of you might not know, routers are platform-agnostic. It doesn't matter if you run a PC or a Mac, your new router will work. In other words, if you just upgraded to Windows 7 and your router's says it's "Vista-ready," you will not need a new router. That kind of labeling is just for marketing purposes. All wireless routers work with all consumer operating systems.

Wireless-N is backward compatible with previous standards of wireless networking including wireless-G, which caps at 54Mbps and is currently popular in mobile devices like smartphones and Netbooks, and the now obsolete wireless-B standards. This means clients (computers, phones, handheld devices, etc.) that use the old standards can connect to a wireless-N router and vice versa; the wireless-N clients can also connect to a wireless-G routers.

However, the cap speed of a mixed connection is that of the slowest standard. Most wireless-N routers are capable of delivering the slower speeds to clients of old standards while maintaining the high-speed connection to N client at the same time. So upgrading your router to an N one will not require changing the adapters to your computers, unless you absolutely need the faster speed.

If you've wished you could connect your external hard drive to your computer without having to use the USB cable, now you can.

Imation announced Thursday the availability of the first wireless USB external hard drive, the Pro WX. The hard drive works just like any other USB hard drive, with one exception: it doesn't require a USB cable.

The Pro WX wireless USB external hard drive.

(Credit: Imation)

Wireless USB has been under development for about five years, and some of the first products were demoed at CES 2009. This technology allows you to connect USB 2.0 devices to a computer wirelessly from up to 30 feet away with a throughput speed of up to 480Mbps.

According to Imation, the Pro WX wireless USB external hard drive offers less than that, with speeds of up to only 120Mbps or 15MBps; this is about three times slower than regular USB 2.0 hard drives. At this speed it can finish copying the entire content of a CD-ROM (roughly 800MB) in about 50 seconds. Other than that, this drive is based on the 3.5-inch desktop hard drive and offers 1.5TB of storage.

The Imation Pro WX features a sleep-mode feature to conserve energy and a one-touch, backup sync button for you to manually start a backup when needed. The device is compatible with both PC and Mac operating systems

In order to take advantage of the wireless USB, your computer needs to support this. As most computers don't have built-in wireless USB, there are adapters that you can add to the machine. It's unclear if an adapter is included with the Pro WX.

What's clear, however, is the fact that this is going to be one of the most expensive external hard drives you can find. At the estimated price of $500, about three times the price of regular external USB hard drives of the same storage capacity, I am not sure if it's worth it when the only benefit is losing the USB cable.

Via e-mails and discussions with people, I've recently discovered that a lot of folks out there still have the impression that 300Mbps Wireless-N routers are not as affordable as the old 54Mbps Wireless-G routers are.

The D-Link DIR-615 costs just around $40 and offered very good performance in our tests.

(Credit: CNET)

Granted, you may be able to get a Wireless-G router for free from your service provider, but those tend to be very basic and limited in networking features. If you are willing to pay anything more than nothing, Wireless-N routers can be really affordable.

The D-Link DIR-615, for example, can be found online for about $40, and the Tp-Link TL-WR941ND for just $50.

Check out our list of Wireless-N routers that won't dig a hole in your wallet.

Note that these routers tend to be affordable because they lock out high-end features, such as support for dual-band or network storage (all of these routers are single 2.4Ghz band, but so are Wireless-G routers). They also tend to offer shorter ranges compared with higher-end, more expensive, Wireless-N routers.

However, for most home networking needs, they will work out just fine.

Like most editors at CNET, I often receive questions from CNET readers about specific problems. Here are a few that were brought up to me in the last month.

It's probably time I went wireless myself.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

Q: My laptop's Wireless-N adapter only caps at 130Mbps even though my D-Link DIR-855 can offer 300Mbps speeds. What can I do to boost the wireless speed of the laptop?

A: That might already be the best you can get. Wireless-N (802.11n) comes in different "tiers" with different amounts of streams (also referred to as antennae). Each stream offers a throughput speed up to 150Mbps.

While most routers are dual-stream and cap at 300Mbps (future ones can even support multistream, offering speeds up to 450Mbps or even 600Mbps), a lot of adapters built in to laptop and notebook computers to conserve the battery life use the single-stream standard. This means they cap at 150Mbps (which translates into something around 130Mbps, which is plenty fast, by the way). Also note that the throughput decreases as you increase the range. Generally the optimal range for the Wireless-N is between 15 feet and 70 feet away.

Q: Does my laptop have to have a dual-band adapter to take advantage of dual-band routers, such as the Linksys WRT610n, the Apple Airport Extreme or the D-Link DIR-825?

A: No, it doesn't matter how many bands an adapter supports; wireless networking devices only connect to one another in one band at a time. ... Read More

Following the finalization of the Wireless-N (802.11n) standard, the Wi-Fi Alliance, a nonprofit group that tests and certifies wireless products to ensure they interoperate, launched on Tuesday its new test program that supports the final specs of the standard.

This certification is still necessary because, according to Kelly Davis-Felner, marketing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance, the final specs include a lot of options and items that vendors could interpret differently, which could lead to products that don't work with each other. "Our certification program ensures that the product conforms with the final standard and interoperates with others." Felner added.

The new logo you want to seek when shopping for wireless networking products in the near future.

(Credit: Wi-Fi Alliance)

The new certification program is basically the same as the one used for the Draft N 2.0, with the addition of a few tests for new optional features, including:

• Test support for simultaneous transmission of up to three spatial streams
• Packet aggregation (A-MPDU), to make data transfers more efficient
• Space-time block coding (STBC), a multiple-antenna encoding technique to improve reliability in some environments
• Channel coexistence measures for "good neighbor" behavior when using 40 MHz operation in the 2.4 GHz band

Davis-Felner also confirmed that all existing Wi-Fi Certified Draft N products will interoperate with the new Wi-Fi Certified N products. The reason for this is because the final standard only adds more options on top of the specs supported by the Draft N 2.0 without any major changes.

This also means most of the existing Draft N products can be upgraded to receive the final specs via firmware. However, once upgraded, they will need to be tested again to be certified with the final N specs.

Currently, there's not yet any Wi-Fi Certified N products on the market but there are a few vendors that have submitted their hardware to be to be used in the interoperability test bed, and their devices will be the first to become Wi-Fi Certified N products with the new testing program. These devices include:

• Atheros XSPAN Dual-band 2.4/5GHz PCIe MiniCard for Computing Designs, Full MIMO Configuration
• Atheros XSPAN Dual-band, Dual-concurrent 2.4/5GHz, Gigabit Reference
Platform for AP/Routers, Full MIMO configuration
• Broadcom Intensifi Dual-Band 802.11n Client Reference Design
• Broadcom Intensifi XLR Dual-Band 802.11n Router Reference Design
• Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300
• Marvell Smart Wi-Fi 802.11n 3x3 450 Mbps Dual-Band Access Point
• Ralink 3x3 AP

It's unclear when any of these will be available but you can expect to buy some by the end of the year.

Hardly any laptop computers come without built-in wireless nowadays. However, if yours lacks Wi-Fi, or if you want to quickly upgrade to Wireless-N without something sticking out of the USB port, Trendnet has something to offer you.

The TEW-648UB Wireless-N USB adapter from Trendnet.

(Credit: Trendnet)

The networking vendor announced on Tuesday what it calls the "world's smallest Mini Wireless N USB Adapter," the TEW-648UB. This ultracompact adapter is just slightly larger than a quarter in size, measuring merely 1.3 inches in length.

What's the catch? It's a single-stream adapter, meaning it supports speeds up to only 150Mbps (as opposed to 300Mbps of regular dual-stream Wireless-N devices). Nonetheless, this is still a big upgrade from Wireless-G, which caps at 54Mbps, and you can enjoy the other major benefit of the Wireless-N standard, which is its long range.

Despite its tiny size, according to Trendnet, the TEW-648UB supports One-touch Wi-Fi Protected Setup, which lets the adapter connect to a secure wireless network without you having to type in the encryption key manually. It also offers a Wi-Fi multimedia quality-of-service feature that prioritizes bandwidth based on the content you are using with it, such as video, audio, or gaming traffic.

The new 150Mbps Mini Wireless-N USB adapter works with Windows XP and Vista (both 32-bit and 64-bit) and is available now. Its estimated price is $25.

Generally, wireless functions--such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular data, and so on--are added to your portable computer via add-in cards. These cards share the same PCI standard as other PCI add-in cards found in desktop computers, but they are much smaller in size.

Though small, there are only so many add-in cards a laptop, and especially a Netbook, can accommodate. For this reason, what Atheros, a known maker of wireless solutions, introduced Tuesday is a significant development.

The new 802.11n/Bluetooth combo add-in card for Netbooks and laptops.

(Credit: Atheros)

The company announced Tuesday the industry's first single-stream 802.11n and Bluetooth combo solution on a Half MiniCard form factor for the PC market, the AR9002WB-1NGB add-in card. The card features Atheros Align 11n 1-stream technology and Atheros ROCm Bluetooth technology.

This means a laptop or Netbook will just need this one card to have both wireless solutions. The card offers a Wireless-N connection up to 150Mbps (single-stream, as opposed to 300Mbps in other dual-stream Wireless-N solutions found mostly in desktop computers).

According to Atheros, the combo card enables a wide array of simultaneous wireless applications on the same device while still conserving the device's battery life. For example, a Netbook will be able to support concurrent audio and data transfer applications, such as playback on Bluetooth-enabled speakers of music stored on a laptop, while browsing the Internet and syncing a smartphone's contact database from the same laptop.

While this has been done before, there used to be two separate cards required, with the performance of each card being adversely affected by the other because both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi share the same 2.4Ghz frequency. The new combo card, as Atheros claims, leverages the wireless signal of the two wireless technologies in such a way that they complement each other.

The AR9002WB-1NGB includes an AR9285 single-chip 1-stream 11n PCIe solution, which, according to Atheros, has been used in millions of PCs worldwide, and an AR3011 Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR single-chip solution. The AR3011 Bluetooth chip supports robust WLAN coexistence and simultaneous connectivity of multiple Bluetooth-based devices. The AR9002WB-1NGB combo card is software upgradeable to support Bluetooth 3.0.

The AR9002WB-1NGB add-in card supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Linux operating systems. It's currently being tested by Atheros customers and you will likely find it in new laptop and Netbook computers soon.

Finally, the Draft will now be taken off this logo.

As predicted last month, the IEEE has finally approved the 802.11n high-throughput wireless LAN standard.

Finalization of the new wireless networking standard--which is capable of delivering throughput speeds up to 300 megabits per second (and even higher)--took exactly seven years from the day it was conceived, or six years from the first draft version. The standard has been through a dozen or so draft versions.

News of the ratification broke via a blog post displaying an e-mail sent by Bruce Kraemer, longtime chairman of the 802.11n Task Group, to task group members. There has been no public announcement yet. Update 5:49 p.m. PDT: A press release has been issued.

(The 802.11n Task Group is part of the 802.11 Working Group, which oversees WLAN (wireless local-area network) standards. Task group members include the majority of Wi-Fi chipmakers, software developers, and equipment OEM vendors. Meru Networks, one of the members, posted the blog that broke the news.)

It's likely, however, that final approval of the standard will be publicly announced by September 15, the date when Meru Networks puts on a public Webcast to provide answers about the ratification.

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, the group that tests and certifies wireless products to ensure their interoperability, all existing Wi-Fi Certified Draft N wireless products will still work with the final standard.

802.11n offers much higher speeds than the previous, already-ratified 802.11g, which caps at only 54Mbps. Due to the compelling higher speed, most wireless vendors haven been offering 802.11n-based (also known as Wireless-N) products during the past six years and calling them Draft N products. Now the Draft is no more.

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, most, if not all, of the existing equipment can be upgraded to the final specification via a firmware update. Finally, all future wireless networking products will be compatible with today's products that have been Wi-Fi-certified.

Now that you've gotten yourself a new ride by trading in your clunker, it's time to do the same with your wireless router.

Meraki, the first networking vendor to bring the Wireless-N standard outdoors earlier this year, launched Wednesday its Cash for Wireless LAN Clunkers promotion campaign.

(Credit: Meraki)

The program is for those who want to upgrade their legacy 802.11b/g network (which caps at 54Mbps) to the 802.11n (which caps at 300Mbps) network with a Meraki wireless access point. The promotion includes a $150 credit for each access point traded in for one made by Meraki.

Note that this is only for enterprise-class access points, so your old home wireless router is not qualified. Other conditions to get qualified include a new purchase of one Meraki 802.11n access point per each traded-in access point; also, the old access point must be from the following vendors: Cisco, Aruba, Meru, Motorola, HP/Procurve, Belden/Trapeze, 3Com, Xirrus, Aerohive, Alcatel-Lucent, Ruckus Wireless, Enterasys/Siemens, Extreme, Nortel, Proxim, Bluesocket, or Tropos.

This means, if you've got yourself an old 802.11g wireless access point from Meraki, you will be stuck with it unless you pay the full price for a new one.

Whether this is a good deal, Meraki's Cash for Wireless LAN Clunkers program will definitely not last as long as the government's Cash for Clunkers; it ends September 30. Until then, you can start trading in your old access point or learn more about this program on Meraki's Web site.