Do they play nice? If I hook up a 10/100 device to a 1Gps router is it going to slow down the whole network and force it to run at 10/100? And in a similar vein does introducing a g wifi device to an n network will the n network always revert to g standard or is there a way to stop this? Hopefully these should be quick Qs but just cant find the answers on google atm.
With a wired network the speed will simply bottleneck when it gets to a slower device. E.g. at work we have 2Gps Fibre lines going to a 1Gbps Routers and in some cases connected to old machines that can only cope with 100Mbps. So no it won’t slow down the whole network, only when using that device. You may also want to take into account the type of LAN cables you are using. CAT-5 is rated to 100M CAT-5e is rated to 350M CAT-6 and CAT6e is rated to 550M or 1000M ...thinks thats all correct I'm not to hot on wireless so cant realy help you their : )
There are a few home wifi access points with multiple radios in them. Off the top of my head, I can't remember which ones though. Unless they have more than one radio, adding a 802.11g device to an 802.11n network will most likely slow it to g speeds. I'm avoiding 802.11n until it's certified. MrJay is correct about the wired networks. My home network is a mix of gigabit and 10/100 with no problems.
Thanks guys, will look further into the wifi situation, but its good to know about the wired network.
Most (draft) N routers have MIMO wireless, meaning they have multiple antennas (multi-in, multi-out). Not a universal thing, but it's often a safe bet. Typically with B or G gear, there's just the one channel available so the whole network will use the slowest speed of any devices connected. Honestly, it barely matters as wireless never comes anywhere remotely near it's advertised operating speed. As for wired, no problems unless you're using a hub instead of a switch somewhere - each device operates at its own maximum speed; obviously when two different speeds are communicating it'll go at the slower of the two.
