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I would like to buy a new wireless n router but keep my wireless g router for the sake of supporting older wifi-enabled devices. Can i put these 2 routers next to each other and configure them so they won't interfere with each other?

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Can you find just a wireless-N router, without backward support for A/B/G? I haven't looked, but I would guess it would be hard to find...

Either way, yes, I have seen N & G routers conflict so much that they acted as jammers to each other. But, they can be configured to work properly.... But it's a try it and experiment time... Try to go with a namebrand.... LinkSys, D/Link, and Apple are used here without any issues...

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  • generally you can configure a newer-standard router to not support the older standards. naturally it depends on the router firmware and UI options presented.
    – quack quixote
    Dec 26, 2009 at 0:59
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Yes, but you will have to choose separate non overlapping channels.

That being said, many routers support simultanious use of both N and G wireless networks with no downsides, so you may prefer to just do this.

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  • I was thinking of buying such a router but they are more expensive than single band routers.
    – burnt1ce
    Dec 25, 2009 at 23:22
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    N & G are single-band: both operate on 2.4GHz. N also supports the 5GHz freq, so you'd need a dual-radio router to support both frequencies at the same time, which would be more expensive than a single-radio router.
    – quack quixote
    Dec 26, 2009 at 1:09
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If you buy a router with dual-band, dual-antennas e.g. NetGear WNDR3700, you can place b/g on the 2.4GHz spectrum and a/n on the 5GHz. This way g and n will not run over each other at all. I have it set up this way and it works great.

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  • Keep in mind not all N supporting wireless cards & chipsets support 5 Ghz. So check the computers you want to use it with, and ensure that you have 5 Ghz support before you assume that you do.
    – Benjamin Schollnick
    Dec 28, 2009 at 13:17
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You guys completely miss the point, when you enable mixed-mode on a router it cuts the throughput severely vs. having it as n-only. hence it's better to use the LAN ports on the wireless n router (or another router) to connect the wireless g, you can put them on the same network as long as dhcp addresses don't conflict or you static IP the wireless g devices for instance, you can also put them on different networks and set up static/dynamic routing on your routers.

The idea is to run your wireless g router on channel 1 and the wireless n on channel 11, or vice versa, giving them the least chance of overlapping and interfering. the farther away from each other they are the less interference.

As for those that complain 'your internet connection doesn't need more than 54mbps' you forget that local speed is important to many people (especially those that have a media server) and that many broadband providers are starting to provide affordable ($75-$100/month) ~50mbps connections and with loss those low speed wireless g routers restrict you from being able to enjoy fast internet without a wire.

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You won't need to. I've never seen a modern router that doesn't support concurrent A/B/G/N sessions. Don't go with two routers, you'll run into more trouble than its worth and you won't get any better performance.

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  • You need to be careful about 802.11A. Most consumer-based 802.11 solutions don't support A.
    – MDMarra
    Dec 27, 2009 at 2:12
  • I disagree. Most Linksys, D-Link, and Netgar routers do support 802.11a.
    – muncherelli
    Dec 27, 2009 at 4:27
  • only if they're also supporting N. B/G routers usually don't have dual-frequency capable radios.
    – quack quixote
    Dec 27, 2009 at 5:33
  • Right- which is the nature of the question... purchasing an "N" router.
    – muncherelli
    Dec 27, 2009 at 19:26
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As many others have said, you don't need to have 2 routers since almost all routers have backwards compatibly with older versions of the WiFi 802.11 Specs unless you explicitly disable them.

However, that may or may not impede performance. Having a multi-radio (multi-band) Wifi-N router may avoid this.

If you do wish to have 2 WiFi routers/Access Points (you're going to have problems if their both "routers" and you want to be on the same network), you can just set them to use different channels.

In the US, channels 1,7,11 do not overlap with each other (the ones in between are not recommended). For example, you can set your B/G WiFi router to use channel 1 and your N router to use channel 7.

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I had to use two routers because my webcam on the top floor would not reach the bottom floor where my DSL wireless router was located. I set up the second router as a slave to the first. Everything worked great until I went to cable. The cable modem just has a single ethernet port, so I replaced the lower floor DSL modem with a cheap single band D-Link N wireless router.
Suddenly the slave router's WiFi cuts in an out. I suspect it is interference from the new N D-Link router. The D-Link is set at 20 / 40 MHz. It was on channel 2 while the old router was on 7. I have now set the D-Link on channel 1 and the old router on 11 (there is a weak signal from a neighbor on 11, but it is so weak that I hope it is not a problem).

Channel 1 is at 2.412 GHz. If we assume that 40 MHz is +/- 20 MHz, then that means it could reach up to 2.432 GHz. If G is +/- 10 MHz, then that means I need a channel at least at 2.442 GHz. That is channel 7. Since I used to have them set to 2 and 7, that could be the cause of my interference.

I have a stronger signal from a neighbor at channel 9. That is 2.452 GHz. Assuming +/-10MHz, that would cover up to 2.462 GHz. 2.462 GHz is channel 11, where I currently have my signal. So I might have a problem. But if I set my signal to a lower channel, it will mix with my much stronger N signal on Channel 1.

But the bottom line is that I set the N WiFi to channel 1 and my G WiFi to channel 11 and the interference stopped on my second router. The weaker signals from the neighbors do not seem to be a problem.

If I had to do this all over again, I would get a dual band N router and make it strong enough to cover the entire house so I would not need two wireless routers. Those N routers are a huge spectrum hog, especially if set to 40 MHz.

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  • There's a little too much background in here. If you could cut it down you'd have a much better answer.
    – ChrisF
    Mar 21, 2013 at 12:21

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