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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 '09 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 '09 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 '09 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 '09 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 '09 at 2:12
I disagree. Most Linksys, D-Link, and Netgar routers do support 802.11a. – muncherelli Dec 27 '09 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 '09 at 5:33
Right- which is the nature of the question... purchasing an "N" router. – muncherelli Dec 27 '09 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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