Recommendations

Based on the information in Table 3-2, here are our bottom-line recommendations:

• If you just want Internet access, are on a tight budget, or do not anticipate a large amount of internal traffic (from a wireless juke box, for example), either the B or G standard is a good choice. Choose B only if you already have B-only NICs for most of your computers.

• B equipment may be hard to find for sale in retail locations because it has been mainly replaced by G equipment in the market, so if you can’t find B, go with G.

• If you plan on using hotspots or getting on other people’s networks, G offers the best bet for compatibility and speed.

• If you anticipate a large amount of internal traffic, plan on setting up a wireless gaming system, or want a little bit of future-proofing, N is the best choice. Purchasing G with an extension such as SRX will give you similar performance, but as N begins to gain popularity (and it will), a proprietary G extension will limit your flexibility.