You may have seen those new wireless routers from Linksys, Netgear, and others products promising true 802.11n capabilities. These wireless networks are certainly fast and extend further than most others, but don’t fall for the claims of interoperability and compatibility with future products and with the future spec. Although they comply with an 802.11n draft proposal, there’s no guarantee that anything you buy today will be upgradable to full compatibility, once the IEEE finalizes this wireless networking standard.

So is now a good time to buy these products? If you’re setting up a new wireless network, you should know that while non-standard “draft-n” products are fast and work better around walls and through ceilings than older gear, there is a high premium for this. You’ll have to buy “802.11n” routers and cards for all your computers from the same company to ensure you get the speed and range benefits. 802.11g and 802.11b devices with built-in radios like the excellent SoundBridge Radio will work no better on these draft-n networks.

So, the best action is to wait. Get a cheap 802.11g router like the Linksys WRT54G, and follow this guide to extend your wireless coverage. Need better coverage at home? Add an inexpensive access point, and follow 10 tips for improving your wireless network. It works great, and you don’t have to worry about replacing networking cards in all the computers in future.

[tags]802.11n, Wireless Standard[/tags]