- If I upgrade from a 10/100 to a Gigabit ethernet card, does the router have to be gigabit compatible or does it not matter? - In terms of wireless, is is true that if you run mixed mode (b/g as opposed to just g) it is slower? - My FIOS actiontec router is only wireless G but my laptop has a wireless N card. I can't replace the router, is the only option to buy a second router with wireless N to add on and disable wireless in the FIOS router?
-unless you have a 20 year old router, all routers are compatible. So that's irrellevant. -running in mixed mode means the speed will be that of the slowest network device connected. So if the client has a 802.11b nic, you will have only a speed of 11Mbit/sec. So better to run in g-mode (54Mbit/sec) or n-mode if your devices (such as laptop) support it. -yep. that's the only way. If the router only supports g, the client will also run in g-mode.
cool, thanks since the iphone is wireless G, would it be better to run two wireless networks, a G with my current FIOS router, and a second wireless network with the new N router running only N?
If you think the extra speed is worth the money, maybe... I personally don't think it's worth it, cause the extra speed you gain isn't that big. N-routers cover a bit more ground also, but unless you have to cover an area of 200 feet or more, that's also unnecessary.
Regarding the 10/100 upgrade to Gigabit, it will make a difference if your switch is only 10/100 since the gigabit card will only be able to talk to the switch (and thus everything else connected to it) at 100mbit, defeating the point of using a gigabit card.