Re: what's the difference between 802.11 n and 10/100. whats faster
Hello ahussain21,
802.11n is a wireless standard (Wireless N).
10/100 refers to wired networking.
Ultimately the answer to your question will lie within all the variables including what type of router you have, what type of network card(s) you are using and what type of cables are connecting the wired system.
802.11n has a theoretical throughput of 300 Mbps; however, you will likely find for most people this is going to fall between 100-200 Mbps in the field.
10/100 has a throughput of 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps depending on which standard you are using. Assuming the equipment and cables you are using are relatively new you will likely be on 100 Mbps on a wired configuration, if it is all brand new top of the line you may be on Gigabit Lan (1000 Mbps). You will increasingly find that 10/100 will be transitioning to 10/100/1000 refering to the latest wired networking standard.
That being said the wireless N Standard should be offering better speeds than the older wired configurations (10/100).
With those details in hand you may want to review your motivations for more speed. If you do a lot of internal transfers such as sending a file from one PC in the house to another, Lan gaming or home theater streaming having good internal speed can be the difference between a bad experience and a great one.
If however your goal is to increase your internet speed you need to bare in mind that the connection you are subscribed to with your internet service provider is not likely going to be higher than 12 Mbps. With that in mind a 100 Mbps wired lan connectioin is already over eight times faster than you need it to be for internet sharing.
As a final note to this subject, remember that you can only ever operate as quick as your weakest link. This means that if you have a wireless N network card installed into your computer and you are connected to a Wireless G router (54 Mbps) you will only be able to operate at the Wireless G standards. If you have a Gigabit wired connection and you are using older networking cables your maximum speed is likely going to be 100 Mbps. To gain the maximum speed during networking you need to ensure that all the links are at the right levels. If they are not everything will still work it just will not be to the maximum extent possible.
Hope this was helpful.
