Over the years, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has improved the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard. And you’re probably wondering “What’s New in the Wireless N Standard?” Basically, it’s faster, more reliable, has a longer range and its performance is better than earlier 802.11g, 802.11b and 802.11a standard versions.

The 802.11n is capable of transferring approximately 31 megabytes per second, and uses the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequencies. The new feature MIMO ( multi-in/multi-out) has multiple antennas, which allows it to send and receive more data. The improved MIMO antennas are able to recognize Multipath signals that were at one-time hard for wireless routers to understand. Multipath signals were recognized as interference by 802.11g and 802.11a routers, because they bounced around walls before reaching them.

The MIMO’s antennas along with SDM (Spatial Division Multiplexing) technology enables 802.11n to send and receive data faster over a single frequency. The 802.11n can operate over a 5 GHz frequency at it optimal speed or in a mixed mode on a 2.4 frequency on systems that uses the 802.11b or 802.11g wireless networking standard.

Here’s a breakdown that you can use to compare the difference between the following 802.11 standards. It has a shortest range signal, which easily obstructed.

802.11b standard – Uses the 2.4 GHz frequency band and is capable of transferring 1.375 megabytes per second, which equals to 1 megabits per second. Some small home appliances may interfere with the frequency band.

802.11g standard – Uses the 2.4 GHz frequency band, but only transfers 6.75 megabytes per second, which equals 54 megabits per second. Some small home appliances may interfere with the signal frequency.

802.11n standard – Uses the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequencies and is capable of transferring 31 megabytes per second, which equals 248 megabits per second. Uses multiple signals that may interfere with 802.11b and g based networks nearby.

If you’re searching for a wireless 802.11n broadband router, expect to pay about $70.00 for a popular brand name model. You can find all types of models on sale and a little cheaper on websites such as Amazon.com and eBay.com.