Wireless N

[#1]

Just found out I need wireless N.
I've seen some £6.99 should I go for expensive ones?
One I fancied said speeds up to 150mps and ideal with N150 routers.
Any good?
Some mentioned 802.11n ????
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/networking/networking/wireless-cards-adapters/on-networks-n150ma-199ww...

[#2]

Those tiny little things look about the worst 11n adapters possible. Anything larger will have a better antenna.
The Plusnet 582n would be N300 if it were advertised using those big marketing numbers. It actually operates at up to 130 and if you used an N150 adapter with it you'd only get up to 65.

[#3]

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/networking/networking/wireless-cards-adapters/727_7088_70095_0_xx/1_12...
Any good ones there?
Surely if I had one with a big aerial on my laptop would be impractical?

[#4]

I cannot get mine to connect at anything higher than 65Mbps.
It does indicate 130Mbps when you set the Allow new Devices option to anything other than "New Stations allowed (Automatically) but then all my devices already connected drop and cannot see the router anymore (SSID disappears from visible list). So I guess the 582n is 130Mps compatible if nothing it attached wirelessly 
Also, is there anyway of setting it be Wireless N only as all my devices are and it bugs me that its set to b/g/n LOL

[#5]

I expect the TP Link TL-W821N would be as good as any other N300 USB adapter of that size.
@njay
All your devices may be 11n but the b/g protection mechanisms aren't just for your network, they protect anything operating on the same channel.

[#6]

Thanks for your help but a bit big to have sticking out of the side of my laptop. No thanks.

[#7]

Are you sure you NEED wireless N? Wireless N is backwards compatible with G and B. Unless your laptop is so old that it doesn't have wireless at all its existing wireless should be fine.

[#8]

Well I'm not 100%. How do I find out and what's backward compatible?
In my router handbook it says I need N
I bought my laptop in 2000 by the way.

[#9]

Does your 2000 laptop have wireless built in?
More info about your laptop would be helpful.
What operating system is it running?  Windows 98/2000?
If your laptop is truly 13 years old, there is a possibility it may not even be fast enough or even compatible with any USB wifi dongle, and/or with the latest WPA wireless security used by today's wireless routers..
Also, are you referring to the router supplied by PlusNet ?

[#10]

That's a good point, a laptop from 2000 probably doesn't have USB 2.0, even if you find an old 11g adapter that can work on USB 1.1, it would be limited to 12Mbps.

[#11]

I have one of these plugged into a laptop and it claims to be connecting at 150Mbs.

[#12]

Oops 2010 sorry!
Windows XP, Built in wireless, router supplied by Plusnet.
Dell wireless 1397 WLAN mini card

[#13]

You don't need a new wireless N adapter, although the built in wireless G won't be able to use the full speed of a fast fibre connection. With 11g, the maximum speeds you'll get for actual downloads will be about 20 - 30Mbps. I suppose one of the "nano" 11n adapters should do better, but probably still wouldn't be fast enough to get the full speed of a fast fibre connection.

[#14]

So make do with 20mb when I can get 70mb?
Basically I can only get 70 if I buy a new laptop?

[#15]

There is a possibility you can replace the internal 1397 wlan card with another one which supports wireless N.
Used Dell wlan cards can be found on eBay.
What is the exact model of your Dell laptop so as to be able to identify which wlan cards were offered on that model laptop by Dell at the time?
The only other thing you need to check, is how many antenna wires are fitted to your laptop.  Only two will be plugged into the existing 1397 wlan card. Your laptop may have an unused 3rd connector floating around very near the card.  On most laptops, the wlan card can be reached by simply removing a hatch cover on the underside of the laptop.
For example, Dell's website offers 3 different wlan drivers for the Inspiron 1545 and Vostro 1520. In addition to the DW1397 (2 antenna), it appeared to be also offered with Dell/intel 5100 (2 antenna) and Dell/intel 5300 (3 antenna) wireless N wlan cards.