I currently have a Linksys wireless-G 2.4 GHz. I have had it for about 5 or 6 years. I have Comcast internet and a 12 mb/s plan, but I actually get 20-22 mb/s pretty regularly.
Would I see better performance if I changed to a new router? Is my current router out of date? Or my current router good enough? I think it capable of 54 mb/s.
Is this a wireless connection or a wired connection? (meaning is there an Ethernet cable between your PC and the Linksys)
P.S. You could try running a speedtest (speedtest.net) going through the router, then another one when your computer is hooked up directly to your cable modem, bypassing the router, and see if there is a big difference in the numbers when the router is not part of the equation.
Wireless connection.
Speeds tests get the same results using the wireless router or plugging the modem directly into my lap top. I don’t know about my iPad because it only connects on wireless.
Edit: I was wondering if the new router’s have better security features.
I have been looking at some reviews of wireless-n routers, but I cannot tell if I would get better performance.
In my opinion, the chief practical advantage of upgrading to N is better range, since you won’t get throughput faster than the speed to the wireless access point from Comcast.
To get the full benefit of the N standard–speed and range–you’ll need to have an N card on the receiving device as well as the N router/wireless access point.
I think security is a bit over-emphasized for a typical home access point; WiFi is so ubiquitous I sort of doubt hackers bother sniffing packets until they can break even the simplest home encryption schemes. But yes, a newer wireless access point using WPA is more robust than one using ordinary WEP. Again, both the recipient device as well as the transmitter will need to be compatible with the encryption scheme being used.
You are already getting double the US national average connection speed so it doesn’t look like your modem is struggling to cope in any way. Upgrading to wireless N will only improve the range of the signal as Chief Pedant stated.
Sometimes newer routers can cope better with noisy lines but in your case everything looks A-OK. I would stick with the set up you have. If you have a fixed number of devices connected to your wireless (i.e. you don’t have people popping over all the time and connecting to your wireless) then you can enable MAC filtering which is going to give your security a serious boost.