At some point I realized that the AirPort Express wasn’t able to keep up with the full speed of our internet connection. Here is a speed test using a direct connection to our cable modem:

Connected to our wireless network (802.11g, with 2 – 3 devices connected at a time):

So, we were losing a little bit of speed there. (I think the upload speeds were just a fluke in my not-so-scientific benchmarks… all subsequent tests showed more consistent upload speeds.) This may or may not matter to you depending on how you use your connection. As a web developer I’m downloading large files all the time, and I also like to try and gauge the comparable speed of our web servers against other websites out there, so having a fast connection is important.

If we upgraded to 802.11n, we needed an access point that was “dual-band,” since an iPhone and one of our computers only supports 802.11g. Without dual-band support, the entire network would slow down to support the lowest common denominator.

Setting up the Airport Extreme was easy. It even copied the settings right off our old Airport Express (same network name, security settings and passwords). After it was connected, I reconnected the Airport Express to use just to stream music to our stereo.

Here are the new speedtest results using the Airport Extreme:

As you can see, this is pretty close to connecting to our cable modem directly through an ethernet connection. The 802.11n band, at the moment, is much less congested and it’s a lot more resistant to outside interference (no more internet time-outs when microwaving!). Our older devices can still connect at their speeds without limiting the performance of the whole network.

Overall I think it was a worthwhile upgrade. If you are thinking maybe your wireless network isn’t so hot, try testing your connection to see if your router is to blame. If your computer supports it, upgrading your network 802.11n can definitely speed things up, and if you have older devices (or iPhones) using the same network, make sure you go with something that has dual-band support.

Update: Here was my result when I connected to the AirPort Extreme via ethernet. Obviously one test in each setup isn’t enough to get highly accurate results, but it was good enough for me. In this case, connecting through the APE with an ethernet connection added no latency to my internet connection, and was only slightly faster than connecting wirelessly.