This is really a great question. There's a lot of advantages to going with Wireless-N.

First off, you'll get up to double the speed (or more) of a Wireless-G connection, in theory. You may not need this speed for standard internet use, but it would be helpful when streaming HD video or playing demanding online games.

Second, you'll get expanded range from Wireless-N, again up to double or more of a Wireless-G product. NETGEAR's WNR2000 Wireless-N router claims up to 5X the range, and 15X the speed of a Wireless-G connection.

Also, if you get a dual-band Wireless-N router, you can take advantage of the 5 gHz band to help reduce interference from household devices.

The current devices are built on the 802.11n Draft 2.0. The draft is expected to be finalized in March 2009, so again in theory, upgrading to Wireless-N now will prepare you for the future. (See Wikipedia for more info on the specific updates to the status of the draft.)

In order to take advantage of it, though, you'll need to get Wireless-N adapters for your laptop/etc. Here are some examples.

And for your last question, should you buy an open source router? It depends on what you're looking to do. If you're not much of a tinkerer or a hacker, then an open source router may offer features that you don't need. I do like the DD-WRT firmware, but will openly admit that I don't really use the advanced features that it offers, at least not right now, since I mostly use it for simple internet access. So I think a standard router would work just fine for you, check out this one for starters.

It's a moot point, though, if you're looking for a Wireless-N router; I don't know of an open source router that supports Wireless-N. (The WGR614L is Wireless-G, for example.)

Peter Redmer
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