English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

For my second research blog, I want to look at the first few criteria we’ll be evaluating each router on and get a better understanding of the different ratings for each criterion.

Some of the criteria (price, size/weight/style and warranty information) don’t require much research to understand the different ratings. For example, the size, weight and style of a router don’t need to be researched from a difference standpoint. The sizes are relative among the routers, and the weight is either more or less than another router. These are personal preferences of each customer.

The routers we’re comparing all function on two speeds, 802.11b and 802.11g. According to another about.com article, 802.11b was created as an expansion of the original 802.11 WLAN (wireless LAN) standard. This standard can support bandwidth up to 11 Mbps, which is “comparable to traditional Ethernet.” The article later explains 802.11g, which tries to combine two earlier standards, 802.11a and 802.11b. This standard supports up to 54 Mbps of bandwidth from the 802.11a, and uses the 2.4Ghz frequency of the 802.11b standard. The article says that one con of 802.11g is that it costs more than 802.11b, but it is backwards compatible, meaning it will work with any 802.11b access points and adapters. This information will most likely be integrated into the text of the introduction.

Typical bandwidth usage depends on the activity of each user, but Comcast, a common home internet provider, bases its usage limit on 6 Mbps, and claims that 99% of its customers have no issue with their usage limits (according to this page). Salespersons could recommend that customers determine how much bandwidth they need by monitoring their current bandwidth usage with a free online tool, found here (link bwmonitor.com). This information could be possibly be most useful as a breakout chart or pull quote for salespersons to remember or reference easily.