I would like to buy a modem router for my wireless laptop. It has a Ralink
RT2500 Wireless LAN Card and I would like to buy a modem router with MIMO.
Does anyone have advice on which router to buy and if I would need a
wireless adapter/card.

Thanks

Hi
As far as I know, the RALINK RT2500 chip set is Not MIMO, so you would have
No gain using MIMO Wireless Router, and since MINO is not a standard you
would not be able to upgrade in the future when 802.11n comes out.
The  RALINK RT2500 chip set has a propriety mode of 72 Mb/sec.  If it is
implemented in your Wireless card you would get the best results with a
Router that uses the same chipset (search the RALINK site they might have a
list of devices that use their chipset).
Personally, I think that a combo Modem/Router is a raw deal.
The only advantage is having one plastic box instead of two.
Otherwise, the Router part of the Modem/Router combos is not as good as a
stand-alone Router (less features and reduced flexibility).  Using a combo
unit reduces your flexibility in future configuration of your Network (as if
you would like to go Wireless it gets cumbersome and more expensive to add
Wireless or other components).
Jack (MVP-Networking).

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I concur with Jack re. preferring a separate modem and W Router.  The MIMO
issue is rather complicated.  You could be talking about an 11g MIMO router
or a Draft 11n.   Using an 11g MIMO router with a non MIMO NIC could
actually be slower than standard 11g.   Unless you have some specific reason
to maximize throughput, my advice would be to buy a relatively inexpensive
standard 11g router and switch to 11n in the future.  If you have some
specific performance need (e.g. for streaming video or telephony perhaps)
then you should buy matched hardware and consider it a possible short term
investment.

See http://www.broadbandhomecentral.com/report/backissues/Report0502_4.html
for some interesting info. on the issue.

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