So here you are, standing in front of routers with miscellaneous names and not knowing one thing about them, all the associates are busy so you don't wish to wait around! This topic is designed to assist you with what wireless routers are and the standards associated with them, I mess with routers, switches, modems, external and internal firewall hardware on a daily basis! So I am well up to date! The world is evolving extremely fast when it comes to wireless anything, a century ago you would have to plug your phone into a jack to listen to music in your car, now you get in, bluetooth kicks in, and voila you're listening to music wireless. Routers are a huge thing in a house, business, really anywhere! But knowing the importance of what router it is and what the standards are play a huge role! When looking for a router, you will see, "B or G or N" these are all letters that refer to the standard set forward by a team of people who designed the standards, they relate to 802.11b or 802.11g and 802.11n, the very first generation was b, then G came a long, and then N has now came. You will only notice a HUGE difference of SPEED between these three, range isn't a huge factor in the standards. However, if you're going into a store to buy a router, you will most likely not see a B router of any sort as they are completely outdated. Wireless communication operates in two bands, you will see this when you first set it up, it operates at 2.4 GHz and 5GHz, however, 802.11b and 802.11g and then a couple N routers use 2.4GHz but that's a rarity to see N using it unless it's operating at 2.4 GHz and 5GHz then we call that a dual band at that point. When you're shopping, I would recommend buying a 802.11n router with dual band, it will cost a bit more but at the same time it will be worth it as they can act as both a modem and a router, thus saving you from having to buy a modem. Speed wise, 802.11B can only transmit up to about 11 Mbps, 802.11g routers can do up to 54Mbps, and the new 802.11n can max out at 300 Mbps, now what this means is that it was the max speed can transmit at, however, don't be that customer that goes "oh em gee my Internet isn't putting out 300 mbps like the router says". Those are the max speeds it can send out assuming your Internet connection is up to that level, the typical Internet speed in a home in America is 36.3 Mbps, so one would assume to buy a 802.11g which is not correct, you need to buy the router that fits your Internet needs, if you can afford the newer router, I would suggest it, as Internet speeds get faster and faster as the months go on. Security isn't something to worry about, most of the time routers at stores come preinstalled with a WPA key or WPA2 key or in not smart terms, the password for your WiFi. It is usually done with security standards, and the chances of someone living near you able to crack a WiFi password is extremely slim, and let's say he could, using a brute force, the typical standard is 10 characters in your password, and he has a super computer, it would take 76 million years, according to a brute force calculator, so in other words, he isn't cracking it in his life time. Mostly all the newer routers come with a administration panel that allows you set higher security options, change the password of the wifi, control which devices connect and so on. So don't worry, this isn't the 1900's where security isn't something manufactures think of, it's the 20th century and security is booming baby. Any questions? Ask! -Iamcoolz