The arrival of smart TVs points out how technology in our homes is rapidly changing. Not long ago, a home network consisted of at most a desktop PC and a laptop. With network-capable video game consoles, wireless Blu-ray players and smart TVs becoming so popular, your family room is quickly becoming the most networked room in your house.

The network requirements of that connected family room are often different from that of a laptop. Streaming video on your TV makes for heavier use of your wireless network, versus a laptop used mostly for checking email or surfing the web. So how do you know if your router is up to the task?

Well, if you’ve looked at wireless routers lately, you’ve probably noticed there are a few wireless standards, designated by letters like “N” or “G.” The letters will help you decide which device is best for you. Even if you already have a wireless router, you may want to look at how capable it’ll be of supporting the network needs of the new connected devices you’ll be adding.

While there are various features at work under the hood, the biggest difference between the various wireless standards that impacts your living room connectivity will be data transfer speed. For example, many wireless routers purchased over a year ago are wireless G, which tops out at a theoretical maximum speed of 54 Mbps. The Mbps number represents the number of megabits (or 1/8th of a megabyte) of data per second (Mbps). Compare this to a wireless N router, the current standard, which can transmit a theoretical maximum of either 150 or 300 Mbps depending on the equipment.

It’s important when dealing with transmission numbers like these to remember that these are only theoretical maximums. In the real world, various environmental issues can impact those transmissions speeds, such as the distance between the router and network device. Performance can also be impacted by interference from outside radio transmissions, such as 2.4GHz cordless phones, microwave ovens, CB radios and even other wireless networks in the area.

This does point to why Wireless N routers have become more popular. They give better overall performance between N devices, and often better support antenna systems and faster processors to best route all that data going through them. Wireless G routers will handle lighter Internet usage, such as web surfing and email. However, seamless video streaming without quality loss or stuttering will often need an upgrade to wireless N.

My good friend the Netgear WNDR3700 (This is the Wireless-N router I use at home)

What happens if you upgrade to a wireless N router and you still have wireless G devices? The good news is that N routers are backwards compatible with G and B devices, like your older laptops. The older devices won’t get the full wireless N transmission speed but will often benefit from the improved antennas and processors that newer N routers include. And you’ll be “future proofing” your home for when you do replace that laptop with one that includes the current N standard.

Regardless of which standard you go with, one important feature you will want to use when setting up your network is wireless encryption. During the setup process, you can choose a “passphrase” that your router will require from a network device before it allows it full access to the network. Also, when setting up an encrypted network, make sure to use the most secure network encryption method that both your router and network device supports. In most cases this will be labeled as WPA2, followed by WPA and then WEP.

Fortunately, you will generally only need to use that passphrase once when adding a new device, such as a laptop, to your network. The network device will save the passphrase and connect automatically when the device loads.

Sometimes, though, not even a wireless N router will be strong enough to send a consistent wireless video stream to your living room. What do you do if the distance between your home router and your networked Blu-ray player or connected TV is too great?

A powerline network kit could be the perfect solution to get your living room on the network. These kits include two or more network adapters. They extend your existing network by plugging into your wall and using your home’s electrical wiring to transmit data. Typically, you’d have one adapter plugged into the wall socket in the room where your router is located, connected to the router via a short Ethernet network cable. The second adapter is then plugged into the wall in your family room, allowing a network device to connect via another Ethernet cable. This setup works well for situations where radio interference or distance from the router prevents a solid wireless connection in that location.

This Rocketfish Powerline Kit is a customer favorite (They give it 4.6 out of 5 stars)

All these choices may seem a little intimidating, but they are an important consideration in getting the best performance out of that new connected TV technology you may be thinking of adding to your family room. If you still have questions, feel free to stop by your local Best Buy and speak to a Geek Squad Agent. We’re here to help.