need to upgrade my wireless equipment

Sounds like a plan.

Ugh. That's difficult. Modern "N" routers have multiple antennas with beam forming abilities that favor signals from the horizontal directions, not up and down. Going through two floors will reduce the signal strength sufficiently that you're unlikely to be able to utilize 802.11n speeds. Might as well stay with 802.11g.

I just hate it when people ask that. According to the IEEE specification, the addition of 802.11n requires disabling 802.11b. That's been interpreted in 3 different ways.

1. If 802.11n is enabled, then disable 802.11b associations.
2. If 802.11n is in use by one wireless client, then disable 802.11b for the duration.
3. Ignore the spec and time slice the 802.11n with 802.11b. The only way I can tell which is being used is to actually test the router. However, there's a clue in the wireless settings, which offer various combinations. If 802.11b is NOT listed alongside 802.11n, it's most likely #1. If no combinations are listed, it's #2.

Yep. It's almost impossible to buy a wireless router that does NOT have 802.11n, so you're stuck with that even though you're unlikely to be able to use it through 2 floors. Find something that has an external antenna. At the bottom end, I've been using Dlink DIR-601 (no MIMO, no QoS) and DIR-615. Not the best but they do have external antennas that can sorta be pointed upward. Unfortunately, the antennas cannot be removed and replaced with something better.

Ummm... there are many 802.11b devices that do NOT support WPA/WPA2 encryption. You didn't specify model numbers and operating systems, so I can't check if yours does. 802.11b devices also slow down wireless networks. I sometimes disable 802.11b service in my coffee shop customers wireless networks for this reason. I suggest you replace everything with more current hardware.

Also, if you're in an area with a large number of 2.4GHz networks and devices, you might consider going to 5.7GHz (802.11a) and purchasing dual band routers and client adapters. Range and building penetration is slightly less for 802.11a, but the increased number of channels and the general lack of interference makes the change worthwhile.

Thanks for all of the information. You answered before I had a chance to correct one of the specs which is that I currently have 802.11G not b. It does an adequate job reaching all 3 stories. Interesting comment about 11b slowing down wireless networks. I have a wired modem from my isp (their monthly charges to convert to wirelss are ridiculous). It seemed to me that I was having speed degradations, so I have reverted to direct connect from modem to computer.

Also, you mentioned if there are a large number of 2.4GHz networks...think about going to 11a. I was under the impression that 11n is now the industry standard.

Current router is D-Link DI-524.

Will digest what you've written. Thanks again.

11n can work on 5G as well. '11an' is the shorthand for this, altough it's not official, I don't think.

In the presence of interference from other wireless networks, your DI-524 will slow down to a 1Mbit/sec association, which has a thruput of about half that or 0.5Mbits/sec sec. The speed will stay there until the interference goes away. By disabling 802.11b, the minimum speed for 802.11g is 6Mbits/sec association, or 3Mbits/sec thruput. A direct connection to the computer is always faster than wireless.

802.11b 1-11Mbits/sec 2.4Ghz only 802.11g 6-54Mbits/sec 2.4GHz only 802.11a 6-54Mbits/sec 5.6Ghz only 802.11n 300Mbits/sec and up 2.4 GHz and/or 5.6Ghz 802.11ac to 450Mbits/sec 5.6Ghz only 802.11n 1300Mbits/sec 2.4 + 5.6GHz simultaneously

802.11n is the highest level of performance available, at least until more 802.11ac products arrive.

Yech. Ancient junk. Get something better please.

That's the plan and that's why I wrote. So, back to original question - thoughts/suggestions particularly given the constraint of having to use a PC card and would my 11g card be useable with an 11n router?

Well, just ignore the 802.11b issues in my original reply as it doesn't apply to your situation. Your existing 802.11g card should work just fine with any 802.11n router as long as the wireless mode is set to "802.11g + 802.11n" which is the usual default. If you don't have any 802.11n client radios, then just turn off the 802.11n and use it as an 802.11g router.

My only concern is that the replacement router have enough of an external antenna to have decent gain to penetrate 2 floors. A clue is the availability of external antenna kits for current internal antenna routers, such as the Linksys routers. However, the only way to be sure is try it. Please note that speed and range are inversely related. If you want longer range, then you're going to get slower speeds, all other things being equal. It would be interesting to know what speed you are currently associating with the DI-524 router. If it's on the low end of the speed scale, you may need to do something with the antennas at both ends.

Also, note that the higher hardware revisions of the DI-524 will do WPA encryption, but not WPA2. While WPA-TKIP is not the most secure encryption protocol, it's probably good enough. Check the serial number tag on the DI-624 for the hardware revision letter (A,C,D or E). I think only E does WPA-TKIP.

Assuming this means 3 levels is it not possible for the wireless to sit in the middle floor?

In addition to the other suggestions, have you considered solutions other than pure wireless?

Can you run Ethernet cable from the floor that the router is on to the floor where connectivity is needed? If you can't run it all the way, can you run Ethernet cable part of the way? Even a partial run will help be eliminating one floor or one or more walls.

Can you use powerline networking to provide a 'wired' connection two floors away? If not powerline, what about phone line or TV coax? Use what you have. If the final solution needs to be wireless two floors away, you can still have that by using an access point there, rather than asking the router's wireless section to reach that far.