I need someone with more wifi experience than I have. Most WAP's that handle multiple formats allow you to select a particular format (b,g,n) or to set the WAP to Auto and it determines what the format the other end is using and uses the same thing.

My experince and the experience of several others who have brought problems to me is that if you select g only (the pronto does use 802.11g) things go badly. You may loose the connection periodically, there will be a lot of retransmissions if error recovery is implemented as it is in Slimpronto, there will be lost messages, etc.

If however you set the WAP to Auto all these problems seem to go away. I am curious what the experience of others is, and if any one knows a logical reason why this is so. It would seem to me that there should be less issues if your Wifi was single format. e.g. the WAP was set to g only but thet is not supported by what I see and hear.

AFAIK Most people do set the WAP to auto to accommodate older devices

My Netgear WNR854T router doesn't even have the option to force one of the older modes. I have the choice of 11 b/g/n Mixed mode or 11n Max Speed. I've been running in mixed mode for well over a year and haven't had any connectivity issues.

Generally, the reason to NOT use mixed mode is speed: most access points can maintain faster overall throughput when only one standard is allowed. This is especially true if you're in mixed mode and there are mixed devices actively connected (a B device communicating while a G device is on will heavily impact the G device on most consumer grade access points).

I wonder if the Pronto is, for some reason, dropping down into B mode during normal use, and when G is forced the connection can't negotiate low enough, and so is either rendered nearly unusable, or drops and has to reconnect?

Barry, to add to the above, another reason to use a particular format instead of "Auto" is that wi-fi is not yet a standard; different manufacturers interpret and incorporate slightly different methods of transmission than the products of other manufacturers. This leads to incompatibilities ranging from inability to connect to other devices (rare in our days), to slight hiccups such as having to either enter a specific mode in order to maintain steady connections or leaving the setting on your router to "Auto". In short, there is no single, best option that works for everyone; you will have to experiment each time...
The good news is that slowly but surely, we are moving towards fully compatible devices, so these issues will be a thing of the past relatively soon...

Okay we all agree that a single format is better than auto for a network that only has all devices using that format. My experience with the Prontos is just the opposite. Does anyone else out there have similar or contradicting experience so we could possibly narrow it down to a manufacturer or model of Router/WAP?

I have sent an email to the Pronto team on this subject.

I had some troubles setting up a Linksys router and access point.
When i putted the B/G/N mode on, the connection was bad or it won't connect at all.
Putting it on G only solved it.

That is interesting. I believe my ASUS routers want it the other way so I will need to run a definitive test cycle

I've never had any such issues with Netgear routers; currently I'm using a Belkin modem/router; I've had severe problems getting reliable and steady connections from 2 or 3 of my wi-fi enabled devices when the router was set up at B/G/N mode. I switched to B/G only and all my problems disappeared.

I have a Linksys and set it to g only. I haven't noticed any connectivity problems. BTW, the reason I did set it to g only is because in the network FAQs on the Pronto site Philips recommends it.

From what I can surmise from these reponses it is router/wap dependent

The Philips site indicated that they tested their TSUs with only a few routers one of which was the Linksys. So maybe your hypothesis is correct.

It's even firmware dependent, from what i experienced.
(router firmware)

Tom, I expect that is also the case and have contacted Philips regarding this matter.

The whole A/V; home networking industry is beginning to really suck on getting interfaces correctly programmed. My current two pet peeves are HDMI and Wi-Fi. Some government agency such as the FCC or FTC should step in and just hammer these guys with big fines. Then again, that might be a case of the deaf leading the hard of hearing.

Im with you on the HDMI issues, what were they thinking off when they came up with that idea, our install company has more issues with HDMI than anything else!

I hope it becomes a short lived thing.....

Back to the topic always set to "g" and turn off any of those other features like " extended range" (d-link) i have to say the linksys 54g AP's have not let us down at all and have been very very reliable, we even use the wag200 ADSL home gateway version aswell, which has also been very good.

i've programmed dozens of pronto's with WRT54GL linksys ap's always fixed on the G standard and no problems. the range is the biggest isue..

in my next project i'm going to use Hawking HWRN1A AP's .The guys @philips said this router has the best chipset for pronto witch results in better connectivity, and range.. is anyone else using Hawking ??