anyone else running multiple wireless networks?

[thomsbrain]

recently moved into a new place with two roommates, and two more people living above us who will be sharing our cable service. we're all on wireless, and i set it us up on my roommate's 11 Mbps router since her and the other roommate's computers were already set up for it and they are pretty computer illiterate, so i didn't want to confuse them with new WEP keys and stuff. once everybody got set up our speeds went to hell. computer to computer transfers were down to like 100 KB/s, and if i was uploading on bittorrent, everyone else's internet speeds went down the tubes...

so i busted out my wireless G AP and plugged it into the router, set up a second network, and put my and one of my roommates computers on it. so the guys upstairs and our 3rd roommate (who doesn't use her computer much) are on the 11 Mbps network, and we're on a second 54 Mbps network. We all go through the same router and connection as before, but internet for everyone is faster, even when I'm uploading on bittorrent. just taking some computers off the cluttered wireless network was enough to make a drastic improvement in everyone's performance. it also meant i could stream top gear from my laptop in the living room to the desktop in our bedroom without bringing everyone else's internet surfing to it's knees.

moral of the story, if you've got more than 2-3 users, use more than one wireless AP, even for normal broadband connections!

 

[BionicSniper]

or a good router. What brand was it

d-link, net gear and thoes guys really suck


linksys's stuff is realyl good (which is a duh because they are a subdivision on cisco)

 

[Yomicron]

I have an 802.11a AP and an 802.11b AP. 11a for me and 11b so that friends can connect when they come over.

 

[thomsbrain]

the 11 Mb/s was a newer vintage Linksys wireless router (not one of the old tall ones).

the 54 Mb/s AP, which has worked flawlessly for me for the ~year I've had it, is a Netgear. It replaced a crap D-Link that got returned to the store because it didn't work.

I agree that Linksys stuff is probably the best consumer grade networking equipment out there, but even that wasn't enough to handle 5 people surfing, downloading, uploading, etc. I think it's just the 11 Mb/s part. I remember Anand's original tests of 802.11b found that as you increase the number of users transfering, data rates drop dramatically, far more than just the usual cut-in-half stuff you get with ethernet. Same thing with 802.11g, but you've got so much more headroom to start with that you can get away with a lot of decreases before it really effects you.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: BionicSniper
or a good router. What brand was it

d-link, net gear and thoes guys really suck


linksys's stuff is realyl good (which is a duh because they are a subdivision on cisco)

d-link and netgear are not bad, and linksys i believe became part of cisco within the last year or 1.5yrs...

should we assume you have only used a new cisco/linksys model or do you have experience with the other brands?

 

[imported_TDOG]

Originally posted by: BionicSniper
or a good router. What brand was it

d-link, net gear and thoes guys really suck


linksys's stuff is realyl good (which is a duh because they are a subdivision on cisco)

Wow great example of bashing stuff you have probably never used. I have been on a Netgear wireless router for the past 3 years. Never had to reset it and it has great signal strength and I have never had a dropout in all this time. I bought a Linksys router back in May and it's sitting in the garage collecting dust. I had to reset it 2-3 times a day and my wireless signal constantly dropped. I had no signal where the Netgear easily reached and the routers were in the exact same spot. I also bought a Linksys PCMIA card to replace my Netgear card. It dropped out constantly and often I had to restart my computer because it would freeze the whole system.

Long story short the Netgear router is continuing its third year of service with a Netgear wireless card. The Linksys was so unimpressive I'm just letting it rot out in the garage because it proved so unreliable. Now I sound like a Linksys basher but I tell it like it's happened. So don't be so quick to bash other brands until you have tried them.
Travis

 

[natto fire]

sigh...
and I spent so much time running all that CAT-6 cable in my house.

At least it is a good convo starter when someone asks "Whats that jack for" 😛

I have now replaced my Linksys wired router with a wireless Netgear one.

BTW to the guy said linksys was good, that might be true for the higher up ones, but my Netgear has a setup page/options that make my Linksys look like A pile of crap (which it is, I have two BEFSR41s, one before the Cisco takeover, and one from after. I don't have to tell you which one was the victim of OBVIOUS cost-cutting)