Basic N wireless question

[funperro]

All,

I'm about to complete the upgrading of my house to an 802.11n.

There are a lot of variables within an 802.11n router to consider when purchasing: simultaneous dual-band, 2.4ghz, 5ghz, mimo, 150 Mbps, 300 Mbps... etc etc. My question is this: do I need to match up my wireless n adapters to get the 300 Mbps or to use the 5ghz, for example? Do brand names need to match? Or if I see a router that operates at 5 Ghz and a network adapter that also operates at that frequency, will they automatically work? I want to make sure I get 300 Mbps max since I'll be doing HD streaming over this network.

What's the best way of doing this?

Thanks

 

[superccs]

I would recommend running N only, not mixed ABGN. Do you have existing wifi hardware on all the pc's? or are you switching from cabled to wifi?

 

[funperro]

I would recommend running N only, not mixed ABGN. Do you have existing wifi hardware on all the pc's? or are you switching from cabled to wifi?

Thanks for your reply. Yeah, that's actually my plan. N-only. However, how can I be sure that I can get the 300Mbps for example? Is there a spec I need to match on the router and on the adapters?

I've got wireless G on my blackberry and a few other "odds and ends devices" but my plan was to set up a separate G-network just for those.

I need to purchase new N adapters for my HTPC and my PS3. Those are the devices that I am most concerned about receiving a 300 Mbps signal (for streaming).

 

[wirednuts]

wireless n standard goes to 300mbs, it doesnt matter what brands you use and you dont need the same brand on both ends. just make sure you get 300mbs capable adapters, as most are only 150... or they do 300mbs download but only transmit 150 (which usually is ok for htpc's).

 

[funperro]

wireless n standard goes to 300mbs, it doesnt matter what brands you use and you dont need the same brand on both ends. just make sure you get 300mbs capable adapters, as most are only 150... or they do 300mbs download but only transmit 150 (which usually is ok for htpc's).

Ok. Good to know. So basically my linksys wrt160n (draft N) will not go to 300 Mbps. I'll replace that with something that is not 'draft N' with something that is 'standard N'. Will do the same for adapters. Good to know that some adapters do 300 down but only 150 up.

Thanks!

 

[Emulex]

trendnet has 450 on 2.4 and 450 on 5ghz for sale now. iirc you can do 600mbps on 5ghz when they make the bonding go that wide

 

[Eug]

Just be aware that you won't get 300 Mbps on a 300 Mbps connection. You'll likely max out at well below 100 Mbps, and sometimes you will get less than half that.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...heoretical_speed_vs_practical_throughput.html

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-basics/30664-5-ways-to-fix-slow-80211n-speed

Note that the first graph is in MB/s. To get Mbps, multiply by 8.
For example, I get about 23 Mbps real world on "54 Mbps" 802.11g.

 

[JackMDS]

Eug if you copy and paste from another site, please include the credentials.

I.e., put a link that point to the actual source too.

 

[Eug]

Eug if you copy and paste from another site, please include the credentials.

I.e., put a link that point to the actual source too.

Noted and done.

 

[Emulex]

my buffalo WZR-hp300gn 2.4ghz only 300mbps does about 16.5MB/s the E4200/WNDR4000 did about 12-13MB/s - the 450mbps models do about 22.5-25MB/s depending on quality - so you don't even get 300mbps of speed at 450mbps.

single transmitter buffalo did about 11.5MB/s which is kinda funny that a much more expensive Linksys E4200 or netgear WNDR4000 only squeezed a wee bit more at double the transmission rate - probably due to the fact buffalo likes to use directional external antennas and e4200/wndr use built in omni's.

you need a source fast enough too. if you are copying off a slow busy 5400rpm green drive you might not be able to sustain the i/o.

802.11G is so bad - you see 2 to 4 MB/s (usually closer to 2.5-3) - when i say sustain i mean if i copy a dvd i don't have huge spikes but a nice smooth steady state rate. If it's retraining too much - that's useless. 300mbps or 450mbps that drops down to 65mbps and back up won't be very fun if you are trying to stream some high bitrate content

 

[wirednuts]

Ok. Good to know. So basically my linksys wrt160n (draft N) will not go to 300 Mbps. I'll replace that with something that is not 'draft N' with something that is 'standard N'. Will do the same for adapters. Good to know that some adapters do 300 down but only 150 up.

Thanks!

draft n 2.0 is the same thing as the standard n. dont worry about if its a draft router or not, especially since you can usually flash it to standard if it bothers you.

if you want to sort of future proof, get a dual radio router. one that can run 2.4 and 5ghz modes at the same time. youll have to spend at least $75 or so to get one, but it will be the last router you need for years.

 

[JackMDS]

Noted and done.

Thanks.

The Apple Insider page is a good call since the Myth of rated is very far from Real Life preformance.

Unfortunatly it is Not part of the "knowledge base" of most users(including many enthusiasts).

 

[Eug]

my buffalo WZR-hp300gn 2.4ghz only 300mbps does about 16.5MB/s the E4200/WNDR4000 did about 12-13MB/s - the 450mbps models do about 22.5-25MB/s depending on quality - so you don't even get 300mbps of speed at 450mbps.

Wow that's pretty good. I was also considering getting the Buffalo WHR-HP-G300N for my place, and I'd probably use their DD-WRT firmware.

16.5 MB/s is about 130 Mbps, which is in the same ballpark as the upper range of the enterprise 300 Mbps access points from what I gather, with most of the consumer ones maxing out at closer to 100 Mbps.

What distance is that? Any walls in between?

For internet access my 802.11g setup is fine since my net access maxes out at 25 Mbps (3 MB/s) anyway, but that Buffalo would be good for accessing my NAS wirelessly. I haven't bothered though, since I don't do this often. My wireless is mainly for surfing. The vast majority of my video streaming is wired (eg. Blu-ray player or HTPC).