Looking to switch my network to N

[bearxor]

Hey guys, I hope you can help with some info, because I'm just not finding what I need.

Currently, I have everything in my living room because I have 2 wired devices, an xbox 360 and a HTPC hooked up to the TV. The two computers my wife and I use are laptops and so are wireless.

Also, I have a machine sitting by the TV that does nothing but Bittorrent. A full-size desktop.

So what I want to do is move everything (except the HTPC and 360) in to a back bedroom and switch to wireless-N so that file transfers between the htpc and bittorrent machines aren't dog slow.

My plan is to buy an 802.11n bridge and small gigabit switch (4 or 5 port) to stick by the TV to plug the HTPC and 360 into, since I no longer have the wireless adapter for the 360. Alternatively, I could buy a USB 802.11n stick and do NAT through the computer, which I may end up doing, but that aspect isn't important right now.

So here is IDEALLY what I'd like. An 802.11n router that has a USB port for an external hard drive, the ability to install 3rd party firmware (preferably tomato) and something that can run a bittorrent client internally (and write the files to a network drive, be it the attached USB or the HTPC) so I can get rid of the dedicated desktop.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Fardringle]

The "IDEAL" setup would be to wait until 802.11n equipment actually exists. Anything you buy now is pre-n and there's no guarantee it will be compatible with new equipment once a real standard is implemented for 802.11n.

 

[bearxor]

There has to be someone that says that in every 802.11n thread. Thanks for getting it out of the way.

 

[Fardringle]

The reason it is repeated so often is because it is true, and the various manufacturers will continue to refuse to settle on a single standard for the N protocol as long as people keep buying their proprietary equipment.


To answer your question, the layout you mentioned with a wireless bridge and a switch next to the HTPC and XBOX should work. If you get a bridge with multiple ports (most have four) you can probably skip on the switch and just connect the HTPC and XBOX directly to the bridge. I haven't ever seen a router that will do what you want (run a bittorrent client on the router) except for Linux based PC routers like IPCop and Sonicwall.

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: bearxor
My plan is to buy an 802.11n bridge and small gigabit switch (4 or 5 port) to stick by the TV to plug the HTPC and 360 into, since I no longer have the wireless adapter for the 360.

Consider the D-Link DAP-1522 for this part.

Originally posted by: bearxor
So here is IDEALLY what I'd like. An 802.11n router that has a USB port for an external hard drive, the ability to install 3rd party firmware (preferably tomato) and something that can run a bittorrent client internally (and write the files to a network drive, be it the attached USB or the HTPC) so I can get rid of the dedicated desktop.

This one's tougher. Consider the Linksys WRT600N running DD-WRT (check for revision info). You'd also have to find out about USB and BT client support. I probably wouldn't use with an attached USB drive as the transfer speed is likely to be dismal.

 

[bearxor]

Well, I finally made the plunge and got my stuff. Here's what I went with:

1) A Refurbished WRT600N for the main router - I had dismissed these because I thought they were a little too expensive, but Newegg has them for $115 shipped.
2) Refurbushed WRT310N - Was committed to buying something dual-band, but decided to go with this guy. $50 shipped.
3) DLink DNS-321 NAS - This thing is friggin awesome. Like a little Linux computer. Just opened it up to telnet today and can't wait to check out the extra stuff to install on it!

I'm fairly happy with the setup. The WRT310N appealed to me because it is flat with no external antennas, perfect for the HTPC area. I played some 360 on it last night and it worked great.

A friend of mine found the stuff for the bittorrent client on dd-wrt. Originally I had planned on keeping the WRT54G around just for that, but now I can get rid of it. Horray!

 

[kevnich2]

Just a suggestion, I'd look into a more stable router for your main router and just use the WRT600N as an AP (wireless). The WRT600N in my opinion for a main router is unstable. I'd look into either another WRT310N with DDWRT or an Asus WL-500G Premium V2 with DDWRT for your main router. Just a suggestion though. Also, are you running DDWRT on your WRT600N or just the stock linksys firmware?

 

[JackMDS]

What the actual transfer rate of files (in MB/sec.) to and from the DLink DNS-321 NAS is?

 

[Matt84]

I have a DNS 323 which is almost identical hardware wise to the 321 and flashed to the latest (1.05 at the moment) firmware you get Jumbo Frames support. With the frame size set to 9000 I get sustained 30MB/s reads and 20MB/s writes. Somtimes I've seen it peak as high as 40MB/s reads and 25MB/s writes. The drive config for the DNS 323 is 2x 1TB Seagate 7200.11 SATA drives in RAID 1.