Need some advice setting up wireless network

[Rio Rebel]

I have the following layout:

Upstairs: kid's computer (pci wireless N card)
Downstairs: main computer (gigabit network wired to Trendnet 633 N router)
Basement: PS3 in main room wired to Trendnet 631 N router (acting as a bridge), Asus O!play in theater room wired to same router.

The speed of the upstairs wireless connection is fine, even though it's a different brand adapter. All I do there is browse internet.

In the basement, I am trying to maximize the connection. My main goal is playing ISO files of my DVD's, and it has been acceptable with occasional stuttering. The PS3's internal G wireless stuttered much more, which is one reason I moved the router/bridge downstairs.

Last consideration: My wife and I work from home a lot, and our company laptops have G wireless.

SO, all that being said, I am trying to get the best possible connection between my main floor and basement N routers. Here are some possibilities...please comment and add your own suggestions:

1. Can I make the two N routers "N only" (no mixed mode), and hook up my old G router (wired to the main router from the WAN port) for the work laptops? Will the two routers sitting that close to each other interfere (or can I put them on channels 1 and 11 to separate them)?
2. Does using mixed N/G mode slow performance in the least?
3. I have quite a few neighbors with wireless networks. On a given day I can see up to 10 other networks' signals. Could this be an issue, and how can I address it?

Finally, as to current speeds, does anyone have a suggestion on measuring it? The programs I've tried all expect my current computer to have the wireless connection. Do you know of anything that can measure a connection THROUGH a wireless router?

Thanks for any tips/help.

 

[Madwand1]

Your best option is to ditch the wireless bridge and run a long cable downstairs.

Wireless-n does take a significant hit from concurrent g (and n) transmissions. 5 GHz does better against crowding, but takes a greater hit with distance and obstruction.

Use the LAN port, not the WAN port if you connect additional wireless routers as access points. Disable their DHCP to avoid conflicts.

You can measure point to point performance using iperf version 1.7.

E.g.

server: iperf -s
client: iperf -c server -l 64k -t 32 -i 8 -r

Where server is the name or IP of the remote machine running iperf -s.

You could wire one of the laptops to the downstairs router, disabling its wireless, and use iperf between it and the main machine to measure the network performance between the two.

This shows performance from the client to the server, and then in the reverse direction. It's "normal" for there to be variation and asymmetry, and to get much less measured performance than the advertising.

E.g.

iperf -c 192.168.0.176 -l 64k -t 32 -i 8 -r
------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 8.00 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to 192.168.0.176, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 8.00 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[796] local 192.168.0.100 port 60938 connected with 192.168.0.176 port 5001
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[796] 0.0- 8.0 sec 64.3 MBytes 67.4 Mbits/sec
[796] 8.0-16.0 sec 54.4 MBytes 57.1 Mbits/sec
[796] 16.0-24.0 sec 66.8 MBytes 70.0 Mbits/sec
[796] 24.0-32.0 sec 53.8 MBytes 56.4 Mbits/sec
[796] 0.0-32.0 sec 239 MBytes 62.7 Mbits/sec
[840] local 192.168.0.100 port 5001 connected with 192.168.0.176 port 49208
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[840] 0.0- 8.0 sec 82.7 MBytes 86.7 Mbits/sec
[840] 8.0-16.0 sec 77.6 MBytes 81.4 Mbits/sec
[840] 16.0-24.0 sec 80.3 MBytes 84.2 Mbits/sec
[840] 24.0-32.0 sec 78.2 MBytes 82.0 Mbits/sec
[840] 0.0-32.1 sec 320 MBytes 83.6 Mbits/sec

 

[Rio Rebel]

Thanks for the info, and the suggestion of iperf.

Before you had responded, I hooked up the old G router the way you described - making it basically an access point within the network of the N router on the main floor. I also set its wireless channel to 1 and the N routers to 11 to separate them as much as possible. It seems to be working so far - I watched a full movie without any stuttering last night.

Running a cable downstairs isn't an option at this point, but I do intend to keep playing with it to get maximum performance. Thanks for the info.

 

[JackMDS]

Using a Wireless Router as a switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

.

 

[Rio Rebel]

Well, it looks like I'm stuck with my current bandwidth unless I buy more equipment. My Trendnet routers WILL act as a bridge, but what they don't tell you is they have to operate in WDS mode, which absolutely cripples the bandwidth. I can't get over 25mbps, or sometimes drop down to as little as 5 or 6mbps.

Fortunately, it is enough to play my movies in my current setup without stuttering. I think the next thing is to simply bite the bullet and run a cat 6 cable from my office to the basement. Just one long run would get me what I need, and while it isn't going to be simple, I think it can be done.

Thanks for the tips.