802.11ac Bridge or 3 Stream 802.11n?

[mevans336]

Hello Everyone,

I have an Apple TV 3 connected to a 4th gen Apple Airport Extreme running in the 5GHz band. Anandtech states the Apple TV 3 is only capable of a 65Mbps sync rate.

Most content streams fine, but I've noticed some of my higher bitrate rips that stream from my PC upstairs will drop out. It's usually 15-20Mbps bitrate rips that do this, which unfortunately is the majority of my content.

I live in a townhome built on a slab, so running Ethernet downstairs is not an option. I've also explored HPNA and Power-Line networking, but the two rooms are separated by AFCI breaker, so speeds rarely break 1-2Mbps.

MoCa (via NIM-100 devices) worked very well, but I've shuffled things around so that's not an option anymore.

I tried two 1st generation 802.11n bridges and didn't have good results.

So, my question is, if I were to place a high-end 802.11n 3 stream router downstairs in bridge mode and replace the Airport Extreme upstairs with an identical model, would I have more success? I'm not opposed to dropping $400 on a pair of 802.11ac routers if they will provide substantially higher or more reliable/consistent throughput.

What would the experts here suggest?

 

[thiggins]

Using a draft 11ac bridge is only going to help if you pair it with a draft 11ac router.

I'd try a three-stream bridge first, like the ASUS EA-N66 or TRENDnet TEW-680MB.

 

[sfx2000]

How is your Source PC connected? Ethernet or WiFi?

If on WiFi, you might be banging up against CSMA/CA limitations at higher bitrates if both are on the same AP/channel... if both the source and destination are on the same medium, it's twice the datarate over the air... (source sending, destination receiving on the same AP)

 

[mevans336]

How is your Source PC connected? Ethernet or WiFi?

If on WiFi, you might be banging up against CSMA/CA limitations at higher bitrates if both are on the same AP/channel... if both the source and destination are on the same medium, it's twice the datarate over the air... (source sending, destination receiving on the same AP)

The source PC is connected via GigE.

I ran across an interesting tidbit in an article on this site about 802.11n channels. I changed my 5GHz channel to 153 and wow, most devices sync higher and everything is much snappier. Even my iPad 3 speedtests now max out my 30Mbps connection whereas before they were very choppy and inconsistent. Neighbors on both sides of me have Airport Extreme routers, so I bet we were all defaulting to the same channel.

I'm going to try a few movies and if I still experience an issue, I think I'm going to give a 3-stream 802.11n bridge a shot.