After much research: More confused than ever

[FloorPizza]

So I've read just about every review of every piece of wireless hardware reviewed on smallnetbuilder, a ton of the forum posts, and the "how to buy a wireless router-short version" as well as the long version. And I'm more confused than ever.

Here's my situation:

We're moving in to a neighborhood that has a ton of wireless networks. So I'm thinking I want a dual band router, to start.

Devices will be: two computers and an HP Photosmart Premium printer hard wired to the router in the den, which is where the cable modem will be. Occasionally a laptop will be hard wired, too.

The rest of the devices will be wireless, as the house isn't ethernet wired. There will be an Xbox, TiVo, and Wii connected to a wireless bridge in the living room.

In the bed room, there will be a TiVo connected to a wireless bridge, but I want the bridge to have a multi-port switch on it for future expansion.

So basically I have a small wired gigabit network that needs to have two wireless bridges connected, with the ability of adding wireless laptops to the network on occasion.

We will be transferring a ton of video over the network; I have my main computer set up to archive all of my TiVo recordings (the Tivo's are HD multi tuners), and we'll also be watching NetFlix and Amazon streamed movies over the Tivos, as well. The cable modem will be hard wired to the gigabit wireless router in the den, so all incoming video will have to be streamed wirelessly for playback.

The total range of the network doesn't need to be very long. It's not a large house, and it's all one level. I would guess the max range from the router to the furthest device will be 15 feet and two walls. However, I would like to stay with a two band device in case I need to use any legacy 2.4 ghz devices.

After all this reading and research, I'm convinced I know even less now than before I began.

Any help with suggested components would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I'm leaning toward the D-Link DAP-1522 Xtreme N Duo Wireless Bridge/Access Point for the two needed wireless bridges, as it's dual band and includes a four port gigabit switch. Any reason to *not* go with this one? I'm aware of the huge WEP and WPA performance hit, but I'm going to be using WPA2. It does look like it takes a good hit for WPA2, as well, but I'm just not seeing any other good .n bridges around...

I'm still waaaaaaaaaaaaaay far away from picking a router, though. Hmm. Maybe I should bite the bullet, and go for the NETGEAR WNDR3700 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router on a leap of faith. Now if the 'egg would just get it in stock. I'd much rather get a proven trustworthy router, but the more I read about them, the less a "clear winner" there seems to be.

 

[thiggins]

What is confusing you in the research that you have done?

Why do you think that the WNDR3700 is so great?

All properly-designed draft 11n routers drop to 11g rates when using WEP or WPA TKIP.

 

[FloorPizza]

What is confusing you in the research that you have done?

Why do you think that the WNDR3700 is so great?

All properly-designed draft 11n routers drop to 11g rates when using WEP or WPA TKIP.

The confusing part is that there just isn't one clear winner... they each have their strengths/weaknesses, and it's so hard to determine which hardware's strengths/weaknesses best match the setup I'm trying to do.

As for the WNDR3700, that was a statement made in frustration. I'm really looking forward to your review on it.

I remember reading where you wrote that about the WEP and TKIP data rates now.. just got jumbled in with the rest of the info I'm trying to cram in to the noggin...

I've been reading some good things about the DIR-825 rev B1's ability to stream HD video on the 5 ghz band. One post in particular on dlink's forum says that he can stream HD video without interruption, but he doesn't state how far he is from the router.

Can the B1 hardware version be identified on the outside of the box? I'd like to know I'm getting the B1 hardware before buying (if I go with this one).

Edit: here's a link to the dlink message thread about the HD video streaming, as well as some other enlightening info on the DIR-825. http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=7255.0

 

[thiggins]

The confusing part is that there just isn't one clear winner... they each have their strengths/weaknesses, and it's so hard to determine which hardware's strengths/weaknesses best match the setup I'm trying to do.

Ah. That's not confusion. That's refusal to accept reality. There are no perfect products. Every single one has compromises.

As for the WNDR3700, that was a statement made in frustration. I'm really looking forward to your review on it.

Don't hold your breath. It won't be a miracle product. No wireless router is.

I've been reading some good things about the DIR-825 rev B1's ability to stream HD video on the 5 ghz band. One post in particular on dlink's forum says that he can stream HD video without interruption, but he doesn't state how far he is from the router.

See end comment below.

Can the B1 hardware version be identified on the outside of the box? I'd like to know I'm getting the B1 hardware before buying (if I go with this one).

Yes. D-Link shows product revs on the outside of the box, unlike Cisco/ Linksys.

Edit: here's a link to the dlink message thread about the HD video streaming, as well as some other enlightening info on the DIR-825. http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=7255.0

I'm getting a banned message right now. But I think it could be a problem with their server.

Your basic problem is that you know (from all the SNB reading you've been doing) that you are on thin ice trying to set up a video-intensive wireless network. If you don't, then you should. Wireless, even draft 11n and HD video are not a winning combination. And even less so in a crowded 2.4 GHz environment. And 5 GHz isn't the answer, either, even if your range requirements are modest.

The main problem is that 802.11n has higher bandwidth than 11g, but it also has higher throughput variation. And not just little throughput wiggles, but big multi-second drops to single Mbps. Unless you have seconds of buffer on the receiver, you're going to have problems.

The reason for the high variation is higher bit error rate. I've been told that this can be lowered significantly by using techniques such as forward error correction. But this lowers maximum speed in order to improve reliability. And consumer router manufacturers optimize products for maximum speed, not maximum reliability because that is what they say consumers want.

I am convinced that it is going to take an application-specific video wireless solution to provide satisfactory HD video streaming. So far, there is only one manufacturer with such a product, Ruckus Wireless' MediaFlex.

But their solution is specifically optimized for IPTV and UDP transmission. So optimized, in fact, that they won't provide it for review.

If you want the best chance of success, bite the bullet and pull some CAT5e. Next best is MoCA coax, then HomePlug AV powerline.

 

[FloorPizza]

Tim, thanks for the info.

I pulled cat5e in my last house, but unfortunately the new house is going to be a rental, so pulling cable and cutting holes isn't an option, unfortunately (yeah, I already asked the landlord about it when I saw it wasn't wired for ethernet).

Most of the time, I'll be able to buffer (if not completely transfer) the HD content to the TiVo prior to playback, but it would be nice to be able to transfer HD video on the fly for any last minute video selections.

The Netflix, Amazon, (or whatever) incoming video stream is going to be limited to the rather slow cable rate they have in the town I'm moving to: 10mbs. So that should stream at full data rate, I hope!

Maybe I'll just sneak some cat5e under the carpet...