Am I asking too much of my home network?

[thatwilsonguy]

As I think about all the devices connected to my network I have come to the realization that perhaps I am just asking too much of my home network.

At any given time there are about 14 things connected to my WRT1900AC via hard line, wifi, a gigabit switch, and a ex6200 used as a 5gz bridge. I suffer random network congestion, poor connections rates between devices and an issue where the connection to one of my TiVo boxes is broken just long enough to prevent it from consistently streaming from another TiVo. I've done my best to optimize settings but still have enough issues that its very frustrating. I would like to start adding some Smart Home items however I am concerned about the additional strain on my network and overall reliability. Do I just need more powerful hardware, or better utilize what I have?

 

[pete y testing]

we really dont have enough info on whats happening within your network at the time and if the congestion is lan based or isp congestion based , hw many actual users and what are they all trying to do at once thats causing the congestion as its a simple congeestion is caused by something and its not just a random event

the wrt1900ac has enough cpu speed and ram size so i can see moving to something else with just a bit more is going to resolve it

the linksys gui is horrid and you have about as much control as is par useless , i do note however that dd wrt is now available and thats a path you may want to investigate

so far more info plz

for info i run about 35 clients , 10 f them being smart home stuff and it all plays nice even with the wrt 1900ac , that is unless i let my son torrent uncontrolled then we get congestion

 

[CaptainSTX]

Something on your network isn't working the way it should.

I have 20 devices connected by Ethernet to my N66 including 4 Tivos and a Slingbox. In addition I have another 10 devices connected using WiFi. I never have any problems with the Tivos.

You need to test each link in your network to try and isolate the problem before deciding spending money for a bigger hammer (New Router ) will solve your problems.

 

[thatwilsonguy]

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad to see that my existing hardware should be able to support my needs.
I've included a rough map of my network, I'm sure there are a few more wireless devices connected that I'm forgetting.

There are three of us using the network and it is very typical that all three will be doing multiple things at the same time. A kind of worse case scenario would be me playing an online video game while also streaming a football game from a TiVo to my iPad (and possibly listening to another game through my phone) while my son is live streaming (upload) him playing an online video game while he also monitors his stream on a separate computer, all the while my wife is watching Netflix or streaming music while surfing the web.

We have a 100/10 Mbps cable connection that always speed tests between 85-120 Mbps. I have access to 200/15 however there is also fiber to home launching in a few months so I'm waiting to see its availability before I move up in speed as it would require me to buy a new modem for the faster cable speed.

I frequently have problems with my TiVo that is connected to the ex6200 either giving me "network speed too slow", or more often "the connection to the box was lost" when attempting to stream from box to box (both are premieres). I also have issues the Chromecast and Apple TV in the same general location. I have tried almost half a dozen different wifi adapters, bridges, repeaters to get these connections to be more stable. The location about 40 feet and one floor above my router location. Connecting a laptop to the ex6200 and doing a speed test typically pulls down 75+ Mbps. I haven't done an intranet speed test in a while but I have been able to get 400Mbps+ (seems too fast so I'm not sure about method I was using) when I first installed the WRT1900AC.

The final head scratcher is my LG G3 exacerbating these issues. I will be streaming a show from TiVo to TiVo and as soon as my phone connects to the network it crashes the stream and my Son will usually come sprinting up stairs asking if my phones Wifi is on.

 

[L&LD]

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...0-linksys-wrt1900ac-review-more-tests?start=2

I was going to include the results of another test running a mix of wireless client types plus wired routing, with a target of 24 hours. So far, however, the test has not been able to run more than five minutes or so without a client disconnect. But I think the problem is in my test setup, not the WRT1900AC. So that will have to wait for another time.

In your shoes, I would be running out right now to test an RT-AC68U in this environment. With and without Adaptive QoS enabled.

If what my Asus/RMerlin experience with past customers continues for you to be true too; your network will be a much happier place to be.

Parts of the following posts may be helpful too (for your current or future setups).

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573


http://www.snbforums.com/threads/lo...rvice-providers-in-ontario.29892/#post-232349


With your son's usage patterns, your upload speed may be limiting the rest of the network considerably. If you can bump up the Upload part of your plan, it may be worth a try.

Also, with more than a dozen 5GHz clients (and a mixture of 'slow' and fast devices in that mix), a tri radio router may be an even better choice for a happy co-existence between all users and devices.

And with QoS (of some sort) being needed on your network, I would also be looking at a router that has as much RAM and processor power as you can buy today (the RT-AC5300 being the obvious choice for me).

As you can see, there isn't a cut and dried solution for you. You may need to implement multiple suggestions to see improvements that you can live with for a while.

 

[thatwilsonguy]

I've really been happy with Asus networking equipment in the past and actually had a RT N66U that was killed by a storm that lead to my upgrade to the WRT1900AC (nostalgia struck hard, I still have two WRT54G's). So I have already been looking at both of the those Asus routers. My upstream in certainly a problem for streaming to Twitch. I have his stream set up to only use about 6 Mbps and my real world upstream is usually around 12 Mbps. Hopefully I will get a good idea how long a direct fiber line is going to take, if its more than 6 months I'll probably move to the faster cable speed until then.

 

[L&LD]

I've really been happy with Asus networking equipment in the past and actually had a RT N66U that was killed by a storm that lead to my upgrade to the WRT1900AC (nostalgia struck hard, I still have two WRT54G's). So I have already been looking at both of the those Asus routers. My upstream in certainly a problem for streaming to Twitch. I have his stream set up to only use about 6 Mbps and my real world upstream is usually around 12 Mbps. Hopefully I will get a good idea how long a direct fiber line is going to take, if its more than 6 months I'll probably move to the faster cable speed until then.

Even with 12Mbps on a speed test for upload, I think that 6Mbps may be more than what your ISP can sustain. I believe you're giving your son more than 95% of what your ISP and/or current router can actually provide for multiple devices.

Try a test if you can; with Twitch (I have no idea what this is!) not running, does your network have any issues? That answer may be key in guiding you to a better service package soon, or the need for more (router) hardware now.

 

[CaptainSTX]

The two things that jump out at me to try and change/ fix are eliminate the bridge that the Tivo is connected to. Either use its built in MOCA or better yet get it connected by using an Ethernet connection to your router or switch.

To further reduce the WiFi load I would connect your printer to your LAN using Ethernet. If the printer is a WiFi printer it is highly likely that it also has an Ethernet port on the back.

 

[thatwilsonguy]

I feel like there is a strong connection to my issues when he streams but they are also present when he isn't. I do feel like my phone issue is completely independent of the upload issue.

 

[L&LD]

The two things that jump out at me to try and change/ fix are eliminate the bridge that the Tivo is connected to. Either use its built in MOCA or better yet get it connected by using an Ethernet connection to your router or switch.

To further reduce the WiFi load I would connect your printer to your LAN using Ethernet. If the printer is a WiFi printer it is highly likely that it also has an Ethernet port on the back.

The bridge bothered me for a second too. But with only two devices connected via LAN (I assume), it is simply another couple of wireless clients.

The printer should not come into play at all (unless printing huge and complex documents is happening 'all the time').

 

[thatwilsonguy]

I have a LAN connection where the printer is I just need to buy another switch. It is currently connected to the PC that does the Twitch streaming but another switch would off load the other PS4, PS3 and printer from the WiFi. I really want to make the other TiVo wired (I'm pretty sure wireless streaming between boxes isn't officially supported by TiVo) however I have conflicting plans on what to do about that. Right now that TiVO, an Apple TV, and a Wireless HDMI transmitter are stuffed in a corner of our living rooms. I would like to move all of that to a shelf in a nearby hall closet I just need to run power to it (I would also run CAT6 so that would off load a lot more from the WiFi).

These things have been in the works for a while and I guess I never really took the time to realize how much this would free up the WiFi portion of my network.

The two things that jump out at me to try and change/ fix are eliminate the bridge that the Tivo is connected to. Either use its built in MOCA or better yet get it connected by using an Ethernet connection to your router or switch.

To further reduce the WiFi load I would connect your printer to your LAN using Ethernet. If the printer is a WiFi printer it is highly likely that it also has an Ethernet port on the back.

 

[L&LD]

I feel like there is a strong connection to my issues when he streams but they are also present when he isn't. I do feel like my phone issue is completely independent of the upload issue.

Not sure how the router handles his quota when it's not being used. Is it available for other devices?

The more I ponder this, the more I am convinced that I would reset All your wired and wireless equipment to factory defaults (including new ssid's) and keep adding devices until the issues reappear.

 

[thatwilsonguy]

I think I'll probably invest some time to tomorrow to do just that. I also found a Netgear gigabit switch that has usb ports built in which would actually solve another issue in that location. I really appreciate the help and if nothing else this will motivate me to move some more devices off my WiFi which is always preferred anyways.

Not sure how the router handles his quota when it's not being used. Is it available for other devices?

The more I ponder this, the more I am convinced that I would reset All your wired and wireless equipment to factory defaults (including new ssid's) and keep adding devices until the issues reappear.

 

[CaptainSTX]

I think I'll probably invest some time to tomorrow to do just that. I also found a Netgear gigabit switch that has usb ports built in which would actually solve another issue in that location. I really appreciate the help and if nothing else this will motivate me to move some more devices off my WiFi which is always preferred anyways.

If you have your old 54Gs around you can use them as switches. Just turn off the radios and DHCP and you are good to go. 100 Mbps connections will be fine for anything that isn't a backbone connection. I use two old 54Gs as switches in areas where I need more Ethernet ports than I have drops. The 54Gs are just solid work horses and their lack of memory of processor speed isn't a problem when they are used as switches.

 

[System Error Message]

The congestions, do they only happen on wifi?
With wireless AC you should expect 50% link speed usage, with wireless N it would be 30%.
Avoid wifi to wifi transfers and make sure your bridge isnt on the same channel. If your wifi is congested than you are doing bridging wrong as i explained in many threads that a proper wifi bridge is done with a radio dedicated to it connected with directional antennas and a wifi AP is connected by ethernet to the other end of the bridge. Bridging as you have done yields poor performance.

You should identify where the bottleneck is and try to solve it. It could be a device's NIC is saturated or the processor being maxed out. If a NIC is maxed out than using 2 NICs and doing LAGG would help.

 

[Nullity]

...
With wireless AC you should expect 50% link speed usage, with wireless N it would be 30%.
...

I get ~200Mbit from a 300Mbit 802.11n phy link-rate using my RT-N66U . 30% seems to be a bit off, considering that I get more than double that with Linux drivers.

 

[L&LD]

SEM, and the bridge must be on the same channel. Can't connect otherwise.

 

[System Error Message]

I get ~200Mbit from a 300Mbit 802.11n phy link-rate using my RT-N66U . 30% seems to be a bit off, considering that I get more than double that with Linux drivers.

On some good routers and in a good day you can get 60% of the link.

SEM, and the bridge must be on the same channel. Can't connect otherwise.

This would explain the poor performance the OP has been having. He would need to switch to a dedicated bridging setup with AP connected to it using ethernet.

best way he should set this up is with switch -- bridge AP -- bridge AP -- AP. This way the bridge APs use their own channel, the 2 APs use seperate channels.

If the content providers are placed on the WRT1900AC and the clients on wifi/ switch than it will reduce bottleneck but a central switch would be preferred so getting a bigger switch can help and if you need more than 1 Gb/s for the server than you're looking at multiple NICs and a smart switch and non windows OS.

 

[Nullity]

On some good routers and in a good day you can get 60% of the link.

You speak as if you have conducted large-scale tests. If you have not, and are relying mostly on subjective, small-scale testing, you are being dangerously naive and misinformative.

 

[L&LD]

This would explain the poor performance the OP has been having. He would need to switch to a dedicated bridging setup with AP connected to it using ethernet.

best way he should set this up is with switch -- bridge AP -- bridge AP -- AP. This way the bridge APs use their own channel, the 2 APs use seperate channels.

If the bridge is being used as what I believe to be a bridge to be (wireless connection to wired clients), your statement above makes no sense for how the OP has their network setup.

As it is, the 'bridge' is simply another client to the main router. No additional drain on performance than any other client connected directly to the main router would endure.

Your recommendation makes no sense from a dollars and performance standpoint.