Best DraftN wireless router available? (video streaming)

[adam1v]

I have just purchased a Linksys DMA 2200 which can run on dual band 5ghz wireless connectivity, providing I have a matching router.
Im primarily using this for streaming video (and HD content) over my network.

I currently have an Netgear DG834PN and would like to swap over to the best DraftN router I could possibly buy.
During the video streaming, I will not be using the wireless to surf the net/copy files etc, since I only have a laptop which uses the wireless connectivity.

Does anyone have any recommendations?
I was considering the Linksys WRT610N (dual band version) or the DLink DIR-855.
It doenst necessarily have to replace my netgear modem/router, if it was just a wireless router I guess I could switch the wireless off of the netgear.

Are these the two top dogs? Any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[JeffS]

I have a similar question.

I have a similar question.

I think I've read every draft-N review on SNB, and I've also looked at zdnet reviews, Amazon user reviews, and Newegg reviews. From what I can tell, the only truly reliable wireless router out there is the Linksys WRT54G version 4 or earlier (or the WRT54GL). Some other devices also sound like they work pretty well when running DD-WRT firmware, but large sample-size feedback on that is hard to come by.

For example, I just tried and returned an Airport Extreme, which is reported to be one of the fastest and most stable routers available. I liked in Tim's SNB review that the throughput was very stable with no dropouts. It did have good wireless range, but it would drop my connection when streaming video from the Internet for more than 2 or 3 minutes. It also had a number of other annoyances that I won't detail here. The old Linksys works flawlessly; it's just on the slow side versus 802.11n. I suppose I could have spent a few more days fussing around with the Airport's security ettings and other items, but I really don't have the time, and I didn't pay $180 for a premium router just to spend a weekend debugging it.

Another example- I tried a pair of Netgear WNR854s, but couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get one to work as an AP only or to run in bridge mode (I just need a fast bridge between two points). They also have terrible customer reviews on Newegg that suggest they are buggy and prone to quick deaths. So, back they went.

If you read the user feedback on the DIR-855 and the WRT610, at least 20% of the users report frequently dropped connections, totally dead devices, or other issues. Additionally, if you look at Tim's SNB review of the 610, it has significant throughput dropouts that it seems to me would affect video streaming.

My WRT54Gv4, on the other hand, is not fast enough for high-def streaming, but it needs resetting at most once a year, and that's usually after an AC power glitch.

So, at this point, I'm just back to my WRT54G/WGPS606 combo (the 606 is very stable, but again, G-only) and I'll wait to stream HD video until something decent comes along.

I'm getting tempted to pick up a powerline adapter set based on the new Intellon 6300 chipset, but TrendNET seems to be the only company with such an offering, and I can't buy them locally. The 6300 promises faster data rates as well as lower latency, and it also makes the boxes a lot cheaper- the new Trendnet 302 (?) is only $110 for the pair.

In summary, I really have the same question as adam1v: is there a good, fast, reliable draft-N router or AP out there? I can use the Linksys as a router so I really only need the video streaming N capability. I have read some other threads in the forums so I am guessing the answer is something expensive.

Thanks everyone.

Jeff

ps did the forums get wiped a while back? I can't find my old posts.

 

[bwana]

what didnt you like about the extreme? I am currently using it as an AP (set to bridge mode) set to 5 ghz only and getting 270 mbps within 15 ft. It drops to 108 mbps after that (-70dB).

 

[tipstir]

what didnt you like about the extreme? I am currently using it as an AP (set to bridge mode) set to 5 ghz only and getting 270 mbps within 15 ft. It drops to 108 mbps after that (-70dB).

Which brand/model are you using?

 

[JeffS]

I was using the Extreme with Gigabit Ethernet- the newest version.

The biggest, but not the only, problem was that it wouldn't handle video streaming from the Internet reliably. After 2-3 minutes, it would drop the connection. Using NetMeter I'd watch the data transfer hum along at 2-3 Mbps and then drop to zero.

I suppose it's possible that it's an incompatibility with the other end of the bridge- the Netgear WGPS606- but given that this problem goes away when using the WRT54G in place of the Extreme, I didn't want to spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. When I buy Apple products, I expect them to "just work." My Linksys+Netgear setup "just works," albeit a little slowly.

Oh, also, I tried replacing the WGPS606 with an Airport Express 11n, and found another set of problems. I guess the Express is just a lousy 11n client because I could never get more than 20 Mbps between it and the Extreme, and this is only a 25 foot span with 2 walls and 2 open doorways. My WGPS606 didn't do a whole lot worse than the Express, and the Express more than once needed to be rebooted in order to find the base station. I hope it's more reliable for music streaming.

I also didn't like how hot the Extreme ran. Heat kills electronics. I know Steve Jobs hates fans, but fans keep electronics cool. I had the same problem with my Apple TV- it got much hotter than the Extreme. The Apple TV is another bad Apple experience; like the Extreme, it went back to the store. It would freeze up any time I tried to stream video from the LAN or the Internet- even hard-wired to my Linksys router or the PC sourcing the video- and it had numerous other bugs, too. The thing that gets me is if you look on Apple's support forums, you find lots of problems with the Extreme, the Apple TV, and other products, and yet those same posters say "oh, well, it's not that annoying to reboot once a day or have 5-minute lockups when watching video. Hopefully they'll fix it with new software someday."

Anyway, my network might be able to handle DVD streaming now. The WRT54G used to have to handle both uplink (from the NAS) and downlink (to the PS3) wirelessly, but I've drilled a hole in the floor and run a cable from the WRT54G to the PS3, so now it only has to pull data from the NAS wirelessly. That should double the wireless throughput and might solve my short-term problem. Now I just have to wait for a good reliable draft-N access point/bridge solution to stream HD content. Until then, there's nothing wrong with popping Blu-ray discs into the PS3.

Jeff

 

[scotty]

I have just purchased a Linksys DMA 2200 which can run on dual band 5ghz wireless connectivity, providing I have a matching router.
Im primarily using this for streaming video (and HD content) over my network.

As Tim will no doubt remind you, even wireless N is not ideal for streaming HD. He has a good article on it a while back and noted that you have to have pretty ideal conditions for it to work well. I've tried streaming HD over wireless on a few occasions, and I've never had spectacular results. I recently helped a friend of mine do a bit of HD streaming with a basic DLNA setup over N - we had pretty ideal conditions and still experiences a few blips in the movies.

But the WRT610 and DIR655 seem to be the most popular contenders in the draft-N arena. I have a 655 personally and have been fairly impressed with it. Mind you, I only run it as an access point on top of pfsense. I stream a fair bit of video content, but over good ol' [Gig] ethernet.

 

[thiggins]

I was considering the Linksys WRT610N (dual band version) or the DLink DIR-855.

I would choose the WRT610N over the DIR-855. But neither will probably provide flawless HD streaming, particularly if you are going any distance and especially if you are using 5 GHz.

 

[thiggins]

Another example- I tried a pair of Netgear WNR854s, but couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get one to work as an AP only or to run in bridge mode (I just need a fast bridge between two points). They also have terrible customer reviews on Newegg that suggest they are buggy and prone to quick deaths. So, back they went.

You might have done better with WNHDE111's, if your distance isn't too far. I didn't know that WNR854T's could be set to client mode.

I'm getting tempted to pick up a powerline adapter set based on the new Intellon 6300 chipset, but TrendNET seems to be the only company with such an offering, and I can't buy them locally. The 6300 promises faster data rates as well as lower latency, and it also makes the boxes a lot cheaper- the new Trendnet 302 (?) is only $110 for the pair.

Might work, might not. See the article that Scotty linked.

ps did the forums get wiped a while back? I can't find my old posts.

Forums were not wiped, no. Are you referring to the in-article comments? Those have been disabled.

 

[JeffS]

Tim,

Thanks for the comments. I did read your streaming video article (HD vs Powerline) and I thought about the 5 GHz bridge option. When testing 5 GHz using Airport Extreme and Express here in the house, I found lower data rates than when using 2.4 GHz. Granted the Express is not a great client, but it's a datapoint nonetheless. The WNHDE111 also gets bad marks from user reviews in terms of poor reliability.

If you haven't tested the new Intellon 6300 chipset, I am very curious to see if it's any better than the older 6000 chipset, upon which most of the 200 Mbps solutions are today based.

I found my old forum posts, so I'm not sure why I couldn't see them the other day when I was digging.

Thanks again.

 

[tipstir]

What about the new IP7000 CPUs with 500MHz when do you think Tim they'll hit DLINK by? DIR-1055