Best possible network (3 routers) Please help.

[wezznco]

Hi everyone, first post on here, the site has helped me a lot already.

I have just bought a D-link Dir-855 Wireless N router it's dual band 2.4/5Ghz.

Because I'm stupid, I didn't realise that I also needed a modem to use the router, so I've now put my old Netgear DG834G in Modem mode and using that.

We just signed up to Sky Broadband a week ago and got sent through a new router, (wireless G basic thing).

So now here's the aim in our 4 floor house:
We have a computer downstairs that I need fast file transfer access to, and these are the only two computers that have wireless N capability.
The rest (3-4 laptops - iphones) all use Wireless G.

So my question is, using these 3 routers, how can I get the best transfer speeds from my computer (floor 4) to downstairs (basement). I heard I should separate wireless N and wireless G devices to prevent interference. As right now I'm connected via N/G 2.4Ghz and am only using the Dir-855 for wireless.

Thank you!

Sam

TLDR - How to have wireless N and wireless G networks broadcasting at the same time.

 

[thiggins]

The best way is to run Ethernet up to the 4th floor, then convert the 11g router to an access point. Second best is to use a pair of powerline network adapters instead of Ethernet.

Using bridging / repeating will give you very low speeds.

 

[wezznco]

Thanks for the reply!

I wanted to stay away from cables really..

If I convert the router to an 'access point' Does the wireless N router send internet to the wireless G and then the wireless G output it to everyone like a standard router? Just without the phone line cable?

I'd rather not spend more on wiring after buying the wireless N router.. but I'd be persueded if the speeds are much better? Do you know the kind of speeds you can get using powerlines?

Thankyou!

Sam

 

[wezznco]

Also, right now, using 2.4 G/N I get transfer speeds of 1.2mb/s to the computer downstairs.

 

[thiggins]

Converting a router to an access point won't allow it to wirelessly connect to another wireless router. For that, you need something that can do wireless bridging / repeating (WDS), which I don't believe that the DIR-855 supports and your cheapo G router probably doesn't either. Both devices must support bridging / repeating.

If you do use repeating, you'll also suffer at least 50% throughput reduction if you connect wirelessly to the "far end" device, which you would be doing on the 4th floor. This means your throughput would be around 500 kbps if you're now getting 1.2 Mbps with a wireless client up on 4.

HD Streaming Smackdown: Draft 11n vs. Powerline will give you an idea of what sort of speed connecting via powerline might provide.

One other alternative would be to use a wireless bridge like the Cisco / Linksys WET610N or D-Link DAP-1522 to connect back to the DIR-855. These don't use WDS, so can be used with any router. You'd then convert the G router to an access point and plug it into the bridge, which would connect it back to the main AP. But that connection would be limited to the 1 Mbps or so you now get using a wireless client. Powerline will do much better than that.

 

[stevech]

For a year+, I got Internet connectivity into the TV area where cat5 dare not go, via a Buffalo WiFi bridge. Worked fine. But with 2.4GHz getting so crowded, my choices were to spend a lot going to 5.8GHz with 802.11a or 802.11n. Costly.

So I bought a D-Link MoCA modem pair. $175 at Fry's (not cheap). Connects to Cable TV coax. Does a splendid job of providing almost 100Mbps net. Better than data over power lines due to noise, and it's slower, and the net yield is slower than MoCA.

To get WiFi on the far end, I could put in an ethernet switch and hook several things in, including a WiFi access point or WiFi router faked to be an Access Point.