htismaqe
Very Senior Member
I'm looking for some validation...
Our environment here at home is very mobile. All of my family are heavy tablet and phone users, plus the girls have iPods.
The only fixed devices on the network are:
I had originally collocated my NAS with the PS3 and router, due to proximity and the need for wired connectivity (see diagram "current.png").
However, in recent months I've been working more and more with VMs and large disk images on my iMac. I would really like to get the NAS and iMac connected via gigabit ethernet. In addition, I've worked on a couple of PCs for extended family members lately and having to rig up a temporary wireless bridge is a hassle. What I'm considering for a permanent solution is depicted in diagram "proposed.png".
Here is what I am considering - I want to take my old Netgear WNDR3700, load DD-WRT, and configure it as a client bridge. Then I can put the NAS and iMac right next to each other. The only potential drawback I can think of is that the 3700 is a 2-stream radio while the iMac is an Atheros 9380 3-stream. However, I wonder if the transmit power of the 3700 overcomes that somewhat - the signal strength of connecting it may compensate for the loss of 1 stream in terms of throughput. Also, my Internet connection is only 30Mbit and I've eliminated the bandwidth bottleneck between my iMac and the NAS, so a reduction in wireless throughput might not matter.
All of the other devices in the house already connect to the NAS via 2.4Ghz wireless at low N speeds (except the PS3, which is very rarely used to stream music via DLNA) so I don't see this as being an issue either.
Feedback?
Our environment here at home is very mobile. All of my family are heavy tablet and phone users, plus the girls have iPods.
The only fixed devices on the network are:
- Two Netgear WGR614 routers, functioning as 2.4Ghz access points
- The mother-in-law's PC, connected via WLAN because running cable is not possible.
- My iMac, connected via WLAN because running cable is somewhat inconvenient.
- A Playstation 3, connected via cable because it is about 3ft from the fiber NID.
I had originally collocated my NAS with the PS3 and router, due to proximity and the need for wired connectivity (see diagram "current.png").
However, in recent months I've been working more and more with VMs and large disk images on my iMac. I would really like to get the NAS and iMac connected via gigabit ethernet. In addition, I've worked on a couple of PCs for extended family members lately and having to rig up a temporary wireless bridge is a hassle. What I'm considering for a permanent solution is depicted in diagram "proposed.png".
Here is what I am considering - I want to take my old Netgear WNDR3700, load DD-WRT, and configure it as a client bridge. Then I can put the NAS and iMac right next to each other. The only potential drawback I can think of is that the 3700 is a 2-stream radio while the iMac is an Atheros 9380 3-stream. However, I wonder if the transmit power of the 3700 overcomes that somewhat - the signal strength of connecting it may compensate for the loss of 1 stream in terms of throughput. Also, my Internet connection is only 30Mbit and I've eliminated the bandwidth bottleneck between my iMac and the NAS, so a reduction in wireless throughput might not matter.
All of the other devices in the house already connect to the NAS via 2.4Ghz wireless at low N speeds (except the PS3, which is very rarely used to stream music via DLNA) so I don't see this as being an issue either.
Feedback?