Do I need a N router? Do you?

[aichemist]

hello,

new to the forum. Well I have a d-link 624 router G signal of course.
I have 2 wired computers, and 1 wireless desktop and 1 wireless notebook connected from my brother. I had an extra computer before next to the TV which is 30-50 feet apart from the router, and through 2-3 walls.

What I want to do is streaming avi, mkv, videos from the 624 router wireless to the computer next to the tv (30- 50 feet). I did that before on at athlon 1.4 gig with a 54G wireless pci card. Normal days, i get like 24 mbp with no traffic. However, when I download at the same time as I am streaming, 2 brothers going on internet, I get down to 5 mbp sometimes. People download alot these days, and so do I.

I also have a Voip phone, and when I download at 150mbp/sec, my angry mom talking on the phone with someoen in Hong Kong will be mad

After stating these facts, I am down to some options.
1. Buy those big antenna 6db ? for my d-link 624 and see if i can expand the range on the router without spending much.
2. Or I can invest on a new d-link 655 and run in mix mode and see the new router is better for range and stability.
3. Buy a new d-link 655 and pci adapter and run in N mode, and take my brother out of misery running a G notebook wirless card. and Make him buy a N adapter.

Cause 655 is said to be able to direct traffic, can you divert traffic to streaming videos ? Or is it just for Voip?

This is a long message. Sorry guys.

 

[scotty]

I vote the 'get the 655' route. Worth it for the QoS alone. The extra bandwidth and range of 11N would simply be an added bonus.

Even without an N adaptor, you'd still be doing pretty good with the 655's QoS abilities. You can manually prioritize traffic to your heart's content, so you can always give yourself or your important apps like your VOIP phone the priority. Throw some N adaptors in and you're laughing.

As far as what you can set, you can let it do things automatically for you, or you can set things up manually. Most of what I've read says the automatic mode is quite good, but you can always go about things on your own. You can get pretty granular with the 655's QoS, so you can prioritize traffic based on protocols, sources, or destinations, so pretty much anything you want. Like i said the auto mode is supposed to work well though and most reviews I read of the 655 before I bought it said auto is fine.

 

[aichemist]

Would I be getting similar issues I have with my d-link 624, where downloading at 150 k, my signal strenght at 50 feet drops to 5 mbp when trying to stream =(..............

I am suspecting the 655 will be able to handle this =P

Also, the so called "voip phone" i have, actually has a physical device that attaches to the router, gets a mac address, and than shoots out a telephone line to the phone, it actually has a phone number inside so it can pick up calls. So can a 655 Q0s prioritize to mac address(or address) assigned to the router? Cause I have no clue how to to set ports or anything for that thing that is close to a "voip phone"

 

[thiggins]

Welcome aichemist!

24 Mbps is about the maximum you can get from 11g with strong signal and no neighboring networks. Sounds like you are bandwidth limited, which is definitely something draft 11n can help with. Higher gain antennas won't help increase bandwidth.

Traffic prioritization can help somewhat, if the total bandwidth requirements are less than available bandwidth. Note that the Ubicom StreamEngine auto Qos (used in the DIR-655) primarily manages uplink bandwidth. It can only control downlink by holding off ACKs, which is isn't very elegant.

To get the higher bandwidth from draft 11n, you'll need 11n clients, preferably from the same manufacturer and product family. Others will work, but not at optimum performance.

You will not get maximum throughput improvement using an 11g client with a draft 11n router. You will, at best, get maximum 11g throughput, i.e. in the mid- 20 Mbps.

Finally, do not run a mixed draft 11n / 11g network. Our tests show that both the draft 11n and 11g clients will lose throughput, with the 11g client losing more.

 

[aichemist]

Thanks everyone for some quick replies. Thiggins, I did read the article on 655 as well and I did read that there is signiciant drop on both N and G in mix mode.

Down to the money business. I have 2 wireless pci G, and my brothers notebook is on G too. I don't expect to change the whole wireless to N at this point (I might).

If i buy the 655 running on G mode, would I suspect a gain in range and not losing signal strength at 50 feet when streaming (the computer next to the tv). Eventually I want to change everythign to N, but planning to buy a htpc is bleeding out the cost at the start. Might be christmas before I change the pci adapter.

Would I be wasting the 655 to extreme because i'm running in G mode. If i can get some constant speed at 50 feet when streaming, its not bad for me to start investing. Whats the point of an htpc and 40 inch lcd if you can't stream properly. =(..

 

[scotty]

Don't expect huge range or performance gains if you're running the 655 in G. Slight gains maybe, but generally negligible.

The 655 still have pretty decent QoS capabilities, so it's not a total waste. But you do definitely want to move to N in your case as range and overall speed is the big concern.

 

[thiggins]

In general, don't count on any wireless performance improvement, and don't be surprised if you get worse performance when running 11g clients with draft 11n routers. The manufacturers are not focusing on tuning 11g client performance at this point and maybe never. Remember, they want you to upgrade to draft 11n!

 

[Brandon]

I currently run both, but the people running G surf the web and check e-mail, so bandwith loss isn't an issue. If you're going for full bandwith for everyone it may get costly, and depeding on your laptop, bulky (I hatteee external adapters).