Routers and firmware

[ian1975]

Hello to you all,

Just receive the RT-N66 today and I'm testing the Netgear R6300 right now. I'm having trouble to stream HD movies wirelessly to the third floor and the router is in the basement. I use also a Netgear dual band extender too but no help.
What are my solutions?

-buy another Netgear AC router and do a bridge mode?
-Try the RT-N66 and add another one RT-N66 or RC-AC66 as bridge or access point? what is the best firmware for the ASUS router right now?
-Powerline on the third floor?
-last but not tempting solution is to hardwire CAT6 through the walls?

Any ideas? I have a lot of Apple products but after testing 3 airport extreme and 2 express around the house. It doesn't work either.

Thanks

Ian

 

[RMerlin]

HD streaming through three floors will be quite difficult. A 802.11ac based bridge won't help much, because the 5 GHz signal will have even more problems reaching through those floors. Maybe if you put the bridge only one floor up, it might be able to help (giving you 802.11ac between two floors, but using the longer range 2.4 GHz to reach the third floor), but that will depend on your house layout.

My recommendation would be to either locate the wifi router on the second floor, or to go with powerline adapters to extend all the way to the third floor (and then put another router up there to cover that floor). The powerline will probably give you the best performance overall.

 

[ian1975]

Thanks RMerlin,

You answer very fast.

1) What is the best router for my needs right now?
RT-N66 > RT-AC > Netgear R6300? Which firmware that you recommend for the RT-N66 (difference between yours vs Tomato)?
I saw the router chart here, is the RT-AC better than the RT-N66?

2) Which powerline is the best? Netgear 500mbps?

3) Can I use my airport extreme with the RT-N66 as an access point?

Thanks

Ian

 

[WilliamY]

Using wireless to stream HD is always the bottleneck, no matter what you try to do. Only wired connection works.

 

[RogerSC]

Have you considered MoCA? MoCA uses the cable TV coax already in your walls, and can give you a reasonable "hard" connection for streaming media. I was planning on using 5GHz. for streaming media until I came up against the reality of the limited range. Now I'm using MoCA, which is working really well for me in getting a network connection at my entertainment center (at the opposite end of my house from my computer, modem, and router).

 

[WilliamY]

Have you considered MoCA? MoCA uses the cable TV coax already in your walls, and can give you a reasonable "hard" connection for streaming media. I was planning on using 5GHz. for streaming media until I came up against the reality of the limited range. Now I'm using MoCA, which is working really well for me in getting a network connection at my entertainment center (at the opposite end of my house from my computer, modem, and router).

Hi, RogerSC

Which MoCA device are you currently using? Since there is lack of information about how to set the pair, Could you please give me the details how your set up your networkings by using them?

Thanks,

William

 

[RMerlin]

1) What is the best router for my needs right now?
RT-N66 > RT-AC > Netgear R6300?

I'm not familiar with the Netgear router, so I can't comment on that one. Must say my past experiences with Netgear products in general wasn't a positive one, but they might have improved since then.

Between the N66U and AC66U, it depends on your budget and your actual needs. Unless you were going to have another 802.11ac router to bridge it with, it's probably not worth it at the moment.

Which firmware that you recommend for the RT-N66 (difference between yours vs Tomato)?

Both projects target different needs. Mine focuses on improving on the original firmware without changing the way it basically works, while Tomato will offer more features, and an improved QoS interface.

In terms of wifi however, all recent versions should be pretty much the same, as they all use the same driver now.

I saw the router chart here, is the RT-AC better than the RT-N66?

Depends on your definition of "better". It's better if you actually have 802.11ac devices to connect to it (which you probably don't at this time, nobody is shipping 802.11ac network interfaces yet). When it comes to the rest, it's pretty much the same. The 802.11ac might be slightly behind in terms of performance and stability as it uses newer driver that does not seem 100% mature yet, but it's not a huge difference, and it will get better over time.

Also note that while Tomato is available for the RT-N66U, it's not available for the RT-AC66U, and no word on if/when it would support it. And on the other hand, DD-WRT is being developed for the RT-AC66U, but might never be supported for the RT-N66U due to the nvram issues.

Tim recommends people stick to the RT-N66U for now since 802.11ac is currently unused, and there are still doubts on whether its draft status will cause compatibility issues in the future or not. Personally I recommend people get the AC66U if they can afford the extra 20$ it usually costs and don't need Tomato.

So there's no definitive answer there I'm afraid.

2) Which powerline is the best? Netgear 500mbps?

I only have one friend using powerline adapters, and he went for pretty basic ones, so I wouldn't know which to recommend. See if Tim reviewed any of them.

3) Can I use my airport extreme with the RT-N66 as an access point?

I guess you could, provided you connect it through either Ethernet or Powerline.

 

[RogerSC]

Hi, RogerSC

Which MoCA device are you currently using? Since there is lack of information about how to set the pair, Could you please give me the details how your set up your networkings by using them?

Thanks,

William

I'm using the old Netgear kit (MOCA COAX-ETHERNET ADAPTER KIT
MCAB1001). Setting them up was really easy, there's information on the Netgear web site. All I really had to do was follow instructions, in brief:

1. Run the incoming cable TV coax through one of the MoCA adapters then on into the cable modem, and same MoCA adapter also connects to a router LAN port.

2. At the other end, at my entertainment center, the coax goes from the wall through the MoCA adapter on that end, then into the set top box. And that MoCA adapter provides an ethernet port for my Roku box.

3. I also have a 3rd MoCA adapter for a desktop in a bedroom that also has cable TV, and that connects the same way as the one at the entertainment center. And provides an internet port for the desktop.

I have had an AP connected to the MoCA adapter at my entertainment center for a while, and that worked really well. Provided wireless there as well as the connection for my Roku box. With the rt-n66u I don't need extra wireless there, the Asus covers the whole house.

There was no configuration to do with the MoCA boxes, just connected things up and they worked. I'm not using the MoCA adapter encryption functionality at this point, might in the future if that becomes an issue.

All has been working very well for more than year now. I did a test to see what the throughput was, and I got about 85Mb/sec, which is good enough for streaming media and also for internet for the desktop in the other bedroom. I'm very happy with it.

 

[WilliamY]

I'm using the old Netgear kit (MOCA COAX-ETHERNET ADAPTER KIT
MCAB1001). Setting them up was really easy, there's information on the Netgear web site. All I really had to do was follow instructions, in brief:

1. Run the incoming cable TV coax through one of the MoCA adapters then on into the cable modem, and same MoCA adapter also connects to a router LAN port.

2. At the other end, at my entertainment center, the coax goes from the wall through the MoCA adapter on that end, then into the set top box. And that MoCA adapter provides an ethernet port for my Roku box.

3. I also have a 3rd MoCA adapter for a desktop in a bedroom that also has cable TV, and that connects the same way as the one at the entertainment center. And provides an internet port for the desktop.

I have had an AP connected to the MoCA adapter at my entertainment center for a while, and that worked really well. Provided wireless there as well as the connection for my Roku box. With the rt-n66u I don't need extra wireless there, the Asus covers the whole house.

There was no configuration to do with the MoCA boxes, just connected things up and they worked. I'm not using the MoCA adapter encryption functionality at this point, might in the future if that becomes an issue.

All has been working very well for more than year now. I did a test to see what the throughput was, and I got about 85Mb/sec, which is good enough for streaming media and also for internet for the desktop in the other bedroom. I'm very happy with it.

Thanks for the information. Where do you get this kit? how much does it cost you? I'm living in Canada, I'm not sure whether I can get this one or not.

William

 

[ian1975]

Thanks to you all,

-Yesterday, I tried a Dlink 500 mbps powerline and the result wasn't good compare to the Netgear R6300 wireless for 1080p HD streaming.

-The Netgear Moca is sold out on line and is not available in Canada.

-I will test the RT-N66 tonight. Is there any avantage to put another RT-N66 on the third floor that is where my Mac mini is connected to my HT system or 2 X RT-AC66 (basement and third floor) to improve the wifi signal in bridging mode.

-The last solution is to hardwire...

-By the way can Apple TV access to my Synology NAS.

Thank you for your answers.

Ian

 

[RMerlin]

-I will test the RT-N66 tonight. Is there any avantage to put another RT-N66 on the third floor that is where my Mac mini is connected to my HT system or 2 X RT-AC66 (basement and third floor) to improve the wifi signal in bridging mode.

I would put the second router on the second floor rather.

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

-The Netgear Moca is sold out on line and is not available in Canada.

The Netgear MoCA boxes work perfectly. Once set up (and I do recommend configuring them securely), they just work, and you never have to think about them again.

Try to find a pair on eBay or Amazon. There are other brands as well, such as Actiontec and D-Link (neither of which I've tried).

 

[ian1975]

Hi RMerlin,

Correct me if misunderstand, by bridging two ASUS modems, I will increase the wifi signal and coverage right? If so, would it be better to use two RT-AC routers or stick with the RT-N66 routers?

Thanks

Ian

 

[WilliamY]

The Netgear MoCA boxes work perfectly. Once set up (and I do recommend configuring them securely), they just work, and you never have to think about them again.

Try to find a pair on eBay or Amazon. There are other brands as well, such as Actiontec and D-Link (neither of which I've tried).

Hi,

Can the Cable Modem be set to Bridge mode?, Mine Cable Modem is set to bridge mode, then connect to RT-N66U router, I'm just wondering using MoCA adapter how the device in another room get the LAN IP?

William

 

[aaronwt]

Using wireless to stream HD is always the bottleneck, no matter what you try to do. Only wired connection works.

Wireless works fine with streaming BD ISOs if your network is setup properly. A proper network will have more than one AP to make sure you get an excellent signal and not be overstaurate. I have zero difficulty streaming BD ISOs over wireless using Aps and a wireless bridge.

Now streaming wirelessly is not the norm for me sinec I typically connect to my gigabit backbone, but wireless works with no issue for HD content for me, including high bitrate BD ISOs. And now that I switched to an Asus RT-N56 and an EA-N66, I can get even more speed than I could when I used five Dlink APs.

 

[RMerlin]

Hi RMerlin,

Correct me if misunderstand, by bridging two ASUS modems, I will increase the wifi signal and coverage right? If so, would it be better to use two RT-AC routers or stick with the RT-N66 routers?

802.11ac uses the 5 GHz band, which has more limited range. Therefore the bridge between the two routers would be more problematic with 802.11ac than by using 802.11n over 2.4 GHz, which has a longer range. If there are a lot of obstacles between the two routers, 2.4 GHz-based bridging will provide better performance.

A 802.11ac bridge is great if you only have a few obstacles between both routers, so they can still maintain a fairly high interconnect speed between the two routers. Otherwise, a laptop would get a high connection speed to router #2, but then would get stalled by a slow connection back to router #1.

Bridging them will allow you to cover two different areas. It does not increase the signal in itself.

 

[RogerSC]

Thanks for the information. Where do you get this kit? how much does it cost you? I'm living in Canada, I'm not sure whether I can get this one or not.

William

I got my Netgear MoCA adapters on Amazon. I bought two pairs since I needed 3 adapters, so ended up with a spare in case of problems, or to use in another room *smile*.

I just looked at Amazon and see that they have only 2 in stock (2 pairs *smile*, each kit has 2 adapters, of course) currently, so if you ordered a pair you'd be likely to get one.

On the other hand, on eBay right now I see a new pair, and a used pair. So they are out there.

There's also other MoCA hardware that I'm not familiar with. I've only looked at the Netgear ones.

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

Can the Cable Modem be set to Bridge mode?, Mine Cable Modem is set to bridge mode, then connect to RT-N66U router, I'm just wondering using MoCA adapter how the device in another room get the LAN IP?

Yes, you'll continue to bridge the modem as you are now. Once installed, the MoCA pair becomes completely invisible to your network. As far as your equipment is concerned, it's just a long Ethernet cable. Your devices will continue to get their LAN IPs from the router as they do now.

 

[WilliamY]

Yes, you'll continue to bridge the modem as you are now. Once installed, the MoCA pair becomes completely invisible to your network. As far as your equipment is concerned, it's just a long Ethernet cable. Your devices will continue to get their LAN IPs from the router as they do now.

Correct me if I'm wrong, so:

1) Main room: Cable (from wall) -> MoCa device A (input), MoCa device A (output)-> my Cable modem (in bridge mode)-> my RT-N66U router

2) Second room: Cable(from wall) -> MoCa device B (input), MoCa device B (RJ45)-> my switch, all the devices (desktops, laptops, ...) connect to the switch.

Since I don't see any links between my switch and router, so I'm just puzzled about how it magically works that these desktops, laptops can get the IPs from my RT-N66U router, just like my switch connects the router directly.

William

 

[RogerSC]

Correct me if I'm wrong, so:

1) Main room: Cable (from wall) -> MoCa device A (input), MoCa device A (output)-> my Cable modem (in bridge mode)-> my RT-N66U router

2) Second room: Cable(from wall) -> MoCa device B (input), MoCa device B (RJ45)-> my switch, all the devices (desktops, laptops, ...) connect to the switch.

Since I don't see any links between my switch and router, so I'm just puzzled about how it magically works that these desktops, laptops can get the IPs from my RT-N66U router, just like my switch connects the router directly.

William

The MoCA devices are essentially transparent to the router. If you think of it just like having run a cable, that's about it.