upgrade antennas vs upgrade router

[zachofalltrades]

I have an Asus RTN16 (GB ethernet + single band wireless). I have an old three story home with thick lathe and plaster walls plus a steel lined brick dual chimney going up the middle of the house. Until recently, I have been pretty happy with network performance, but the number of devices in house has increased and there are times when we have three or four simultaneous Netflix / Hulu / YouTube sessions going over various wired or wireless connections. I am now regularly getting complaints from wife and kids that point to network performance issues -- but when no one is streaming, I can routinely get 20-25 Mb down and 5 up over wireless (according to speedtest.net) from my laptop.

The ethernet cabling was basically salvaged, and I had crimped my own connectors, but now I have Cat6a cable on the way to ensure highest quality connections and eliminate crosstalk. I am also upgrading to a GB switch in the entertainment center that provides wired connections for the TV, blueray player, game console, and RaspBMC.

THE QUESTION:
For my wireless devices (which are widely varied) I am trying to decide whether to:
a) upgrade the one or more of the three external antennas on the RTN16
b) add an access point (considering ASUS EA-N66 Dual Band N450)
c) invest in a new router (considering RT-N66U Dual-Band N900)

I'd appreciate any general advice, but please don't recommend a specific product unless you've used it yourself in a network environment similar to what I described above.

Thanks.

 

[thiggins]

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...best-way-to-get-whole-house-wireless-coverage

Multiple APs tuned to different non overlapping channels will expand the available wireless bandwidth.

Also it sounds like your total load is approaching the bandwidth if your Internet connection with all those streams.

 

[Fraoch]

Also it sounds like your total load is approaching the bandwidth if your Internet connection with all those streams.

Yes I've had peaks of 7-8 Mbps for Netflix SuperHD. So 3-4 streams = 21 - 32 Mbps...the streams will be resetting down to SD if you can only get 20 - 25 Mbps (maybe you're even getting less at peak periods when everyone is likely to be watching).

 

[stevech]

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...best-way-to-get-whole-house-wireless-coverage

Multiple APs tuned to different non overlapping channels will expand the available wireless bandwidth.

Also it sounds like your total load is approaching the bandwidth if your Internet connection with all those streams.

Agree, esp. the latter.

 

[zachofalltrades]

Yes I've had peaks of 7-8 Mbps for Netflix SuperHD. So 3-4 streams = 21 - 32 Mbps...the streams will be resetting down to SD if you can only get 20 - 25 Mbps (maybe you're even getting less at peak periods when everyone is likely to be watching).

What drives me nuts is that streaming services seem to keep pushing for higher bitrates even for devices that don't support the resolution or number of audio channels. If they had smarter client software, they could get better on-device performance by not having to scale content on the fly -- and they would save on their own bandwidth costs by not sending bits down the pipe that aren't going to be used.

I scanned the channel usage around my home, and found some overlap with the neighbors. I moved over to channel 11, and immediately saw improvement. Next I'll be setting up an old router as an AP on channel 1.

I'm also going to inventory all of the devices and see which ones do and do not support the 'n' standard. I know there isn't anything that doesn't at least support 'g' - but perhaps I can eliminate 'g' support, or relegate it to another AP using a different SSID on another channel (6).

 

[stevech]

G and most n devices are same speed when signal strength is mid-range or poor.

 

[zachofalltrades]

G and most n devices are same speed when signal strength is mid-range or poor.

Hmm. That is good to know. But lets say I do get a strong signal in some areas (like the couch) with an 'n' device -- is it not the case that the presence of 'g' devices on the same AP will lead to lower bandwidth for all devices (regardless of their class)?

Zach

 

[stevech]

mixed g/n... some products do slow down. And it's not just YOUR clients; neighbors' clients on same channel, different SSID, can cause the problem. But I can't say that all products slow down - they sometimes resort to the "RTS/CTS" protocol - as did mixed 11b/g systems.

 

[Fraoch]

Hmm. That is good to know. But lets say I do get a strong signal in some areas (like the couch) with an 'n' device -- is it not the case that the presence of 'g' devices on the same AP will lead to lower bandwidth for all devices (regardless of their class)?

Zach

The mere presence of a g device on an n network won't slow things down (unlike b devices on g networks) but the activity of a g device on an n network will slow things down because a g client isn't as efficient as an n client and hogs time on the radio, forcing n clients to wait.

So if you have light-duty n devices that only require blips of communication, it will have a minimal impact as opposed to a device that's constantly streaming.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=2506

Move whatever you can to 5 GHz if it will be streaming.