zachofalltrades
New Around Here
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.
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.