Next Trick : Looking for a high-bandwidth router...

[ameerat42]

(You're saying: Gee, this person needs (general) help!)

And so it is that having had a quite reasonable measure of success as attested to in this thread, I'm now seeking to enhance the household Wi-Fi capability.

At present, I am using a 54 MBit Netgear (n-band) wireless router. It's OK for connecting a few (3 at once tried) computers with a mix of ethernet and wi-fi and doing modest browsing
of the tussock in the paddock over the Internet. But now, it seems, there's a desire to stream stuff to the smart TV whilst also continuing to browse.

A few enquiries have led me to consider some AC std candidates, as listed and linked to below. Advice along these lines - or where the grass is greener - would be appreciated.

Ta, Am.

1. $50 for an Edimax BR-6208AC
2. $95 for a TP-Link WDR4300 (actually an n-band)
3. Almost $3 for an Asus DSL-AC68U

[farmmax]

You could go back to reading books

[Mathy]

Geez, you actually have sufficient bandwidth to stream TV?

[JJM]

I am using one of these and have 2 PC running via Ethernet, a NAS running via Ethernet, 2 Laptops running via wifi,an xbox running via wifi & 2 smart phones.We can watch movies on our TV via the xbox that are on the NAS while others are using the internet etc without an issues. Biggest issue for me is our internet connection as the NBN isn't available in our area.

http://www.netgear.com/home/products...#tab-techspecs

[ricktas]

Ive got one of these after my old (read years and years) modem died a few months back. My old setup was two devices, modem and separate router. This new one has proved to be great. At times it has had 10-15 devices connected at once and it doesn't skip a beat.

http://www.dlink.com.au/home-solutio...2-modem-router

[ameerat42]

JM and Rick. Both these look impressive. I notice the Netgear is not AC band, but probably wouldn't need it, and
not beam forming (maybe also not nec?).

Ta, and I will add to list to research (price, current models, etc).

Mathy, maybe stream the likes of You-Choob (some HD content) and maybe Skype. The model TV has a built-in Skype cam.
I'm not sure of the possibilities there yet. Also, O(cto)PUS offered a 6-month complimentary Netflix service. I would NEVER have
chosen that as an option over the phone offer I took up, but there it is. I've heard - only heard, mind - that there's some
4K content on Netflix. (Who knows, maybe over-upscaled NTSC stuff)
Am.

[Mathy]

I was sort of tongue in cheek/serious lol

Suffice to say that many parts of Adelaide are nowhere comparable to most of Sydney for bandwidth, to the point that You-Choob might be the best one can get. If too many people take up Netflix, Stan et al., the rest of us will have nada

JM and Rick. Both these look impressive. I notice the Netgear is not AC band, but probably wouldn't need it, and
not beam forming (maybe also not nec?).

Ta, and I will add to list to research (price, current models, etc).

Mathy, maybe stream the likes of You-Choob (some HD content) and maybe Skype. The model TV has a built-in Skype cam.
I'm not sure of the possibilities there yet. Also, O(cto)PUS offered a 6-month complimentary Netflix service. I would NEVER have
chosen that as an option over the phone offer I took up, but there it is. I've heard - only heard, mind - that there's some
4K content on Netflix. (Who knows, maybe over-upscaled NTSC stuff)
Am.

[arthurking83]

ps. don't fall into the trap that a 'faster router' will give you better performance.
It doesn't(always).

If your peripheral devices are speed limited, no matter how fast, or how much bandwidth you're router is achieving you won't see any benefit.

Always work with the lowest common denominator.

[Warbler]

Lucky you're not in Unzud AM. Half the population possess a Ewe-Choob there.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, I forgot. I'm using one of those Netgear modems like mentioned above.

[MrQ]

Keep in mind that you'll get little benefit from the newer wifi protocols if your devices don't support them. That said, most brand name routers these days should be fine for what you're after. I use Linksys, but Netgear, D-link, etc. all make good gear.

[ameerat42]

Ta folks - too numerous to mention individually. I have taken all your comments on board.
Luckily, some of those cautions were listed on the reviews read.
Am.

[ameerat42]

Well, haven't I just been checking out all the latest routers?!!!

Result: CLEARLY can't make up my mind, and the ones I'm sort of interested in cost heaps.

Interim: I hook up 5m of network cable to the back of the TV...

...and keep looking...

Am.

[arthurking83]

Well, haven't I just been checking out all the latest routers?!!!

Result: CLEARLY can't make up my mind, and the ones I'm sort of interested in cost heaps.

Interim: I hook up 5m of network cable to the back of the TV...

...and keep looking...

Am.

Best idea so far.

I've tried the wireless streaming thingy .. but some videos may have very high data rates, and so will skip and stutter at their earliest opportunity .. so it's back to the wired setup I'm always trying to replace.

For what it's worth, wireless N devices are all created equal.
The latest router will generally get you the best bandwidth throughput .. but only as long as your wireless n devices are up to the task of pushing the router to do so.

What you'll find is that most wireless n devices are single stream only .... lets call them 1x1.
Some wireless devices are multi stream capable .. we'll call these ones 2x2 or 3x3 's.

Basically what happens is that the wireless radio doodad within the device has the ability to run concurrent data connections with the other devices it's communicating too.

If one device is a 1x1 type, and you do have a 2x2 or 3x3 device to connect it too wirelessly, then the 2x2 device's extra bandwidth capability is going to be wasted(in a sense).
it can't achieve full speed communication in this scenario as the other device is the limiting factor.

But, a 2x2(or 3x3) device communicating wirelessly itself .. but communicating to any faster device will achieve it's potential.
This other faster device can be anything as long as it has the ability to communicate at a faster speed. Think of this device as either a wired device or multi stream wireless device.

I have this tablet, 10" Gigabyte Win7 and all the fruit you'd now expect a mobile computer to have.
It is an old device, but that isn't the issue. Because the manufacturer wanted to keep the price as low as possible but still maintain a high profit margin .. that so called fruit is not the freshest, or nicest quality produce!

So, as per usual .. because of the lower end internal hardware being used, it almost invariably turns out to be the lower spec type too.

This tablet had Wifi, Bt, Sim card slot .. and .. well like I said all the fruit you could want for a mobile device, but the Wifi(as all my other wifi devices) are slow-ish.
Useful devices and for most purposes 'quick enough' ... but it transpires they are quite slow.

Remember we talked about different versions of Bt earlier, this tablet had an early incarnation of bluetooth. The Bt device is also the Wfif device.
If you've never seen one, it looks a bit like a CF card, with expansion card like external connectors, two screws holes in the corners to hold it in it's place, and to very small gold plated connectors for the antenna.
Looks like a cross between a very tiny ram module and a CF card.

Anyhow, I had a horrendous time trying to get most Bt devices to connect to the tablet. Think mouse and keyboard .. but also almost every other device.
I got hold of another USB bt dongle and ... "everything was awesome"(not that I wanted to be a part of a team tho! )

Wifi speeds were also tested, as is my way of getting used to new devices, and while it wasn't fast enough to send a 600Mb service pack update too over wifi, for most uses the wifi was 'acceptable' tho.
When it came to transferring large files .. the wire/ethernet/cable had to come to the rescue ... and it is of the Gigabit type to boot.

But after a while using the USB Bt doodad, I started looking for a better way.
Ended up getting a new Wifi/Bt radio device. 2 minute job to replace .. but I did some research. Had to be better Wifi as well as better Bt .. but 'pretty cheap' as well.
What I got was a Killer Wireless 1202 radio to replace the old plain vanilla piece of fruit.

In a word .. awesome!

Bt is of the v4 variety, and everything just connects easily. If a passcode is required, it pops up and stays there until I make an input .. none of this micro second opportunity to type one in .. if you even got the chance to do so with the old Bt driver.

Anyhow .. back to Wifi. In a nutshell, Wifi speeds went from about 3Mb/s to about 15-17Mb/s(and I could get more if I just knew how to tweak the TCP settings a bit).
Had a quick look at trying to do so, but I don't want to stuff any of the other devices up .. so the issue is, while I can communicate with the wired servers much more quickly now, over Wifi to the other .. shall we say, less fruity devices .. it's still more of a glacial speed(at the old 3-ish Mb/s speed).

So be mindful of spending any money on a router that may give you no new advantage at all!
Figure out what each device can do .. or more importantly what type of Wifi device it actually is.
Of course some devices are almost impossible to determine what hardware was used .... eg. your wireless capable TV is probably mission impossible to work out what type of hardware it uses and what that hardware is capable of. Manufacturers don't usually provide those specs.

The only reason they provided the Wifi hardware within the product, is for the cache of being allowed the opportunity to place that WiFi sticker on the product.
If you get my drift, you'll be thinking more about the quality of the fruit now .. not so much that it simply exists.

I doubt that it's possible to update a TV's hardware to better quality type .. like you can with a laptop.
Pretty much like a smartphone .. you got it, you're stuck with it what it has. .. the great unupdatable (maybe it's inupdatable .. but unupdatable sounds sillier!)

hope this helps.

ps. if you want to find out what speeds your devices are truly capable of .. google a free program called JPerf. It's currently at v2.02 level now. Free to use, easy as peasy too as well.
Doesn't install as such .. just runs from the executable file(which is a Java .bat file)


once again .. sorry for the long post.

[ameerat42]

Ta, AK. I am not one to be dazzled by the touted capabilities of modern "smart" media devices. (Nor by the plethora - or dearth - of reviews of such.)
Some years ago I paid $80 to get another person a TP-Link 300MBit router. It is still working very well. I can't find an equivalent - ie, identify - of the same
capability or price. Now the AC band is mostly the go. It's amazing how the n-band is suddenly being downplayed. They now tout 1300MBit bandwidth,
but when you read the specs you see just how qualified - and hardly attainable - it is.

As a mild experiment, I hooked up the wi-fi networked smartphone to the 4K TV using an HDMI cable and streamed "Gravity" to it at 720p. It was blotchy.
The same to a 1080p TV was much clearer. It was about what you'd get as normal transmission. So, today it will be the 5M of cable (to buy) and to
see what avails.

I will check out the Jperf. Ta.

Am.

[ameerat42]

2nd update.

Direct cable to the TV yields a superb reception over the Internet.

Will take my time with the new router.

[thebookfreak58]

Try Apple Airport?

[ameerat42]

Is it good for Win8-ery?

[arthurking83]

If you're going to spend the money, get an ASUS .. can't remember the exact model No off hand right now, but it's a top'o'th'line model .. and costs big bux($300ish or so).

Will guarantee you close to 1 gigabit speeds .. but only if your hardware is capable of it. If you're hardware is still only of the 54Mb speed .. then any router upgrade will be a wasted effort(unless you're plan is to update other devices along the way).

[ameerat42]

From two computer stores I went to I got the "Well!.." with open-handed shrug when I said I ended up hooking
it up by cable. I got 10m of it for $5. Now I've got one more run to do. It's a matter of retracting cable from one room
and running it into another. It's about 20m, maybe adding an extension - all underneath the house.

But I sure sis find out a good bit about wi-fi routers, so a ta to all.