Since I got the blu-ray player and have been streaming videos, I’ve noticed that my wireless isn’t that great. I guess I never noticed before because it did everything I wanted for a laptop only. I’m thinking right now, the weak link is my wireless G router. Considering I am now using a laptop, streaming videos for the tv, and intend to eventually add a gaming console, should I think about saving up and getting a new Wireless N router?
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Ross Hershberger
I gave up on wireless because of the interference from other devices. I run off of an Ethernet cable off of the router and it’s screamin’ fast.
SadOldVet
If your wireless router has any age at all, it will either be .b or .g! .n should get you at least 4 times the thruput to devices receiving wirelessly.
Very good investment and it should not cost you very much!
Jess
OMG ur such a geek!
soonergrunt
John,
What you need is a “simultaneous dual-band” wireless-N router.
Essentially it has two frequency bands. One at 5GHz and the other at 2.4GHz. It broadcasts on both at the same time.
Set the 2.4GHz band for your data network as it will be backwards compatible with all of your devices, whether 802.11N, 802.11G, or (FSM forbid) 802.11B.
Set the Netflix receiver/Blu-Ray to use the other band, and have it be the only thing on there. The 5 GHz band is relatively empty, so it should stream without hiccup, just like my setup.
Give each of the band transmitters a different SSID and only allow the Netflix device on the 5GHz network.
TrendNet, Netgear, and Linksys all make very good simultaneous dual band routers. STAY AWAY FROM BELKIN!
Newegg.com listings
Ajay
I have been running Wireless N for over a year and have had no problems. My laptop client is still G but I get good range and signal.
I can watch Hulu at HD without problems. I can also watch regular DVD (I dont have BluRay) wirelessly. I think G will work as long as your signal/range are good. For me N router solved that problem and I didnt have to change the client.
Larry Signor
I had similar issues when I began streaming Netflix. I upgraded to a Linksys-ndual band (2.4g &5.0g) router and the issue was addressed.
Larry Signor
@soonergrunt: Ditto on stay away from Belkin.
gmf
You can get a refurb n-router from Newegg for around $30 – get something that you can put dd-wrt or tomato on & you’ll be set.
I’ve got two refurbs running dd-wrt – one is set up as a bridge & the other is the main router – it’s great.
mr. whipple
You wireless tubes are blocked.
El Cid
@soonergrunt: I got the TRENDnet TEW-672GR which not only is dual band N, but has 4 gigabit LAN ports and a gigabit WAN port.
licensed to kill time
John Cole there’s a Hyphen Bomb on the thread below that requires your urgent techie attention! Aisle 23.
andrew
@soonergrunt
That only works if you have devices that support 5GHz.
I’ve found wireless to be a crapshoot. I’ll be streaming video’s, but then my phone or one of my machines decides it needs to download updates and steals the bandwidth. You’re better off going wired in as many places as possible.
Martin
@soonergrunt: This. I would put a rec in for Buffalo and have had good success with their stuff.
But even with .N you may have trouble if you are streaming video off of the blu-ray. If it is at all reasonably possible, try and push that over wired gigabit instead, or see if you can get it transcoded down to a somewhat friendlier data rate. 1080p is really at the edge of what even N can do unless it’s 3 feet away. 720p makes an enormous difference.
In my house if a 2nd person so much as touches the wireless (or turns on the microwave) while 1080p is being shoved, it’ll be apparent. No such problems with 720p. In fact, we can handle simultaneous 720p and 480p streams without a problem.
mistermix
If your router is 802.11 b/g, and if your device (e.g., blueray player) is 802.11n (wireless-n), then upgrading your router will increase throughput between the router and the device.
That said, if your device is anywhere near your router, 802.11g supports up to 54 MBps throughput. I doubt that your cable throughput is anything near that.
I’d do a speedtest (speedtest.net) from a laptop near your blueray, and also from a wired connection. If the throughput is similar, then a wireless upgrade isn’t going to do any good. The bottleneck is usually the Internet cx, not the wireless.
HoneyBearKelly
I got a Cisco Valet.
Super easy and streaming Netflix and Amazon on demand is just awesome on the Roku.
Only complaint about Roku – no HULU.
J.W. Hamner
I would consider a wire or two. I mean are they really that bad? Do you need to move your blu-ray player into the bathroom sometimes or something?
Cain
Saving up? Dude.. it’s only 50 bucks. 3 porno rentals.. come on! (not that I know anything about that)
cain
Caladan
You can get an N – router for about $50, you’ll also need to upgrade to an N wifi card for your laptop
RobertB
Make sure you’re not bound by your ISP, as opposed to your internal routers. http://www.speedtest.net is a good place to start.
El Cid
By the way, Netgear also makes network-over-powerline adapters that work extremely well. You don’t want to get their wireless because there’s no security on them. Occasionally you need to check to see if the two electrical outlets are on the same phase circuit on your household electrical system, and you can’t usually run them through surge protectors.
Pigs & Spiders
I’ll recommend the Apple Airport Extreme. It’s more expensive than the others in it’s class but it also has way more features and is incredibly reliable. I know a number of die-hard PC users who have swallowed their pride and bought the Airport Extreme just because it is THAT good.
Had mine for three years and besides firmware updates, I think I’ve had to restart it a total of three times.
AgnosticOracle
I have had a wireless N for a couple years and it is clearly much faster than the G. What I did recently, was move my wireless router to where my TV is, then run an ethernet cable to the Tivo. This improved speed greatly again. Even when copying stuff from my desktop (connected by wireless N) to the Tivo (connected by ethernet) there was a huge improvement when it only has to go over the airways once.
Crusty Dem
@RobertB:
Agreed, at least test your wired connection first, and you might want to check it again directly while streaming, just to see that your provider isn’t playing games with you..
I just have a hard time believing you’re having problems streaming Netflix if you’re at 54 Mbps..
quaint irene
So whatever happened with PayPal?
James Hare
Wireless-n works okay for streaming video. I keep my router near my home entertainment center so I can use a wired connection (I have a Wireless-N router and my blu-ray player does n, but I just like wired connections).
I guess what I’m saying is buy some bulk ethernet cable. It might not look nice, but it’ll do the job better and cheaper.
Dave Fud
I had to replace a piece of crap put out by Linksys (who I stayed loyal to for several generations of crap, unfortunately) with a Netgear product. I would avoid Linksys in favor of Netgear – I have yet to have problems with it, and never did get a good Linksys product in all of my time using them (I always blamed another link in the chain, but all problems have gone away now that Linksys is history…).
Matt in HB
For streaming videos to your BluRay/TV I would vote for just running a hardwire. The location isn’t gonna change much, and a wired connection is just better than wireless.
I just have a bunch of cable sitting in my storage room, so that would cost me nothing. If you don’t have spare cable lying around it might cost you 20-30 bucks.
Xboxershorts
You don’t provide enough information to make a really informed recommendation. You may not even have a “network capacity” problem.
I will assume you’re streaming from a PC installed Blu-Ray player while surfing from that same machine?
Have you opened up Task manager and examined both the Network tab and Performance tab to see what your utilization might be while doing these 2 operations?
When you stream, it will write to a “temporary” file location on your HDD and then and then inject that data into the stream at intervals defined by your program. What kind of hard drive do you have? Can you watch for HDD activity light? Is it flashing wildly? (this is known as drive thrash and indicates a bottleneck between the drive and the application)
Describe your internet account for us? What are your maximum speeds? DSL? Cable? How does the WAN port on your router report it’s status? Make sure it’s not in half duplex mode. Make sure it interfaces with the modem at 100mb/s.
Wired will always be faster and more reliable than wireless. But your upstream will never ever exceed the capacity of your internet account.
There’s a LOT of variables here and I would recommend exploring them with a networking professional before spending a hundred bux or so on sweet new network hardware when, maybe all you need to do is buy a 7200rpm HDD.
soonergrunt
@Dave Fud: Funny. I would go the other way. I’ve never had a problem with a linksys component.
MaskedBandit
@Dave Fud: To my experience, Linksys isn’t usually that bad once you use a custom firmware like DD-WRT.
@El Cid: I’m not sure what you mean. Netgear support WEP/WPA/WPA2 and support password administration log-in. I like them for the WDS bridge support (which still isn’t supported by some of the firmwares out there).
As for using a Blu-ray player wirelessly streaming to your TV… why would you do that? I’d wire it up directly to my TV, just like my older DVD player. (Is it that I don’t have a TV or Blu-ray player with enough features to understand this setup?)
If you’re streaming video from online web sites such as Hulu and Netflix, I suggest testing the speed and reliability of your network connection itself (just like prior posters have suggested). It doesn’t matter how fast and reliable your internal network is if the feed to the outside world is burpy and unreliable.
Evan
Devices that are near the router and don’t move should be hooked up with wires. That way there is no interference. Also, if you have a cheap (non-enterprise) wireless router, the router basically takes turns among all the devices that are connected to it, so adding more devices can put more strain on the wireless connection.
Your internet connection is most likely the bottleneck, anyhow. Buy some wires.
Cat
No. You don’t need Wireless N.
You need to do a wifi survey. You probably have neighbors using wireless routers, I live on a street with 3 houses on 2+ acre lots and BOTH of their networks are in range of my house.
You need to find a channel thats not in use. Once you do that then see if your throughput is ok.
If you are still having trouble, you need to start moving your blueray and router around. Not being familiar with your house or your TV setup I’ll try to give general pointers.
Try to have your cable modem/router on the same floor as your blueray player. Try to not having metal things between them. While 802.11 will penetrate a lot of things, it also reflects off of a lot of things and ghosting causes havoc on consumer grade wifi devices.
If you are going to spend money don’t get another wifi/router. Get the powerline adapters and plug that into your router and then into your blueray player. You can get 200Mbps adapters now which will serve your neds for media streaming a long time.
stuckinred
@soonergrunt: Got one yesterday when the cable dude showed up and said, “why you buy dat Belkin mon”? Get out and get dat netgear! I did, it rocks.
Matt in HB
@MaskedBandit:
As for using a Blu-ray player wirelessly streaming to your TV… why would you do that? I’d wire it up directly to my TV, just like my older DVD player. (Is it that I don’t have a TV or Blu-ray player with enough features to understand this setup?)
Possibly. One new feature of TVs and BluRay players is the ability to access the internet directly to stream media. So, JC has a new BluRay that can stream Netflix to his TV. So, the BluRay accesses JC’s internet connection wirelessly and streams it to his TV (presumably through HDMI or some other cable).
Somewhere along the line his connection is getting bogged down. I think his hunch that his wireless network is the bottleneck is probably correct. But it’s possible that it’s his internet connection as well. Hard to say without some testing.
Garm
@soonergrunt:
I would do something along the lines of what soonergrunt says. If you want your N device to run at N speeds then it needs to be running free of interference. This essentially means configuring for the 5ghz band (there are other advantages for N running in 5ghz but that’s neither here nor there).
Something to be aware of, running two SSIDs on an access point will still slow down your traffic, regardless of which band you have what running on. One way to speed things up is to disable the lowest data rates (1 and 2 mbps) on your router.
Nemo1904
speaking as a gamer and ‘IT professional’ I suggest that you wire the TV and game console and whatever you use as the media server.
wired is simply better whether you’re looker for higher frag rates or smooth playback.
buy an N router (I second the recommendation of the Apple Airport Extreme) for the phones and laptops etc …
Xboxershorts
Wireless 802.11 (x) networking can utilize both CSMA/CA and CSMA/CD style contention adjusting algorithms to determine which device get’s to transmit when.
In situations where all registered devices are relatively close together and can “hear” each other transmit, the WAP will use Collision detection algorithm, which is somewhat faster until collisions occur.
But in a setup where transmitting devices might be at opposite ends of the Wireless range and maybe can’t hear each other, the WAP will switch to a collision avoidance algorithm and assign time slices when each device may transmit.
if you do have multiple transmitting devices which might be situated at different ends of the home, then your router is probably operating in CSMA/CA mode, which scales better for more devices but tends to offer less capacity to each device.
It’s entirely possible you just need to move a thing or tw or use a cable instead of wirelss for one or more devices.
Generally speaking, you can go 100 meters with an Ethernet cable before your signal degrades.
cleek
i gave up on WiFi altogether. N is faster, but if the connection / signal strength is the problem (as it was in my house), N isn’t any better than G. my stuff absolutely could not maintain a connection, even though the devices were probably only 25′ from the router.
so, i went with powerline networking for devices which don’t move around (Netflix box, iTunes server). it’s fast enough for HD and i’ve never had any signal problems.
numbskull
@Pigs & Spiders: I’ve had mine for 3 years and I’ve only had to restart it once. I hadn’t thought about that until I read your post. :)
raholco
You’re only as fast as your slowest link. Check your broadband speed-if you’re using cable, get the latest DOSCIS 3.0-compliant model. I did that and I got big boost.
And if you go for Wirless N, I concur with the folks to get a dual-band.
Mr. Blink
Wired is always best, if possible. Network adapters that run on the power lines work almost as good as CAT5 all the way through. If neither of those are an option, upgrading to Wireless N is the best next option. Even though Wireless G is supposedly 54 Mbps, actual throughput is nowhere near that. With a strong signal and no interference, it is more like 20-25 Mbps in reality.
Obviously, devices that connect to an N router must also be N capable, or you will not see any difference. Actual throughput on a Wireless N laptop with a decent signal to an N router should be anywhere between 60 and 150 Mbps, depending on hardware and environmental factors.
I also agree with what some people have said here. Linksys sucks. Some D-Link stuff is pretty awesome, depending on what you get, and most Netgear stuff rules.
LittlePig
@andrew: Yep. I gave up on wireless phones when I put in a Netgear n that ran on 2.4 GHz (this has been a couple of years ago). Once the phone was out of the picture I had (and have) no problems.
Hippie Killer
The Linksys WRT54GL is consistently one of the best reviewed wireless routers on the market.
Chet
If your blu-ray player doesn’t use N, it’s not going to matter. An N router won’t make your G-only devices any faster.
A much cheaper option is to figure out how to string cable to your entertainment center from your router, and just use wireless for the laptop.
El Cid
@MaskedBandit:
No, I’m not talking about their routers & switches.
The little device I linked to is not — it’s simply a pair of devices that transmit your local internet traffic directly through your household’s electrical wiring.
One will plug into an electrical outlet close to your router, and you will plug one of your ethernet cables from a LAN port into the local transceiver.
The other device will plug into an electrical outlet near your intended use, and you will plug an ethernet cable into the Netgear powerline transceiver and then into your intended device — computer, blu-ray player whatever.
And optionally you can get a wireless transceiver for the local end (not the end near the router), but since its home transceiver is plugged directly into the home router, I didn’t think you could set up wireless security, because from the router’s point of view, it’s a local, physical connection.
(I have used both, they’re both quick, powerful, and stable.)
Arclite
Soonergrunt gave great advice. Here’s the cheap fix ($10) while you’re saving up: A white ethernet cable. Your current router has ethernet ports in the back. Run it directly to the Bluray player. Not only will you get faster speed (the max your allowed), but it will be consistent. Wireless tends to fluctuate. Just don’t crimp the cable or bend it too sharply, or that will cause cross talk and reduce your throughput.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=white+ethernet+cable&x=0&y=0&sprefix=white+ethernet
Max PC tests a router per month, and this is their current recommendation
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/netgear_rangemax_wndr3700
It’s $150 over at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Rangemax-WNDR3700-Wireless-N-Gigabit/dp/B002HWRJY4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1283459262&sr=8-1
slag
For the record, we’ve had to replace both our Linksys and our Netgear routers. Finally ended up with an Airport. No problems. Yet.
Arclite
@J.W. Hamner: Also, what Mr. Hamner said. Wired is the cheapest, most reliable, most effective, most consistent way to deliver data. And white ethernet cables tucked along a baseboard are barely noticable.
BombIranForChrist
Wired, ftw.
Wireless is fine but flawed. Wired is basically perfect, especially if you don’t want to have to worry about things like bandwidth frequencies and all that crazy shit.
soonergrunt
Wired is great if you either don’t mind having wire everywhere, or you know how to run it and can run it through walls and such.
I don’t remember if John owns his place or not, and if not, how does his landlord feel about him drilling holes and fishing wire in walls and crawlspaces? Otherwise, how does he feel about having wire running along the walls in the corners and such.
I’m all for using wire. I have a spool of Cat-6 coming soon enough and will be stringing and fishing as soon as it’s not 500 degrees in my attic and I’m a little healed up from the surgery (which is still on for the 8th if anyone wonders).
But for some people, wiring the house for ethernet just isn’t really doable.
Arclite
@ Soonergrunt.
Just tap in the ethernet cable along the baseboard. You don’t have to drill holes in the walls. If it’s too distant or difficult, then use a powerline network. The more I think about it, the sillier it seems to use wireless for a static device like a Bluray player.
S V
I think others already said the same.
Only get a wireless N router if you are having radio problems. N provides much better spectrum handling capabilities compared to G or B. Otherwise, most likely your bottleneck is your broadband connection (i am assuming you have cable or dsl) and their throughput is likely going to be less then what you can get out of a wireless-G solution.
The other reason to go 802.11N is if you are going to do a lot of local high speed transfers (laptop to laptop for example and both are N-capable).
Remember usually your effective throughput is 1/3rd of what it says on paper. Wireless N usually gives you effective throughput of 100-150 mbps after all the radio management and other issues are taken into account.
Leisureguy
I use a Roku, the streaming TV device originally developed by Netflix. I finally just bought some cable and use it wired rather than wireless.
tjlabs
Read this http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/technology/personaltech/26basics.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=wi-fi%20routers&st=cse
I gave up trying to make my wi-fi ready hd tv work and just paid my electrician to hard wire it to the router. Works like a dream.
burnspbesq
If you are using Time Machine and your backup disk is attached to your wireless router, you definitely want to upgrade. Time Machine is an egregious bandwidth hog. When it kicks in, it plays holy hell with streaming audio. It can only be worse with streaming video.
andy
We have several things on our wireless G network:
– Roku for Netflix and other streaming
– Wii tied to PlayOn.TV for streaming Hulu, Netflix, etc to the HDTV
– iPhone
– Two computers
Never have any issues with streaming quality video to any of the devices.
Irony Abounds
I use the powerline method as well and it works well for me. Plus it allows you to have multiple options at one location for other ethernet connections. Someday, hopefully before too long, the cable box will connect to the network for multi-room viewing and gaming devices can hook up as well.
El Cid
@Irony Abounds: See? Somebody knows it!
JGabriel
@soonergrunt: This.
Listen to Soonergrunt, John Cole. Also second the recs for Netgear and Linksys equipment.
.
BruceK
Ditto on the advice to check what wi-fi transmitters are nearby – if you can find a largely clear channel, you’ll probably see improvement in your signal.
And also ditto the wired-solution people – I know it’s not always possible or feasible, but if your home configuration’s going to be stable for a while, running Cat-5 or Cat-6 network cable from the router to the various fixed devices will give you the most stable data transfer.
That’s the way I had it done when my apartment was being renovated before I moved in: one Cat-6 wire running from a centrally located DSL modem-router to each of the main rooms of the apartment, and if more than one device had to be networked in one room or the other, an Ethernet switch would do the trick. Of course, the renovation had all the walls open anyway, and all the old wiring ripped out because it was fifty-plus years old.
It also depends on where you’ve got your streaming videos stored, though; if it’s on the laptop, you may not have more than 802.11g, or be unable to get on the 5GHz 802.11n band…
yoodow
John,
Don’t waste your money on a new router.
Connect your Netflix receiver/Blu-Ray through Ethernet to your router. If cable length is an issue, move your router next to your Netflix receiver/ Blue -Ray. Reserve you wireless connection to your laptop (after all this is the only device that you are moving around the house regularly)
The problem with soonergrunt’s idea is that even if you separate your wireless connections to two different bands, your connection speed in both bands WILL degrade due to limited wireless resources.
You can improve your wireless performance by firmware upgrade, albeit this improvement is somewhat moderate.
If you are really adventures, you can upgrade your router’s firmware to DD-WRT, which is a Linux based alternative OpenSource firmware. Depending on your existing router you can gain some great improvements and get some cool new features.
To find out more about DD-WRT, just Google the word DD-WRT.