300Mbps Wireless-N or 100Mbps Wired?

A

Adam

[H]ard|Gawd
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So heres the situation I'm in...

I just got a new apartment and I have my office on one side of the house and my living room on the other. Running a wire is not going to really be possible, because of a vaulted ceiling issue and that side of the house being completely closed off in the attic (which i DONT REALLY have access to, although i can access it).

The HTPC in my living room will stream movies from my server (in my office). I have a Netgear Wireless-N Router that does up to 600Mbps (if the adapter I use, can handle 2x300Mbps connections).

Now... my question is this

1) Does anybody make a wireless card that has the 2 radios/antennas on it, so i can do 600Mbps...
2) If i only get 300Mbps via a regular wifi... will that be sufficient? Meaning, will that 300Mbps wireless be faster then a regular 100Mbps network connection (my switches are Gigabit but i stream movies in another bedroom via 100Mbps right now just fine).

So thats my question... WILL i notice a diff with streaming movies, right now im hardwired so theres no delay at all, will there be one with 300Mbps and can i get an adapter to do 600Mbps since thats what my router CAN do.
 
There was a thread about this not too long ago that incited alot of flaming too.

Quick answer is 300Mbps is enough to sustain streaming even HD movies. But there are other factors involved.

Are you really getting 300Mbps to your HTPC from router?

I think the client you're using to play the movies is also a big factor. WMP/WMC are not very good streamers. Theres movies that I stream that have trouble through WMP/WMC that play perfectly fine in Media Player Classic HC.

YMMV
 
Well my HTPC runs Windows Media Center. Some of my movies are standard DVD movies stored on the server. Some are Blu-Rays converted to x264 format in the .mkv file type that i'll be streaming.

I dont use wireless on my HTPC yet so i'd have to buy a wireless card.

Maybe it might be a better idea to run the wire and hide it. Would be too hard just a wire in the hallway i'll need to secure somethow to the wall so it doesnt stand out.

Just trying to find a good solution without wires running all over if i can prevent it
 
300mbps 802.11N is half-duplex, so it's at most 150mbps each way. Throwing in overhead and interference, real world speeds may be 80/80.

100mbps Ethernet will out preform 802.11n most of the time.

I would recommend Ethernet for HTPC streaming, but there really isn't a reason 802.11n wouldnt work. Streaming Bluray at native codec speeds is 40mbps I believe.
 
Brak710 said:
300mbps 802.11N is half-duplex, so it's at most 150mbps each way. Throwing in overhead and interference, real world speeds may be 80/80.

100mbps Ethernet will out preform 802.11n most of the time.

I would recommend Ethernet for HTPC streaming, but there really isn't a reason 802.11n wouldnt work. Streaming Bluray at native codec speeds is 40mbps I believe.
Click to expand...

Adding on to what Brak710 said.

A perfect 300mbps wireless N connection can easily stream most HD formats.

That said, unless you live in a 2.4 and or 5Ghz desert.... don't expect a perfect wireless connection.
 
How bout the other question... are there any double radio adapters so i can use both 300Mbps radios to get up near the 600Mbps range? I know it'll put it out, but i dont see any adapters (PCI/usb) around that i can use both...
 
No there is not.

Such a device would require some sort of link aggregation protocol in order to work properly. Based on those requirements alone, If someone did make such a thing it would probably cost over $400 per device and would require identical featured equipment at the other end of the connection. $400 x 2 = $800

Not to mention the concept of retransmits and synchronization issues galore.... :eek:
 
So basically my 600Mbps router can do 600Mbps but its really looking at 2 people, giving each 300Mbps
 
In a wifi desert, when configured for 40mhz channel bonding.... Yes, you can connect via 2.4Ghz channels at 300mbps AND connect a different device at 300mbps using the 5Ghz channels.

Total aggregated bandwidth at the data link layer would be as high as 600mbps.
 
I have lived in alot of apartments. Typically it is hard to get anything to close advertised speed, simply because the interference from all the other people who have wireless in the same boat as you is much more intense in packed living conditions.

You would have to experiment but you could try getting a better signal with directional antenna.

The other thing is I just always found I could be creative with running lines. Apartment complexes are staffed by less then savy people. And typically they do not really know or care if you modify things so long as you put them back when you leave. In addition many states have laws about replacing carpet and paint. So I would always just drill holes, and run lines under carpet near the edges of walls. No one knew while it happened or after. Sometimes I even found holes already made I could use, such as baseboard heating and so on. When i was ready to move out I just patched any holes with mud and bought a color matched paint in a sample size from a paint store and touched it up. There was one time I used a flat paint instead of gloss and they still had no idea.
 
The '600mbps' listed on some of the routers now is just marketing. It refers to being able to connect at link speeds of 300mbps on the 2.4 and the 5Ghz bands, but you will never get a single link speed of 600mbps. You cannot use multiple adapters to increase the throughput as only one will be the gateway and I am unaware of any way to bond multiple adapters to increase bandwidth. There are 450mbps ('900mbps' dual band) routers that came out recently that might work better, tho there are not a lot of 450mpbs adapters to choose from currently.
 
When I say apartment, its not an apartment building. Here on LI there are not many apartment buildings, most are garden apartments or even more popular (which is what im in) apartments within a home. I have the 2nd floor of a private home, so the only other wifi is from the verizon FiOS router my landlord owns. Thats all i could see when scanning on my iPhone... there may be other 5Ghz systems in range, i'll have to try on my iPad today when i stop by.
 
daemonmf said:
The '600mbps' listed on some of the routers now is just marketing. It refers to being able to connect at link speeds of 300mbps on the 2.4 and the 5Ghz bands, but you will never get a single link speed of 600mbps. You cannot use multiple adapters to increase the throughput as only one will be the gateway and I am unaware of any way to bond multiple adapters to increase bandwidth. There are 450mbps ('900mbps' dual band) routers that came out recently that might work better, tho there are not a lot of 450mpbs adapters to choose from currently.
Click to expand...

Yeah I was about to buy the 900Mbps one but it was on the pricier side, plus theres only a handful of adapters and theyh are about $100+ and i don't do much wifi honestly. I'll be running a cable i think. As I want to have my DVR (surveillance system) near the tv as well so i'll need that network connection, plus i plan to add a home automation controller later, which needs a network connection also
 
I have found wireless to be unreliable in my house for HD streaming. On the surface, I have plenty of bandwidth, but I get occasional dropouts that nerfs the connection for a split second and sends it buffering.

I am using Netgear MoCa adapters to bridge the various islands of equipment across my house right now. I started with 2 of them nearly 2 years ago and they've been working great, and I just added 2 more as we've started using a few more rooms. Provides a solid 100mbit at each device, though, the physical layer is rated a bit higher, so that gives some headroom on the coax for traffic. At $79.99 for a pair, its hard to beat it with a stick. Since you'll be in a shared building, there are ways to password protect your MoCa adapter such that it won't talk to others that your landlord might have.

If you don't have cable outlets near by each location, I'd suggest looking into powerline networking.
 
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See I have cable in each room, which is good, BUT, the living room cable and office cable will be 2 different services, not on same lines. Living room cable is verizon fios shared with landlord, and office will be a direct line for cablevisision internet, no tv there. Bedroom will have a fios cable line, but no box in there, i have a western digital live drive i use in bedroom, no use for a cable box as i dont watch tv in the bedroom, i just stream tv shows as i fall asleep (helps me fall asleep)
 
With good signal and a proper streaming protocol ( Not Samba ). 1080p is easy over Wireless N
 
Also keep in mind that wireless is shared bandwidth. If you have 4 devices connected wireless all trying to pull 100mbps from different sources you will exceed the limit of the wireless N.
 
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