novice seeking expert advice on home wireless optimal setup

fiddsy

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May 2, 2012
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Networking in Australia-
So this thread has two sections to it,
first section i actually posted on another tech forum and will copying and pasting:


First of all,
thank you anyone who can offer me advice and who takes the time out to read this and hopefully reply.

I've been doing a lot of research lately and the more information i read through, almost the more confused i seem to get!
so..
When in doubt, just ask!

some details – distance from exchange.

Line of Sight: 841 m
Estimated Cable: 1346 m
Estimated Attenuation: 19
Estimated Maximum Speed: 18666

I am currently on Telstra/Bigpond ADSL2+ and usually sit around 10-14.60Mbps download and .65Mbps upload (this is all wireless) on a Technicolor TG587n v3.

My issue is, i do a decent amount of gaming and have recently got into DLNA streaming. My modem/router just cant handle the load.
On top of that, it is over 2 years old and seems to lose connection speed every so often and requires a restart to get speeds back.
Due to limitations with the house, i cannot get a wired connection and will have My homebuilt desktop PC (used for gaming and DLNA streaming), 2 x iphones, 1 x ipad, 2 x tp link wireless security cams, PS3, samsung 55inch smart TV, 1 xp laptop and an Xbox connected to the other samsung 42inch none smart tv.

as you can imagine, i am having major bandwidth issues.

Now for my real question –

Modem router or modem plus router!

I actually bought a Asus N600 dual band PCI-e adaper for the computer and a Netgear DGND4000 N750 wireless dual band modem router but it was faulty and a replacement was sent out which turned out to be faulty as well.
I am currently looking at a refund tho they have offered another replacement or an 'upgrade/alternative'.

So under my circumstances, which would be better? An all in one or modem and router separate?

IF an 'all in one', which would best suit my needs? (cost is not much of an issue).

ATM im leaning towards a separate set up with a bridged modem (will need to figure out how!)

I have been looking at the the ASUS RT-N66U dual-band wireless-N900 gigabit router.
If i go this way, which modem would best suit me?
I tend to buy from either;

http://www.pccasegear.com/
http://www.cplonline.com.au/
http://msy.com.au/index.jsp

i live between cpl west melbourne and one msy stores so they are convenient.

thanks again anyone who has read and taken the time to reply.
cheers!

*
Second part of my thread/question!
*

Obviously i'll be running the desk top pc on the 5GHz and laptop, phones, ipad, security cameras ect. all on the 2.4GHz..
I'm not to sure if the TV/PS3/Xbox picks up the 5GHz? In the case that it doesn't, they too will all be on the 2.4GHz..
I am wondering IF i were to run, say, EoP from the Asus RT-N66U router to the main smart tv/ps3 and connect it as a wired connection via the EoP..
Would that 'cut down' on noise/bandwidth and give me a more direct link for faster DLNA streaming with keeping only the PC on 5GHz?
Sometimes I do game while the missus streams and although we have not been able to do it as of yet, i would also like the ability to stream to both tvs simultaneously or as mentioned, be able to play and stream without affecting speeds or at least with minimal affect.
 
Solution
I tend to like to have the modem separate from the router since it gives you many more options in router selection. A modem is very simplistic device and they seldom fail. I would try first with your current one running in bridge mode. After that I would ask the ISP which ones work best with their equipment. The modem is the hardest thing to troubleshoot when it fails.

The n66u is a nice router...i have one mostly because it has huge memory and processor to run dd-wrt on.

The power over ethernet is a great way to offload some of your wireless bandwidth to the ethernet ports on the router. It should greatly improve your performance compared to running this over only wireless. High bandwidth video streaming will kill even the...
I tend to like to have the modem separate from the router since it gives you many more options in router selection. A modem is very simplistic device and they seldom fail. I would try first with your current one running in bridge mode. After that I would ask the ISP which ones work best with their equipment. The modem is the hardest thing to troubleshoot when it fails.

The n66u is a nice router...i have one mostly because it has huge memory and processor to run dd-wrt on.

The power over ethernet is a great way to offload some of your wireless bandwidth to the ethernet ports on the router. It should greatly improve your performance compared to running this over only wireless. High bandwidth video streaming will kill even the best wireless since there is limited total radio bandwidth. The big IF here is if the powerline things work. In general they either work very well or they completely fail. They are very dependent on how the wiring routes though the house and then what electrical devices are in the house. Things with motors tend to cause issue...vacuum being one of the worst but a washing machine or refrigerator can cause massive trouble too. On these be sure to buy them from a place you can return them. Lucky most people they work very good.

If you are worried about your total wireless bandwidth you could add a second "router" running as AP. This would allow you to assign a different radio channel to some of the devices to prevent them from competing with each other on the main radio. You can also hook a AP to the powerline devices to segment the house so the radio does not need to travel as far.
 
Solution