Need help on ethernet home network hardware
- Thread starter yakub268
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- May 14, 2013
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its in the next room probably 30-40ft at the most. i thought about wireless but isnt it much slower then wired? (resulting in a crappy stream?)
each computer only has one ethernet port. If I connect the two then how am i to get internet? do I need a special cable? Im thinking a add on card but that just seems to simple?
each computer only has one ethernet port. If I connect the two then how am i to get internet? do I need a special cable? Im thinking a add on card but that just seems to simple?
dbhosttexas
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The speed of your WiFi depends on the hardware in question, and any interference in the frequency range the WiFi uses. In heavily congested areas, WiFi is slower than 10BAseT. In open areas, WiFi can be every bit as fast as gigabit...
dbhosttexas
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Once you establish your wireless network, from a wifi client, use a network analyzer tool such as Inssider http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/ and you can view your network activity, etc...
The WiFi that is gigabit or better is 802.11ac, and is bleeding edge, not finalized. There are very few products for it. However even 802.11n at the lowest speed of 150 will outpace most peoples internet connections by a large margin. Which is why streaming to wireless tablets and phones works well...
Generally speaking, if your WiFi connection can do at least 50mbps, and your internet connection is reasonable, 20 mbps or better, you should have no real streaming problems. Of course shared bandwidth means you will need more of it...
My home network consists most of gigabit wired devices, however I have some other stuff in the 2.4ghz band that competes with WiFi, I also have 3 802.11n wireless all in one machines, 3 802.11n phones, 2 802.11n tablets, and a netbook that has been updated to an 802.11n WiFi adapter. (The onboard wireless G has been disabled). Everything talks at 125mbps or better. I frequently stream media from my router to my tablet, while my wife streams Netflix to the Wii (wired) and my brother in law streams Netflix to his iPad. No performance issues. However I did use inssider to do some fine tuning such as testing my wifi radio output, tuning antenna positions and such to optimize my WiFi radio bubble...
And to test, it all depends on the OS of the client. Speedtest.net only tests your internet speed, it does nothing for LAN speed. Typically you can view not only your link but your transfer speed through various network guis or commands depending on OS and hardware drivers / modules.
The WiFi that is gigabit or better is 802.11ac, and is bleeding edge, not finalized. There are very few products for it. However even 802.11n at the lowest speed of 150 will outpace most peoples internet connections by a large margin. Which is why streaming to wireless tablets and phones works well...
Generally speaking, if your WiFi connection can do at least 50mbps, and your internet connection is reasonable, 20 mbps or better, you should have no real streaming problems. Of course shared bandwidth means you will need more of it...
My home network consists most of gigabit wired devices, however I have some other stuff in the 2.4ghz band that competes with WiFi, I also have 3 802.11n wireless all in one machines, 3 802.11n phones, 2 802.11n tablets, and a netbook that has been updated to an 802.11n WiFi adapter. (The onboard wireless G has been disabled). Everything talks at 125mbps or better. I frequently stream media from my router to my tablet, while my wife streams Netflix to the Wii (wired) and my brother in law streams Netflix to his iPad. No performance issues. However I did use inssider to do some fine tuning such as testing my wifi radio output, tuning antenna positions and such to optimize my WiFi radio bubble...
And to test, it all depends on the OS of the client. Speedtest.net only tests your internet speed, it does nothing for LAN speed. Typically you can view not only your link but your transfer speed through various network guis or commands depending on OS and hardware drivers / modules.
- May 14, 2013
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- 10,530
your explanation kinda lost me but i think i got the jist.
I have 10 mbps currently with a 802.11g router/modem and will be going to 15 or 20 mbps 802.11n at the end of the month.
What kind of speed are the HTPC and PS3 connected to the router/modem with cat6 cables really getting? 10mbps?
So as I read your post I'm assuming that with my current setup, wired would really be the way to go. Unless I really wanted to cough up the cash and upgrade everything including my internet bill. To something as incredible as yours.
When you say "Everything talks at 125mbps or better." How?
Still have qestions on the actual hardware though.
I have 10 mbps currently with a 802.11g router/modem and will be going to 15 or 20 mbps 802.11n at the end of the month.
What kind of speed are the HTPC and PS3 connected to the router/modem with cat6 cables really getting? 10mbps?
So as I read your post I'm assuming that with my current setup, wired would really be the way to go. Unless I really wanted to cough up the cash and upgrade everything including my internet bill. To something as incredible as yours.
When you say "Everything talks at 125mbps or better." How?
Still have qestions on the actual hardware though.
dbhosttexas
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From each other or from the internet? It all depends on the router / switch in place, and the network interface on the HTPC. Most 802.11g routers I am aware of had wired ethernet ports at 10/100, so if you are wired, they HTPC and the PS3 talk at no faster than 100 mbps. However if you are wireless then you are going no faster than the 54 mbps that 802.11g is capable of. Chances are you aren't talking faster than about 24 mbps on wireless. And yes your internet speed is limited by your internet connection.
If you are connected by cable, to both the PS3, and the HTPC to your router, unless something is odd with the router, you should be getting 100 mbps connections.
When I say everything talks at 125 mbps or better, I mean within my LAN. My slowest LAN connection is 802.11n. With the minor amounts of interference I have obtained through using inssider to identify uncluttered channels etc... It's not quite the promise of N150, but close enough for what I am needing. My internet connection is limited by Comcast, but speed tests last night showed 122 mpbs down, and 19.5 mbps up.
If you are connected by cable, to both the PS3, and the HTPC to your router, unless something is odd with the router, you should be getting 100 mbps connections.
When I say everything talks at 125 mbps or better, I mean within my LAN. My slowest LAN connection is 802.11n. With the minor amounts of interference I have obtained through using inssider to identify uncluttered channels etc... It's not quite the promise of N150, but close enough for what I am needing. My internet connection is limited by Comcast, but speed tests last night showed 122 mpbs down, and 19.5 mbps up.
dbhosttexas
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It all depends on the make / model of the N router. Many wireless N model routers have gigabit ports on the wired side of things. Your PS3 should have a gigabit port. Not sure about your HTPC, it depends on what it was built with. No matter, 100 mbit should be more than enough for smooth streaming. Are you having problems with streaming over wired now?
- May 14, 2013
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- 10,530
No I can stream from netflix to the PS3 wit no prob. The Htpc streams take a awhile to load (sometimes alot of buffering) but I think its the host im streaming from. Over my homenetwork (laptop to htpc or ps3) Ive streamed fine.
But as far as the main pc to the htpc I havent gotten that far. Need to decide on either wired or wireless, first.
I think i just answered my question (wireless homegroup works fine). So why would someone use wired? obviously not for streaming the nwhat for?
But as far as the main pc to the htpc I havent gotten that far. Need to decide on either wired or wireless, first.
I think i just answered my question (wireless homegroup works fine). So why would someone use wired? obviously not for streaming the nwhat for?
dbhosttexas
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What are the specs of the HTPC?
For doing streaming you will need reasonably fast networking (100 mbps or better), and most importantly, FAST storage. If your old laptop is running say PATA 100 disks, that is your bottleneck.
At a minimum, 300 mbps disks (SATA II). I mean you can press old PATA 100 disks into service, I did that for a long time, but you will have a lot of buffering...
Just FWIW, there are plenty of Android / Linux set top HTPCs on the market now for cheap. If the laptop is a bust, grab one of those, and stab a big external drive on it.. Linux is particularly good at handling large file systems...
For doing streaming you will need reasonably fast networking (100 mbps or better), and most importantly, FAST storage. If your old laptop is running say PATA 100 disks, that is your bottleneck.
At a minimum, 300 mbps disks (SATA II). I mean you can press old PATA 100 disks into service, I did that for a long time, but you will have a lot of buffering...
Just FWIW, there are plenty of Android / Linux set top HTPCs on the market now for cheap. If the laptop is a bust, grab one of those, and stab a big external drive on it.. Linux is particularly good at handling large file systems...
- May 14, 2013
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- 10,530
(My laptop isnt my htpc, just used it to show i have a home network)
The desktop (Currently being used as HTPC)
CPU- AMD Phenom x6 2.8GHZ
MOBO- MSI 890FXA-GD65 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
8GB DDR3 ram
Radeon 6450
250GB HDD SATA II (i think)
750 Laptop HDD SATA II (i think)
HTPC (recycled desktop)
CPU- AMD Athlon x2 3800+ windsor 2.0GHZ
MOBO- DFI cfx3200 m2/g INFINITY
4 GB DDR2 ram
250GB HDD.
Radeon 2400 pro
Router/modem- PK5001Z
speed paid for-10GB
The desktop (Currently being used as HTPC)
CPU- AMD Phenom x6 2.8GHZ
MOBO- MSI 890FXA-GD65 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
8GB DDR3 ram
Radeon 6450
250GB HDD SATA II (i think)
750 Laptop HDD SATA II (i think)
HTPC (recycled desktop)
CPU- AMD Athlon x2 3800+ windsor 2.0GHZ
MOBO- DFI cfx3200 m2/g INFINITY
4 GB DDR2 ram
250GB HDD.
Radeon 2400 pro
Router/modem- PK5001Z
speed paid for-10GB
dbhosttexas
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You paid for 10GB ethernet?! Wow...
Assuming that is a typo, which I suspect it is... I do not see anything in your network, or your HTPC that could possibly explain the lots of buffering issue...
As far as to why someone would want to go wired versus wireless. are typically based on reliability, and security. Even with the latest Wireless Encryption, it is a relatively trivial matter to sniff packets flowing through the air and break the key.
Likewise, Unless you are using Wireless N in the 5ghz band only, you will have to deal with the VERY crowded and interference prone 2.4ghz band for all WiFi protocols, A,B,G,N, and even the latest AC protocol. Things like Cell Phones / towers, cordless phones, TV remotes, Microwave ovens, you name it can mess with the signals. The proliferation of CFL lighting and those buzzy transformers doesn't help matters much either. Add tot hat electric motor noise induction, and well... with every single bit of radio interference a radio signal carrying data packets, which is what WiFi is, has to slow down in order for the signals to be sent, received, and understood, and the slowness stacks up. Likewise, your network will only talk as fast as your slowest device allowed to talk to it, which is why I run my router in Wireless N only mode, and have run cabled ethernet to the Wii and PS3.
This sort of communications technology is quite different from a cabled, non blocking switch, where the connection is only slowed down to the slowest device being talked to, so if say you have 4 PCs, 1 with 10/100, the rest with 10/100/1000 adapters, all connected by a 10/100/1000 switch, they will all talk to each other at 1000 except when talking to, or being talked to by the slower machine...
Mind you your HTPC does have a slower disk than is optimal for it if it is SATA II, SATA III (6GB/s) are fairly common these days. If possible you might want to think about swapping the dual drives for a single large SATA III disk.
Now back to your buffering issue. It really does not seem to be a problem with networking unless you are getting extremely poor throughput on your WiFi. (check your speed through your OS).
What software are you using for your streaming server / client? And I hate to even suggest this, but anytime you are dealing with Windows, and slow performance problems you should scan the host for any kind of malware.
And of course do remember that your streaming performance of your internet streams will be limited to what bandwidth you have provisioned from your ISP, and any number of upstream factors up to and including pulling a stream from a slow server...
- May 14, 2013
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- 10,530
I meant 10mbps. (very crappy I know)
So wired and wireless have no real benifit in regards to connection speed etc. really youd use just the easier one. got it
I think If i have the capability to do wired it just makes sense.
So right now the HTPC isnt connected. AND I realize that it is out dated (will be replacing soon)
Just spent the night learning about all this. so with me switching to 20mbps cable, i wanted to buy my router/modem instead of rent it. I know I need a router for 802.11n/ac, and a modem with gigbit ports or a gateway with both. ok got it down. But this switch you just mentioned?
and recomendations for a DOCIS 3.0 wireless modem under $80? or are gateways bad?
The HTPC was just a throw together of parts i had laying around didnt wanna spend the money till I knew exactly what I wanted in it. more of a frankenstienHTPC. The desktop with the SATA II has a boot time of around 13 sec. fastest comp ive had. So I could imagine it with a SSD or a SATAIII. gotta figure that out for the build.
The buffering I realized it was the site XBMC-1channel and NAVI-X. problems with servers or something.
how do I edit my ISP?
So wired and wireless have no real benifit in regards to connection speed etc. really youd use just the easier one. got it
I think If i have the capability to do wired it just makes sense. So right now the HTPC isnt connected. AND I realize that it is out dated (will be replacing soon)
Just spent the night learning about all this. so with me switching to 20mbps cable, i wanted to buy my router/modem instead of rent it. I know I need a router for 802.11n/ac, and a modem with gigbit ports or a gateway with both. ok got it down. But this switch you just mentioned?
and recomendations for a DOCIS 3.0 wireless modem under $80? or are gateways bad?
The HTPC was just a throw together of parts i had laying around didnt wanna spend the money till I knew exactly what I wanted in it. more of a frankenstienHTPC. The desktop with the SATA II has a boot time of around 13 sec. fastest comp ive had. So I could imagine it with a SSD or a SATAIII. gotta figure that out for the build.
The buffering I realized it was the site XBMC-1channel and NAVI-X. problems with servers or something.
how do I edit my ISP?
dbhosttexas
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- Jan 15, 2013
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yakub268 :
I meant 10mbps. (very crappy I know)
So wired and wireless have no real benifit in regards to connection speed etc. really youd use just the easier one. got it I think If i have the capability to do wired it just makes sense.
So right now the HTPC isnt connected. AND I realize that it is out dated (will be replacing soon)
Just spent the night learning about all this. so with me switching to 20mbps cable, i wanted to buy my router/modem instead of rent it. I know I need a router for 802.11n/ac, and a modem with gigbit ports or a gateway with both. ok got it down. But this switch you just mentioned?
and recomendations for a DOCIS 3.0 wireless modem under $80? or are gateways bad?
The HTPC was just a throw together of parts i had laying around didnt wanna spend the money till I knew exactly what I wanted in it. more of a frankenstienHTPC. The desktop with the SATA II has a boot time of around 13 sec. fastest comp ive had. So I could imagine it with a SSD or a SATAIII. gotta figure that out for the build.
The buffering I realized it was the site XBMC-1channel and NAVI-X. problems with servers or something.
how do I edit my ISP?
So wired and wireless have no real benifit in regards to connection speed etc. really youd use just the easier one. got it
I think If i have the capability to do wired it just makes sense. So right now the HTPC isnt connected. AND I realize that it is out dated (will be replacing soon)
Just spent the night learning about all this. so with me switching to 20mbps cable, i wanted to buy my router/modem instead of rent it. I know I need a router for 802.11n/ac, and a modem with gigbit ports or a gateway with both. ok got it down. But this switch you just mentioned?
and recomendations for a DOCIS 3.0 wireless modem under $80? or are gateways bad?
The HTPC was just a throw together of parts i had laying around didnt wanna spend the money till I knew exactly what I wanted in it. more of a frankenstienHTPC. The desktop with the SATA II has a boot time of around 13 sec. fastest comp ive had. So I could imagine it with a SSD or a SATAIII. gotta figure that out for the build.
The buffering I realized it was the site XBMC-1channel and NAVI-X. problems with servers or something.
how do I edit my ISP?
Two items I can offer as suggestions. For DOCSIS 3.0 modems in your budget, I would give the Zoom 5341J (Specifically that model, not the H), a good look. I have one and am very pleased with the stability, and performance so far. Do check with your ISP for compatibility though. I found that modem on the Comcast compatibility site, so if you are on Comcast you are good, I can't say about any other ISP...
On the router. Don't bother with AC yet. The standard is far from final, and there are next to no clients for it. Chances are better than good that you can buy an "AC" router now, and six months from now they will change the standard making it incompatible. Go with a good Wireless N router with Gigabit LAN ports. Asus, Netgear, Buffalo and others make great routers. I personally steer clear of Dlink due to poor prior experience, Cisco / Linksys as Cisco is selling Linksys off to Belkin, and Belkin because, while they make pretty looking stuff, and nice cables, anything with complex circuits and they mess it up in my experience... Not to mention Cisco firmware that has 18 wheeler size security holes in it that they refuse to fix...
If I had to do it again, I would buy the same router I did, a Buffalo WZR-600DHP. N600, factory equipped with DD-WRT firmware, 4 port gigabit, very stable, very fast. Works with all of my client devices no problems... The Asus RT-N66U is also another great router. A little bit spendy, but very nice...
For total speed, your best connection will be cabled gigabit ethernet, however your ISP link is your limiting factor. Get the fastest you are confortable paying for. When you consider what runs over my network, VoIP, streaming media etc... and compare that to say traditional telco service, video rentals even Redbox, etc.. all of the sudden paying the extra for the fastest broadband I can get made financial sense. No phone bill, no late fees, no extra gas running around to the video place, or kiosk, just point, click, it's there. I can stream a movie, another person on my LAN can be playing games, and I can have torrents going on my PC for the latest CentOS, or whatever releases, and no hesitation, no buffering except when the sender is having issues. (never with Netflix, Hulu, or Crackle sometimes, but not as often with Youtube).
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