Hi I need advice on home networking. I have a main PC which has most of my video and music content on, but I want to be able to stream it around the house to laptops and an xbox and PS3. The main PC is close to where the phoneline comes in and is currently wired into the freebie wireless-g router that came with the internet. My main concern is a router that is good enough to handle more than one source trying to access files on the same PC, will increasing to wireless-n improve the situation? Is gigabit internet a worthy investment, or overkill for what I need? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks Nick
(you mean gigabit Ethernet) Wireless n would be needed pretty much, gigabit Ethernet would be recommended though you could get by without it, it's useless for the xbox as it doesn't have gigabit ports just 100mbit Id say definitely put the PS3 on Ethernet either 100mbit or gigabit its only got wireless g Though if I was you id get a wireless n router and a gigabit switch and id be running everything off Ethernet only using wireless for laptops
your right i do haha. excuse the slip. are there any particular manufacturers/models you would recommend? would a dual-band one be best? what's the sort of price differences between a good router with gigabit and a roughly equally good one without? Many thanks Nick
Whose your isp (Adsl or cable) oh you said phone line didn't notice these are ok wireless n 100mbit Ethernet http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0031SUB4S/ref=ox_ya_os_product or these very pricey though http://www.amazon.co.uk/Billion-BiP...1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1315676806&sr=1-2 You can always just use a 100mbit router and a gigabit switch but naturally you'd limit your wired to wireless transfers at 100mbit though that should be ok
are the wireless dual band? because i heard that if a wireless-g attaches to some routers, all transfer speeds are limited to g-speeds. don't know if this is true or not :/ is there a massive difference in them? other than one having gigabit ethernet? would it be better to connect the main PC to the router by wireless, or will the transfer speed change depending on whats connected? e.g. 300mbps wireless, 2 computers trying to connect to main 300/3=100mbps? 100mbps wired = constant 100mbps? is this roughly how it works?
100mbps wired = constant 100mbps? yes Wireless = crap Lets clarify, wireless is **** don't use it unless you have to, the connections are unreliable and your latency increases massively, especially in your case where your looking to have loads of stuff connected at once if you don't have to use it don't Can you put the PS3, 360, Pc's on Ethernet and keep your wireless clear for your laptops Gigabit switch's are are cheap as is Ethernet cable http://www.amazon.co.uk/8-Port-Unma...1_7?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1315678242&sr=1-7 http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Gig...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1315680129&sr=1-1
the only things that are close enough to be connected by wires are the main PC and the xbox, which is in the lounge, if i connect the PC and xbox through the gigabit switch, connected to the router, will that get full gigabit over the LAN? to clarify: Router > Gigabit switch > PC ------------------------------> xbox ---------> laptops, PS3 etc. (connected wirelessly) because the xbox only has a 100mbps connection, will there be a speed boost for rest of the network by using gigabit?
Nothings really too far away http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100M-Netw...ssories_SM&hash=item41586c4db8#ht_2713wt_1089 You only get a benefit from gigabit if both ends have gigabit ports Switch PC to PS3 1000mbit PC to 360 100mbit to answer your previous question yes n routers do sometimes slow to g speeds if a g device is connected, dependent on the router I think Homeplugs could be useful to you though I've never used them, http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1315683985&sr=1-1
Also what are you streaming quality wise 720p or 1080p and what size of video files, i guess your using something like PS3 Media server
didn't really want to go the homeplug route, wanted a more 'standard' network set-up, also didn't want the costs associated. it's a mixture of 720p and 1080p stuff, using PS3 media server the main priority is the xbox, as its in the living room, if it were wired in, would it be fast enough to watch 1080p content? as the xbox only has 100mbit lan, is the advantage of gigabit only if there is more than one device added? e.g. one 100mbit deviced attached to gigabit swich, accessing gigabit PC = transfer ~100mbit if two 100mbit devices were attached to a gigabit switch, accessing a PC attached with 1gbit, would both devices be able to access at ~100mbit? sorry for lack of knowledge, but setting up networks is pretty new to me
If you want to do it on the cheap just buy one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0031SUB4S/ref=ox_ya_os_product There pretty solid routers and there cheap you would see a improvement over your g router No point in a switch if your not going to bother laying Ethernet everywhere just plug your 360 and pc into the 100mbit ports on the back and you should be fine if you use the PS3 a lot try to get that on 100mbit Ethernet port as well Your not spending much and it should suffice unless your talking massive files 20GB files for instance if your talking 4 5 GB you should be ok
Cheapest way to deal with this would be to invest In some Ethernet cable and hide it under carpets etc to get to the devices that need it. If your modem outputs at a Gigabit then get a £20 switch and drop all the devices on to it. I was lucky enough to buy a house that had already been wired up. I have virgin 50meg broadband with a superhub that outputs at a gigabit and does wireless. So in my place it goes Modem (superhub) ---- switch ----- Wireless modem downstairs, ps3, computers
i think this is the way i'm going to go, if i bought a large reel of ethernet cable, how do you attach the plugs onto each end? is a special tool required? or can it be done by hand?
how does it cope with multiple devices streaming content? because that's what's causing the main problem.
