The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.

Networking question, spare router.

honkymcgoohonkymcgoo Registered User regular
edited October 2012 in Help / Advice Forum
So our current wireless router is actually just the verizon fios modem. It's a wireless G router but it seems to do just fine for our purposes. However, I have this spare wireless N router(Linksys Cisco) that was given to me. I know I can turn off the wireless on the verizon box and have it just act as a straight up modem if I want to hook up the Linksys.

My question is, would I see a big speed improvement in terms of download speeds or even browsing speeds? Only about once a week are all three of us home at the same time and using the internet, and even now it doesn't seem to get too slow. But would this give us even more wiggle room for online gaming while downloading a large file etc?

Also, would I see much improvement in streaming media in my room if I set up the linksys to work as a wireless bridge? My room has my tv, a logitech revue, a ps3 and a 360. All of them are currently running off the wireless, and only occasionally do I have any speed or buffering issues. Would a wireless bridge eliminate those all together?

I didn't even know what the fuck and avitar was until about 5 minutes ago.
honkymcgoo on

Posts

  • nescientistnescientist Registered User regular
    Compatibility is the big issue with wireless N. If all of your devices have it, switch immediately, why are you even asking this question. If you need backwards compatibility with G then it's a slightly more difficult question but still absolutely worth it to try it out; plug that thing in and see what happens. There's no penalty for failure, here, and very little effort involved in the experiment.

    My experience has always been that gigabit ethernet or high-speed wireless is pretty much irrelevant for internet stuff, but completely and totally awesome for local transfers. Then again, with fios you may have literally ten times as fast an internet connection as I have ever had, so maybe G is actually a bottleneck for you.

    My big question is why haven't you already plugged the router in. It should be very very easy to do, and similarly easy to undo if you decide you were better off before or can't tell the difference.

  • DhalphirDhalphir don't you open that trapdoor you're a fool if you dareRegistered User regular
    edited October 2012
    If your FiOS is faster than wireless G's max speeds (typically around 15-20mbps (or 2-2.5MB/s), then it's worthwhile plugging it in.
    Only about once a week are all three of us home at the same time and using the internet, and even now it doesn't seem to get too slow. But would this give us even more wiggle room for online gaming while downloading a large file etc?

    This won't change with wireless N - wireless N vs G only affects the bandwidth that each individual device receives, I believe, and doesn't increase the total bandwidth available.

    So, if you have the very fast Verizon FiOS, at, say, 100mbps, and you have three people using it with wireless G devices, each person can get up to ~20mbps off that device. That's below the capacity of the actual connection itself, so you'd have no problems. With wireless n, each person will be able to potentially get up to 80-100mbps or more, which means that, while you won't have any congestion problems if everyone is just using the internet normally, if somebody is downloading at maximum speed, that's going to be using up the whole of the bandwidth that the connection itself has.

    Let me know if I explained that badly, sorry.

    Dhalphir on
  • honkymcgoohonkymcgoo Registered User regular
    Dhalphir wrote: »
    If your FiOS is faster than wireless G's max speeds (typically around 15-20mbps (or 2-2.5MB/s), then it's worthwhile plugging it in.


    This won't change with wireless N - wireless N vs G only affects the bandwidth that each individual device receives, I believe, and doesn't increase the total bandwidth available.

    So, if you have the very fast Verizon FiOS, at, say, 100mbps, and you have three people using it with wireless G devices, each person can get up to ~20mbps off that device. That's below the capacity of the actual connection itself, so you'd have no problems. With wireless n, each person will be able to potentially get up to 80-100mbps or more, which means that, while you won't have any congestion problems if everyone is just using the internet normally, if somebody is downloading at maximum speed, that's going to be using up the whole of the bandwidth that the connection itself has.

    Let me know if I explained that badly, sorry.

    No that made sense. Kudos. Just plugged it in and moved a movie from my laptop the the NAS. Much much faster transfer rate, which is a big deal since I'm routinely moving files back and forth.

    Can anyone give me some more info/ personal experiences on the wireless bridge thing? I had a buddy who claimed he was getting much better speeds by using his second router as a bridge and plugging his devices into it.

    I didn't even know what the fuck and avitar was until about 5 minutes ago.
  • bigbhbigbh Registered User regular
    There's no way that going through a wireless bridge is going to be faster than directly connecting to the wireless access point, unless your in a situation where you've got a poor wireless signal on one of your devices and the wireless bridge you intend on using has a better radio than the device in question.

    You're basically just adding a middleman, some overhead, and another potential point of failure.

  • honkymcgoohonkymcgoo Registered User regular
    Got it. Our house isn't big enough to have trouble with signal, especially now that I've hooked up the N router. At most you might be 50ft from the router at any given point inside the house.

    Thanks for all the info guys, I've never done much with networking outside of just plugging in the modem and setting up a password. Password is taco.

    I didn't even know what the fuck and avitar was until about 5 minutes ago.
  • DhalphirDhalphir don't you open that trapdoor you're a fool if you dareRegistered User regular
    Worth noting that even under optimal wifi conditions, Ethernet cabling is always going to be faster than wifi. If you CAN plug your most regularly used computers directly into the router, do so.

Sign In or Register to comment.