Simple wifi question

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FKM

38 posts

Geek

# 136739 7-Dec-2013 12:28

My modem/router is capable of 802.11n. My NAS is connected to the router through LAN.
My TV/BD player advertise 802.11n as well.
My laptop is old and is only 802.11g.

When I stream content from my NAS to my TV/BD player through wifi, do I get n or g?

Hammerer

2005 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

# 947039 7-Dec-2013 12:51

By default N as each device should use the highest bandwidth they are capable of. But it all depends upon the actual configuration. What they are capable of and what they are actually configured to use can be different.

RunningMan

5577 posts

Uber Geek

# 947041 7-Dec-2013 12:56

Well, it looks like both the devices (router and TV) both support 802.11n

If your router is configured to accept n clients, then they should connect using this.

Whether there is enough bandwidth to support video streaming is another thing altogether, and will depend on the capabilities of each device, and other environmental factors.

sdavisnz

752 posts

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# 947043 7-Dec-2013 12:59

One person supports this post

From my knowledge if there is a "G" device connected to the network then the speeds of the whole network will fall down to 54m(g) speeds, once the "g" device is disconnected it will go back up to "N" speeds.

I could be wrong but I'm sure I read that somewhere.

-Steve

Voice gives context

RunningMan

5577 posts

Uber Geek

# 947052 7-Dec-2013 13:20

sdavisnz: From my knowledge if there is a "G" device connected to the network then the speeds of the whole network will fall down to 54m(g) speeds, once the "g" device is disconnected it will go back up to "N" speeds.

It's going to depend on the capabilities of the devices. The OP should be getting a connection using 802.11n, which is what they were asking, but throughput of that 802.11n connection will depend on several hardware and environmental factors.

Single or simultaneous dual band router?
802.11n set to 2.4 or 5GHz?
Channel width - 20 or 40MHz?
MIMO config (number of RF chains) of both router and client
Environment - range, interference etc.

FKM

38 posts

Geek

# 947126 7-Dec-2013 16:20

Thanks for the reply.

I am using the cheap modem/router comes with vodafone. So everything will be basic (2.4Ghz, single channel...etc)

I already spent money on a NAS only to discover wifi is actually my bottleneck (NAS connected to modem/router through LAN has the same speed as usb drives connecting to modem/router through usb port when I access them wirelessly) (2 Mbytes/s)

I want to ensure where my bottleneck is before I spend another chuck of money.

Is there any way I can test the wifi speed between my BD/TV and my router?

RunningMan

5577 posts

Uber Geek

# 947134 7-Dec-2013 16:40

FKM: I already spent money on a NAS only to discover wifi is actually my bottleneck (NAS connected to modem/router through LAN has the same speed as usb drives connecting to modem/router through usb port when I access them wirelessly) (2 Mbytes/s)

That's about the max speed in real world conditions of 802.11g, or a single RF chain 20MHz 802.11n connection.

The best chunk of money you could spend would be a network cable through to your TV. Or move your modem and NAS next to the TV if that would be easier?

sbiddle

28278 posts

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

# 947244 7-Dec-2013 20:07

One person supports this post

My simple piece of advice is to forget WiFi.

It's a complimentary solution to Ethernet. It is not a replacement. Unless you want the convenience of portability you should always stick with Ethernet - and even then you're still going to have specific applications (intensive database applications are one example) where WiFi is a dead loss no matter how good it is because it's only half duplex.

afe66

2143 posts

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# 947245 7-Dec-2013 20:10

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+1 for wired solution put also get a gigabit switch so the nas can bypass the cheap vodafone router.

A.