Help me decide: ASUS RT-N16 or Netgear WNDR3700?

[cranky]

^^Excellent post.I already had a good dual-band router but no 5GHz devices. I still got full 40MHz bandwidth in my flat in NCR region. But when I moved back to Calcutta there are fourteen 2.4GHz networks on my network list and some of them with very strong signals.

I bought a 5GHz mini PCIe wireless and a USB dongle for two wireless clients, and now I get full bandwidth and throughput throughout the house. To be 100% safe I have configured the 2.4GHz to work at 54Mbps, which is just about enough to stream 1080p video to the third wireless client, and for phones etc which are all 2.4 by default.

The most critical transfer devices are on wire, so it helps to have a router with as high total bandwidth as possible. About 500Mbps is pretty good for most applications, though about 600-700 is really where enthusiasts should aim.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Doc, link speed is not an indicator of performance. Pull some data and see the speeds. Try having more than one wireless device pulling in stuff and also see.

And as I said yesterday, what you see as trouble free is not something we guys want. I agree with cranky here about the same.

And finally, this issue of youtube not loading, was the issue with the pair of Buffalo's? Then, it could be an issue with the router itself. Check with Charun if he has any issues.

 

[blr_p]

^^Excellent post.I already had a good dual-band router but no 5GHz devices. I still got full 40MHz bandwidth in my flat in NCR region. But when I moved back to Calcutta there are fourteen 2.4GHz networks on my network list and some of them with very strong signals.

I bought a 5GHz mini PCIe wireless and a USB dongle for two wireless clients, and now I get full bandwidth and throughput throughout the house. To be 100% safe I have configured the 2.4GHz to work at 54Mbps, which is just about enough to stream 1080p video to the third wireless client, and for phones etc which are all 2.4 by default.

Not sure i follow..

The typical max throughput of a N300 client at 20Mhz is 60-70 Mbs (best case scenario).

You're saying you limited the client side to work no faster than 54Mbs ?

I'm told a raw BR rip needs 36Mbs so 54 provides ample bandwidth.

But the client will only consume what it needs.

So why limit it in the first place ?

 

[cranky]

Have limited router to 54Mbps max speed on the 2.4GHz band. This gives me better range for the 2.4 and better throughput on the 5GHz band.

And no, it is not a open tap situation. The router modulates transmit power and bandwidth allocation depending and number of clients, signal strength to each client, etc. I consistently get 6dB more signal on 54 than on 300 (or with fallback, 150Mbps). I'm guessing that this is because now I have one channel with two antennae, therefore double the signal power.

 

[100khz]

one imp question, could not find the asnwer anywhere.. can i put my dsl login credentials in apple router? like at my netgear, i get authenticated for my mtnl broadband with phone number for ID and CA number as password..

my mtnl dsl is in bridge mode. SO my netgear wifi router does the authentication work.. does apple airport extreme has this feature where i put authentication credentials in apple router?

 

[rdst_1]

Since, there is a good discussion going over here regarding routers, I thought it was wise to ask my question here than open a new thread.

I currently employ a TP-Link TL-WR340G as a wireless router. It was the cheapest 54M router I could find at that time.
The ADSL modem is connected to the router and my PC gets connected to the router via a generic ethernet cable I got from a local computer shop.
For 90% of my usage, I am in the same room and for the remaining 10% I am in the next room.
Apart from my laptop and my PC, the router is constantly connected to my phone and my tablet.
When I transfer files from my PC to my laptop or any of the connected devices, the max speed I get is 2.5MBps. Most of the times the 1080p stuff plays but not flawlessly and if by chance I am transferring some files at the same time then even 720p content fails to play properly.

Earlier i used to stream content to my Note 2 all the time and it was perfect but since I bought the iPad I wasn't able to play even 720p content properly while streaming. I laid the blame on how iPad streams content and whatnot but people tell me that they are even able to stream 1080p on their iPad 2 which has led me to believe that the issue is with the capabilities of my wireless network.

My requirements are pretty simple and I would like to spend the least amount on a new wireless router .

1) I would love to have good signal strength throughout my whole house which is a Duplex with the router installed at one extreme of the house. Though this is not that important as most of the time I am in the same room or the adjacent room, but if it can be achieved then that would be better. The door of the room in which the router is kept is always kept shut be it winters or summers.

2) Better speeds when transferring data over the air.

3) Flawless 1080p playback across devices. Files will be stored on the file server which is connected to the router via Ethernet cable and most of the time will be high bit rate 1080p rips if not raw BRs themselves.

 

[blr_p]

3) Flawless 1080p playback across devices.

Which devices will you be using ?

 

[rdst_1]

Laptop, tablets, mobile phones and maybe in the future a TV.

 

[blr_p]

Put up a basic layout of your place with typical distances between desired clients and router and the number of walls in between. Basically one wall or floor directly above or below works even with cheap N150 routers upto 20 feet, more walls needs better equipment.

1) I would love to have good signal strength throughout my whole house which is a Duplex with the router installed at one extreme of the house.

Not good, better is if its in the centre. Otherwise your options are wired or powerline. The latter will work best if rooms are on the same circuit.

2) Better speeds when transferring data over the air.

FTP gives the best transfer speed. Faster than filesystem copy via shared folders.

3) Flawless 1080p playback across devices.

How many devices are going to be streaming at the same time ?

What wi-fi capabilty is the laptop ?

Streaming will work better with your laptop as its more powerful than the other lighter i-devices. For the latter setup ftp clients on your various devices and pull over the entire file for playback.

I think a competent wifi enabled streamer (with ethernet port for backup) attached to a 'dumb' tv via hdmi has more options and is cheaper than a smart tv. Though this depends on how good your air speeds are.

How many neighbouring wifi networks can you pick up in your home, if they have strong signals things become more complicated read expensive.

 

[rdst_1]

1) The room in which the Router and the PC are kept is 9ft x 9ft. It is like I said one extreme of the house. The second room is directly adjacent so just 1 wall between them and is similar in size which would put the max horizontal distance at 18ft that would need to be in range with 1 wall in between. Nearly 99% of the usage will be in these 2 rooms.

2) I am gonna buy a new laptop and I always have a high end android smartphone and tablet like the iPad 4 or the Nexus 10. I have both right now. I am guessing nearly all of them use the 2.4GHz channel and the 802.11N protocol. And only one device will be streaming at one time. If I setup a standalone download rig later on then maybe 2 devices but 1 of them will be the PC which will be on the wired part of the network.

3) Hardly any networks nearby. They do pop-up sometimes but are very weak. My neighbours arent that tech savvy or heavy internet users.

4) FTP is good enough for the laptop but not an option for the iPad and the Nexus 10 as both have non expandable storage.
Actually till a few weeks back I was very happy as I could stream pretty flawlessly on my Note 2. Then I decided to sell it off and buy a tablet for my media consumption. I bought the iPad 4 and there is a big thread in the tablets section over the streaming issues I faced that led me to question the capabilities of my router and here we are.

I just wanna stream all my TV series from the PC because it is my brother's PC and he is on it all the time and I just find the laptop too heavy to watch videos lying down on the bed.

So streaming is important. If the router is actually the culprit I might actually keep the iPad which is for sale right now in the MP.

Also I am not looking for streaming which involves a server software to be installed on the PC which convert the files on the fly as most of the apps for iPad did.

I actually wanna access my files on the PC via Samba server and then play them by using the device's hardware, be it the laptop or the tablets. This was accomplished on my Note 2 by using the combination of ES File Explorer and MX player.

I dont wanna get into the same debate over here but I just wanted to put forward what kinda usage I am expecting from my wireless network.

 

[bottle]

@rdst_1, How are you streaming movies onto your iPad? I dont use mine for streaming but can try it out and post back

 

[rdst_1]

@rdst_1, How are you streaming movies onto your iPad? I dont use mine for streaming but can try it out and post back

Well I tried all the usual apps like Air Video, VLC Streamer but that is not how I want to do it because these apps actually require a software to be installed on the PC which converts the videos on the fly. Thus whenever I stream the PC is rendered unusable as the conversion uses lots of CPU resources.

After buying apps worth around 1500, I finally found OPlayer HD which actually does what I want. This app lets you see your shared folders and then you can play them via this app. No copying, no conversion.

The only problem right now with this app is that it has no AC3 support. Though nearly all my movies have AC3 audio, I can still live with it as all my TV series are still playable and I watch the movies on the big screen anyways.

So if you can check with OPlayer HD and let me know of your experience, I would be highly obliged. They have a free version as well, OPlayer HD Lite.

 

[blr_p]

1) The room in which the Router and the PC are kept is 9ft x 9ft. It is like I said one extreme of the house. The second room is directly adjacent so just 1 wall between them and is similar in size which would put the max horizontal distance at 18ft that would need to be in range with 1 wall in between. Nearly 99% of the usage will be in these 2 rooms.

ok then this is ideal

2) I am gonna buy a new laptop and I always have a high end android smartphone and tablet like the iPad 4 or the Nexus 10. I have both right now. I am guessing nearly all of them use the 2.4GHz channel and the 802.11N protocol. And only one device will be streaming at one time. If I setup a standalone download rig later on then maybe 2 devices but 1 of them will be the PC which will be on the wired part of the network.

With G your link speed is 54Mbs with a N router you will get 65Mbs, your actual throughput increase with a N router at 20Mhz will be marginal. If you get a router that can put out 40Mhz in the 2.4 ghz band there may be an improvement. But neither the apple or the nexus will use it in 2.4Ghz.

The laptop will benefit much more. High end tablet does not change the fact that its a 1x1 low powered device. I get a throughput of 5Mbs with a Note Tab sitting next to the router, on both 2.4 & 5 Ghz bands. At 5ghz the link speed is 150Mbs so evidently the chip can handle 40Mhz but i notice no improvement in SMB transfer speed at all.

Yeah, my SMB is slower than your 2.5MB/s which i only ever see with FTP. Maybe i need to look for another SMB client, i used And SMB because it indicates the transfer speed, ES file explorer does not show that any where.

3) Hardly any networks nearby. They do pop-up sometimes but are very weak. My neighbours arent that tech savvy or heavy internet users.

good

4) FTP is good enough for the laptop but not an option for the iPad and the Nexus 10 as both have non expandable storage.

If you stream you are in effect copying over the file any way. You have to have enough space in the first place to be able to watch it. The old trick of fishing out the file from a browsers cache to have a copy of the stream just watched applies here too.

Do you have enough space on the ipad to copy over the file otherwise it will not work.

Actually till a few weeks back I was very happy as I could stream pretty flawlessly on my Note 2. Then I decided to sell it off and buy a tablet for my media consumption. I bought the iPad 4 and there is a big thread in the tablets section over the streaming issues I faced that led me to question the capabilities of my router and here we are.

This is what makes me suspect there is nothing wrong with your router. If the note 2 could handle it then clearly client as well as router are adequate. The wifi capability between note 2 & ipad 4 are comparable. Both can operate on dual band but a dual band router isn't necessary in your case.

I read your thread and it baffled me. This is why i suggested the ftp option. In my experience FTP is 2-3x faster to transfer over than ES explorer.

I just wanna stream all my TV series from the PC because it is my brother's PC and he is on it all the time and I just find the laptop too heavy to watch videos lying down on the bed.

So that is just one stream at a time.

Also I am not looking for streaming which involves a server software to be installed on the PC which convert the files on the fly as most of the apps for iPad did.

This is only necessary for file formats that are not streamable. If you got it working on note 2 then your formats are streamable already. No need for transcoding or this kind of server.

I actually wanna access my files on the PC via Samba server and then play them by using the device's hardware, be it the laptop or the tablets. This was accomplished on my Note 2 by using the combination of ES File Explorer and MX player.

There is something not right in the way your using the ipad to do this. I think your hardware is adequate, the software side might not be. Did you try discussing this over at the apple forums.

 

[dinjo]

Why not twonky running on laptop ?

Or DLNA on NAS ?

 

[cranky]

Also I am not looking for streaming which involves a server software to be installed on the PC which convert the files on the fly as most of the apps for iPad did.

I actually wanna access my files on the PC via Samba server and then play them by using the device's hardware, be it the laptop or the tablets. This was accomplished on my Note 2 by using the combination of ES File Explorer and MX player.

This is heavily OT, but my understanding is that this is not possible as the iPad does not have any filesystem access, either local or remote, and therefore it does need a streaming server (which is exactly what is being set up by the applications that ARE available). Technically, neither does Android, but ES is a third-party app that provides filesystem access of some kind.

The speed issues therefore have less to do with network bandwidth than available resources for streaming, and the way iOS is set up.

 

[rdst_1]

#cranky - OPlayer HD does for iOS exactly what the combo of ES File Explorer and MX Player does for Android. It lets me browse my shared directories and watch any video I want with its inbuilt media player without the need of a server side application.

#blr_p - All streaming apps with a server side software installed on my PC convert the files because iPad doesnt support mkv format natively. This conversion is a process hog and something I cant afford as my brother is gaming at the PC at the same time.
Correct me if I am wrong, but you seem to be saying that I cant play a file bigger in size than my available storage even if the file is on a remote location.

With the Note 2 I didn't get to test the bigger high quality movie files but only the 720p content.
1080p streaming is nearly always troublesome, even on my laptop which has made me question the router capabilities.

I will be getting the N10 in my hands this weekend. I will test the router with all 3 devices, viz. the laptop, the N10 and the iPad 4. I will get back with the results.

 

[blr_p]

#cranky - OPlayer HD does for iOS exactly what the combo of ES File Explorer and MX Player does for Android. It lets me browse my shared directories and watch any video I want with its inbuilt media player without the need of a server side application.

So your iPad has remote fs access then.

#blr_p - All streaming apps with a server side software installed on my PC convert the files because iPad doesnt support mkv format natively. This conversion is a process hog and something I cant afford as my brother is gaming at the PC at the same time.

Is there no custom mkv software decoder available for the iPad ? Playback won't be as smooth but may be workable.

Correct me if I am wrong, but you seem to be saying that I cant play a file bigger in size than my available storage even if the file is on a remote location.

Yes, regardless of the device.

If you got a 4GB file you want to watch then you need 4GB available on the device to begin with. I understand you have a 16GB iPad, you just got it so i thought ample space is available.

With the Note 2 I didn't get to test the bigger high quality movie files but only the 720p content.

Dual core iPad4 should handle that

1080p streaming is nearly always troublesome, even on my laptop which has made me question the router capabilities.

Troublesome for a dual core tablet but not a quad core. How powerful is your laptop.

I will be getting the N10 in my hands this weekend. I will test the router with all 3 devices, viz. the laptop, the N10 and the iPad 4. I will get back with the results.

Wifi throughput wise I expect very little difference, as the N10 will still link up at 65Mbs. Neither will getting a faster dual stream router improve things because your limiting factor is still a low powered single stream client. A tablet or smart phone cannot compete with a wifi mini pci/pci-e or USB dongle interface. High powered routers that shout at low powered clients make little difference unless the clients can also shout back as quickly. You get more range that's all.

Broadcom announced a 2x2 MIMO chip earlier this year, that will be making its appearance in next years high end tablets, this will double tablet wifi speeds and improve range, but it will draw more power.

The n10 quad core will improve your 1080p play back though.

I stayed away from Nexus because service centers are limited and there is no microsd capabilty. Both Apple & Google are pushing you to use the 'cloud'. No 3G sim card facility with the n10 which even Apple provides. I don't like the idea of dongles sticking out of fragile interfaces on expensive equipment.

And the increased resolution is moot if you hold the tablet further away than 15 inches and drains the battery faster. The annoying thing with anything HD is you need to position yourself real close or get a bigger screen. No VFM possible for now (!)

Thing with nexus is you are best placed for android os updates whereas the others might not get them. Cheaper too.

 

[rdst_1]

I wish that I hadn't derailed this thread as much as I had done.

The iPad has players which are very easily playing 1080p content if I copy it over. But for that I would have to buy a bigger capacity iPad as 16 GB aint enough.
Also copying data over the air aint easy on the iPad as it lacks real multitasking so you cant use the iPad while the copying is going on.

If the streaming issue turns out not to be a router problem then I will just keep the N10 as with that one can attach an external HDD via USB OTG at least.

 

[bottle]

How did you access shared folders on pc ? I only saw options for samba , ftp and dropbox

I tried out airplayit which needed server software installed on PC and played a 9gb rip without problems on the ipad. negligable cpu usage as well

Well I tried all the usual apps like Air Video, VLC Streamer but that is not how I want to do it because these apps actually require a software to be installed on the PC which converts the videos on the fly. Thus whenever I stream the PC is rendered unusable as the conversion uses lots of CPU resources.

After buying apps worth around 1500, I finally found OPlayer HD which actually does what I want. This app lets you see your shared folders and then you can play them via this app. No copying, no conversion.

The only problem right now with this app is that it has no AC3 support. Though nearly all my movies have AC3 audio, I can still live with it as all my TV series are still playable and I watch the movies on the big screen anyways.

So if you can check with OPlayer HD and let me know of your experience, I would be highly obliged. They have a free version as well, OPlayer HD Lite.

 

[rdst_1]

How did you access shared folders on pc ? I only saw options for samba dosa, ftp and dropbox

I tried out airplayit which needed server software installed on PC and played a 9gb rip without problems on the ipad. negligable cpu usage as well

Select Samba and it will show you your PC and all its shared folders in OPlayer HD.
The iPad I had received was faulty and had many other problems. It has now been replaced. The thing is that iPad left a bitter taste and thus instead of checking the iPad I got as replacement, I put it for sale straightaway. I am waiting for my N10 to be delivered and if someone doesn't pay my asking price then I will just open it up and test both of them this weekend and choose which one is better for me.