Help me set up my home network!

PiXeLpUsHeR said:
They are all sharing an Internet connection via the router using DHCP except for the one that I use torrent downloads with, and I have assigned only this one a static IP.
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How did you do that?

I managed to get the network up and running, and only then did I remember that the network speed is quoted in bits/s and not bytes/s. No wonder it was taking so long to transfer my files.

In any case, I have a peculiar problem. I need only one machine with internet access, and everything else only on local network. I tried shutting down internet access using the wireless security settings to permit only specific MACs, but that disconnects the other PC. There are only two machines on the network as of now.

I could plug the internet directly into the net PC and use the wireless for only LAN, but then I lose the hardware firewall and security features in the router. So I need all machines to connect to the router, wired or not. And I need the router to grant local permissions to all machines, but internet access to only one.

There may be 4 machines + 1 laptop on the network. I would not mind the laptop getting internet access when it requests for it, but it's not totally necessary.

Any ideas?

The router is the ubiquitous Linksys WRT54G2, the adapters are WMP54G and the USB adapters (untested so far) are the WUSB54GC.
 
^^Dunno about your router but on mine(WRT600N), I can restrict internet access thru Internet access policy under Access Restrictions. Just googled for ur router and it does seem to have the same features. Just look for it. Screenshot attached of the settings page on my router to give u an idea what to look for.

 
:thanx:

I do have that page on my settings, but I didn't realise it can be specifically applied to PCs on the network.

I guess if I block the rest of the PCS for 24 hours everyday, it should do.
 
I was completely jobless today, so I helped a graphics trainee hone up his skills by drawing this for me :ohyeah:

The entire network setup cost me less than 3K

Setting up the backend NAS and Sever boxes cost me less than 5K (excluding the HDDs)

Your network requirements do not seem to be any more complex than this to me:

networkwg6db5.gif


The central hub is a Linksys WRT54G

Even though network transfer speeds I get are nothing to talk about, but once I was done consolidating my media library (music/Videos/Photos), the maximum thoroughput I ever need is still less than 6-7mbps while watching HD movies

Any additional media I add is done either via a DVD/CD rip/copy directly on the NAS server (so no network slowdown issue) or via Torrents (in which case the LAN network speed is anyway not a bottleneck)
 

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Thanks for that, SC!

I finally got everything to work fine. Sometimes one of my PCs can't detect the others on the network, but a little jiggling later and she's fine as well.

I gave in and am using the gateway/router fully. As both the Gateway and the home router. I gave up on wired connections, too messy. I get throughput between 36-48Mbps on the farthest computer, and 54 mbps on the two machines near the router. It still works 15 feet away through a couple of walls, with the signal strength showing 'very low', but it works all right for internet access with a laptop.

Given that Wi-fi is prone to hacking, I've used WPA2 security with AES encryption, and changed the password for the router as well as used a non-standard network passkey. Apart from that is there anything else I could do to secure the system from people outside the network? Specially since all my data is now on one PC with all critical stuff on sharing (read-only).
 
Diggin up a 4-year old thread is never a good idea, but I'm doing it anyway.

When this was posted my needs were far simpler and I had no HD streaming requirements either.

My setup now is similar to the one posted by SC, except that

1. The only wired client is a fileserver (actually a headless Windows 7/Atom machine)

2. I need to stream HD movies across 3 dead spots and into 4 clients (not simultaneously), and therefore use the wireless routing extensively. Need high bandwidth, low latency operation. Speed of ~100Mbps should be enough for me - and that is tough even with 2x2 N300 equipment.

I moved to a Asus RT-N13U when they had just launched - back in 2009. The router has aged gracefully and now needs to be moved into retirement or lighter duty.

So I have the following which can be repurposed:

1. PCI and PCIe atheros 2x2 cards. They don't work well on XP

2. Belkin N150 USB 1x1 adapter (this one is probably my most reliable piece of kit)

3. Netgear WNDR2000 Wireless repeater and AP (optional, this is a slightly buggy piece of equipment).

4. Asus RT-N13U, to be repurposed as a repeater/AP.

5. Assorted collection of high-gain antennae.

I need the following:

1. High powered router, preferably with upgradeable antennae. The router should be at least 3x3 on the 2.4GHz band (450mbps). I have put dibs on a WNDR3700v2, but am not 100% sure that's the right choice as it is only 2x2 and has only internal antennae. Reviews are mixed at best, though those who like it seem to love it. I don't necessarily need 3 streams all the time, but it helps run one clean stream if more than one client is running.

2. Three-stream wireless adapter cards - ideally USB. I need two of these for the machines that will need HD streaming for sure. I can manage the others with the cards I already have as they may be much closer to the router physically.

TIA, I know a lot of you have complex wireless requirements and am hoping to get recommendations.
 
My setup isn't complex but I get huge range with my Asus N16 router with upgraded antenna . It doesn't work on my older laptops but with my x220 which has this Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 . I 'm able to connect to the router anywhere in my house. Even between floors and thick walls , a distance of 35 feet away. Mostly only use it for net but will try out HD as well and post back
 
Cranky, buddy you have an interesting setup here.

For the sake of performance and range, buy ASUS RTN-56U. You can find review here : SmallNetBuilder. It has gigabit switch and dual band Wireless Radio. So that means total theoretical throughput is 600 Mbps (300 on 2.4 Ghz and 300 on 5Ghz) .

I am not sure of USB 3x3 WiFi cards though. But I have been using Belkin N+ adapter (Ralink 2870 chipset) so far and has been very good in HD streaming. My max throughput (download from Wired NAS) is close to 100 Mbps. I bought it for 2800 / - in Sept 2010.

I am not sure if it's still in production. But I can surely check and get back to you.
 
A few options you can look at are:

1) Linksys E4200 v1 - Broadcom chipset and good Tomato/DD-WRT support. 300Mbps on 2.4Ghz and 450Mbps on 5Ghz
2) Linksys E4200 v2 - Marvel chipset and no third-party firmware support. 450Mbps on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.
3) Asus RT-N66U - Very recently launched. Not sure if it's available in India yet. 450Mbps on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.
4) Asus RT-N56U - Has Tomato/DD-WRT support. 300Mbps on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.

Of the above four, only the RT-N66U has external antennae, and looking at the pictures, they look like they can be changed. But I've never heard anything bad said about the RT-N56U, and have been using the E4200 v1 myself for sometime now without any complaints. Haven't checked up too much on the E4200 v2 though, but apart from the lack of third-party firmware support, I don't think it'll be all that bad either.

Can't really help with the USB cards. All my wireless devices are either laptops with built-in wifi or wifi-enabled smartphones! The only adapters that I have used are the Linksys AE1000. Decent dual band adapter. 2 stream though, so 300Mbps on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.
 
Thanks for the replies guys :)

It took me a bit of time to reply because I was setting the stuff up.

Using the great SNB ranking process and because I was itching to get something quickly, I finally picked up the Netgear WNDR3700v2 router. It was one of the top three routers in the 2.4GHz tests, with not much separating it from the N56U and the E4200 (both of which were progressively more expensive than the 3700 and only traded blows with it).

I used the villager method to judge initial performance and was quite disappointed, because the signal on a PC two feet from the router dropped by one full bar in the W7 network indication. Finally I managed to test HD streaming using the WNDR2000 repeater and the RTN13U. It didn't go well - though I managed to get super-smooth playback of my most demanding file (a 6GB rip of Thor) after a few attempts with the Asus repeating the signal (Netgear repeater was hopeless), the fact that it took a few attempts means the experience is probably not repeatable consistently - given that I don't really know how it fixed itself. Everything upto and including 720p OTOH, is butter-smooth and for the first time I have noticed my HTPC video card is a bottleneck, as is the PCI wireless card that keeps locking my machine up.

So mixed thoughts, but hopefully I'll be able to get some more thoughts on improving network performance.
 
Here's a few things you could try to extract as much performance as possible!

1) If any of you wireless adapters are dual band adapters, I'd suggest you connect them to the 5Ghz network. Better bandwidth, but the distance is considerably less than the 2.4Ghz network. So this option is only feasible for devices that are in the same room as the router, or maybe even in the next room, depending on the thickness of the walls.
2) Set the 5Ghz channel width (or whatever the setting is labelled on the Netgear router) to 40Mhz. This way you can extract as much as possible of the advertised 300Mbps. If it's left at 20Mhz, the speed won't go higher than 150Mbps.
3) If there are any wireless G or lower clients in the network, set the 2.4Ghz channel width to 20Mhz. Most older clients have issues when it's set to 40Mhz. It's mostly just N clients that benefit from the 40Mhz channel width, and in very noisy, interference-prone areas even the N clients suffer. If there's not too many other 2.4Ghz wireless networks and other interference, you could try 40Mhz and see which option gives you the optimum performance.
4) Don't set the channel to auto for either band. This will be some amount of trial and error, but try different fixed channels and see which gives you the best performance and stick with that. On the 2.4Ghz frequency, 1, 3, 6 and 9 generally give you better results on wireless N routers, so you could try those first. With the 5Ghz, I'm not too sure, but I would guess that there'd be less of an issue since you don't have too many other devices using that frequency.
5) This may be something that you've already looked at, but the router placement matters. Place it at a higher location and avoid keeping it on a metal object. I know, seems like a very basic thing that no one would miss, but oddly not too many people do much about it! Usually because of wiring constraints and such.

That's all I can think of for now! Will post back if anything else strikes me!
 
1) No 5GHz adapters yet :( I've even disabled the 5Ghz band on the router. Hope to add a few in the next month or so.

2) I am at 40MHz, confirmed by one working PCI adapter. No G clients either.

4) Thanks for the reminder. I had it set to 3/6 earlier and it was better than now. Will try 6/12 also.

5) This is something I have very little control over due to the layout of the house and the wire for the connection not being able to cross in front of doors and wardrobes. There is little metal in proximity, but it's stuffed in one corner of the house, far from optimal, I will try to raise the height as much as possible without it looking weird (rental flat, can't modify too much).
 
I can totally relate to the layout and wiring bit! Thanks to similar constraints, my router is almost in a corner too!! I keep planning to do something about it and move the router setup out of my room but it never happens! And to complicate matters more, my Stacker is fairly close to it! Lol. I guess it's true what they say about people giving out advice because they don't use it themselves!!! :D
 
Cranky, did you buy the router already? If not then please hold on till I receive my ASUS RT-N66U.

I know it costs a bomb but my new flat has complete false ceiling with aluminum (or steel) plates all over the place. And to add to that I have heavy gauge wiring and Copper piping for ACs going through Ceiling. My Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH fails to deliver consistent link in my bedroom which is in the diagonally opposite corner. If you are interested I can keep you posted with N66 performance updates. :)

Now for the problem at hand,
1. Are you using stock firmwares? Have you tried upgrading to the latest builds?
2. Can you try flashing RT-N13 with DD-WRT? I have a notion that DD-WRT might be able to unlock some more power out of N13.
3. What kind of tests have you run to measure network bandwidth?
4. How are you sharing files with your HTPC?
 
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