Need help in upgrading and fixing some issues with my home network setup.

sriharsha_m

sriharsha_m

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Last year I bought a used QNAP TS-110 NAS and changed my adsl router to TP-Link W8961ND.
I was away from home since then, didn't have the time/knowledge back then and never set it up the way I wanted, now that I'm back home, I'm facing a few issues with the setup.

To begin with, here's a brief layout of my setup, including the placement of the devices.

list.JPG


Wifi.jpg


1. Bandwidth Control

Initially I used a night scheduler for the torrents via NAS, so everything was fine. Once I was back, I used to start torrents at random hours, so whenever someone complains about the speed, I have to stop it manually. Sometimes I just turn it on and go out. All hell breaks loose once I am back, slow internet blah blah. So I'm looking for a way to control bandwidth and give low priority to torrents for a win win situation. From what I learnt, DD-WRT has IP based control, but I never used it personally and I'm not sure my existing router supports it.

This is my top priority right now.

2. Range and Throughput issue

My desktop and NAS are connected via LAN to router. I cannot relocate my router owing to the fixed line and cabling issues. Wifi is not necessary in the black shaded area and the red shaded area is where I'm facing range issues.

Add to that, streaming to TV has become an issue due to this and transfer rates for data are also very slow from NAS to Laptop over Wifi and Phone to Phone transfers over Wifi. I planned to get another router as repeater and relocate NAS near tv, connect both via LAN to new router thereby fixing both the range and streaming issue. Idea sounds good but I'm not sure of the practical issues.

I read somewhere that the slowest device on the network might bottleneck the throughput etc. Is that true? The only device that runs of G is the iPod, I use it to stream audio. If the bottleneck is significant, I can stop using WiFi on it and keep the router on draft N alone, but somehow on W8961, I can never set the radio to draft N only.

3. Data centralization and sync issues

As of now I had to replicate data thrice; Desk, Laptop & NAS. I keep them in sync via Qsync service. I use mediamonkey to manage audio. The only reason for replication is syncing audio files to phone/tablet. If I can somehow sync to them from NAS directly then I can keep the files on NAS alone. Is it possible?

Also I'm looking for a media monkey type app to manage 4TB of video files, I tried ant movie catalog, it's not that much user friendly and takes loads of time to make matched entries.
 
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1. Bandwidth Control : IMO, you could upgrade the inbuilt torrent client and check, I have a GoFlex Home, which with the 1.92 firmware was a PITA and hence had to manually stop downloads and all. But after doing a manual upgrade to 2.50, it automatically reduces the speeds.

DD WRT does have QoS facility, but I have personally not tried it.

2. WiFi to WiFi transfers will always be slow, irrespective of the devices.

Range issues can be resolved with a repeater, but I would prefer you setup the new router as an Access Point using LAN connection as near as possible to the area with range issues. You do not need to locate the NAS near the AP as long as it has a wired connection and no device saturates the wired LAN.

Yes, if a 802.11 g device connects to a 802.11 n network - it will slow down the network, but the penalty is unknown.

3. There are sync apps for Android which allow the data to be kept in sync from a SMB folder. However, do some testing before jumping ship completely ;)

Also, if you have any more queries, PM me with your email id.
 
vivek.krishnan said:
1. Bandwidth Control : IMO, you could upgrade the inbuilt torrent client and check, I have a GoFlex Home, which with the 1.92 firmware was a PITA and hence had to manually stop downloads and all. But after doing a manual upgrade to 2.50, it automatically reduces the speeds.

DD WRT does have QoS facility, but I have personally not tried it.

2. WiFi to WiFi transfers will always be slow, irrespective of the devices.

Range issues can be resolved with a repeater, but I would prefer you setup the new router as an Access Point using LAN connection as near as possible to the area with range issues. You do not need to locate the NAS near the AP as long as it has a wired connection and no device saturates the wired LAN.

Yes, if a 802.11 g device connects to a 802.11 n network - it will slow down the network, but the penalty is unknown.

3. There are sync apps for Android which allow the data to be kept in sync from a SMB folder. However, do some testing before jumping ship completely ;)

Also, if you have any more queries, PM me with your email id.
Click to expand...
1. Didn't get you. Are you talking about transmission or GoFlex firmware? Either way, the router has to do load balancing right? How can I implement it on NAS?

2. I'm thinking of on getting a new gigabit router as access point and move NAS near TV1 and connect both via LAN. That should solve both range and streaming to TV issues. But should I go for this option or replace my existing router with something like TP-Link W8970B, it has ip based load balancing and gigabit lan. If I still find range issues I can get something like a TP-link WR702N portable router/AP.

3. Qsync has same functionality, it has android, ios & windows apps too. But what I'm looking for is the media monkey type ability to sync playlists, if that's possible.

Also Pm'ed you my email ID :)
 
sriharsha_m said:
1. Didn't get you. Are you talking about transmission or GoFlex firmware? Either way, the router has to do load balancing right? How can I implement it on NAS?

2. I'm thinking of on getting a new gigabit router as access point and move NAS near TV1 and connect both via LAN. That should solve both range and streaming to TV issues. But should I go for this option or replace my existing router with something like TP-Link W8970B, it has ip based load balancing and gigabit lan. If I still find range issues I can get something like a TP-link WR702N portable router/AP.

3. Qsync has same functionality, it has android, ios & windows apps too. But what I'm looking for is the media monkey type ability to sync playlists, if that's possible.

Also Pm'ed you my email ID :)
Click to expand...

1. Transmission firmware. I have not enabled QoS on the N13, but with the new version I have more seeds compared to the older version and the speed automatically goes down while browsing. Earlier it used to still be at max. I do not know the reason as to why this is happening.

2. As I said, what you are looking for cannot be done (AFAIK) with a repeater, but you need to make a wireless bridge. It will work, but the speed across the bridge will be limited to your WiFi speeds. The easiest way out is to get a wire as near as possible (even from outside) and use it with a AP.

Wireless bridging is good if you cannot connect via wires only. For houses, IMO, there would be a better way to connect - even use powerline if needed.

3. I use WMP to manage my music collection with MP3Tag for tagging. I have not used MediaMonkey - so this is something I have zero idea about.
 
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