Hi all,
I'm wondering if I might need to upgrade to a "beefier" router, now that I'm streaming all this good stuff all over the house. I have a Belkin Wireless G router, and it'a always done well in terms of "feeding" two laptops and the kids desktop in the basement. Now, I've added the HP Media Connect, and then just today, the Roku Netflix box, and while everything is working well, I've noticed an increase of Internet "drops" that require powering off the cable modem and the router in order to re-establish Internet connectivity. Happily, the Roku reports a full four "dots" in signal quality, and our 11 year old is in the living room giggling away to Weird Al Yankovic's "UHF" as we speak.

I believe the model of the Belkin that I have is F5D7230-4.

As a "noob" to the server/streaming world, I just wondered if this was adequate to the demands I'm asking of it, or if the more experienced "streamers" here might have suggestions on other routers with more power (where's Tim Allen?).

Thanks, as always, and happy St. Patty's day to all!

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"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon

Anita and Bob's Website - http://anitabob.com

Bob - I would recommend getting a wireless N gigabit router. I have the linksys WRT610N and have been happy with. I would tell you to go with the WRT310N though, which is cheaper (the WRT610N is more expensive because is has dual bands on 2.4 and 5 gigahertz, but honestly I don't use the 5 gigahertz due to reliability issues).

As an alternative to linksys, I would suggest as well the D Link DIR-655

The key, especially if you are using wireless, is to upgrade to wireless N.

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Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Thanks much for your reply, Damian - I agree that from all I read, wireless N is the way to go. Of the ones you mentioned, it looks like the D-Link has the best overall customer reviews on the Amazon pages, anyway. The Linksys offerings seem to be a 50-50 split, with people either loving them or hating them, and the one less expensive than your dual band seems to have noted heat related issues.

I also researched the new Belkin, but that got kicked up and down the street in terms of reviews concerning reliability!

There is a new one due out reasonably soon from Buffalo that looks quite interesting, and the previous model its replacing got really strong reviews across the board....it may well pay to wait, stay with the Belkin G that I have for the moment (which at least, has been quite reliable for a few years now), and have a good look at this once it's available.

This is the new Buffalo in question:

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/wireless/nfiniti-wireless-n/nfiniti-wireless-n-high-power-router-access-point-wzr-hp-g300nh/

As I scanned the Buffalo users forums, there's a LOT of people anxiously awaiting this to be released in the US....the general consensus seemed to think it has an early April launch in Japan, and hopefully around the same timeframe in the US.

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"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon

Anita and Bob's Website - http://anitabob.com

If I had to do again I would have gone with the D Link router over the Linksys. As I mentioned, I have been happy with the linksys, but do read a farir amount of bad reviews. The D Links I read mostly positives and my experience with their switches has been a plus.

Hmmmm....that Buffalo does look very interesting. I am sure people will like that it has a usb port to connect a drive/NAS. Also, another neat feature is that you can switch between being a router and an access point. Wonder what the price will be, I would think the stiff competition from Linksys/Netgear/Dlink, etc... would keep the price down

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Yes the Dlink routers, access points and bridges work great with wireless N.

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3TB MSS EX490(upgraded CPU-E6300(2.8Ghz dual core Pentium)),
4GB memory
57TB unRAID1a--49TB unRAID2--76TB unRAID3

It does look very good - I downloaded the PDF users guide, and I am impressed with the feature set. Lots of people on the Buffalo forum are wondering (loudly) what the price point and the US availability will be. I think I'm going to wait for now, at least until this hits, and the first reviews start coming out for it. If this has an Achilles heel once reviewed, I will probably opt for the D-Link option, only beacuse I've been very lucky with the drvices I've added so far - Murphy's Law has to be hiding around a nearby corner at this point, so I'd opt for the most proven option!

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"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon

Anita and Bob's Website - http://anitabob.com

Thanks for adding your thoughts, aaronwt - as I mentioned to Damian, I'll wait and have a better look at this very interesting Buffalo option that should be out soon, but if I don't choose that one, i will go with the D-Link wireless N.

_________________
"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon

Anita and Bob's Website - http://anitabob.com

+ DIR-655

If you want to see how D-Link compares to the other guys out there check out http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_chart/Itemid,189/

Thanks for that link, Coop1 - looks to be an excellent resource!

_________________
"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon

Anita and Bob's Website - http://anitabob.com

My HP MediaSmart Connect x280n extenders appear to support 802.11n in 5 GHz mode. Would I be best served to use a router that support dual simultaneous 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and dedicate the 5 GHz 802.11n to the extenders, while using the 2.4 GHz band for other wireless devices, e.g. laptops? HP has a "HP MediaSmart Connect - Best Practices" PDF on their website that suggests that sort of configuration, if I understand it correctly. If that's the case, what routers would be recommended. It looks like the D-Link DIR-855 may be one, as well as perhaps the LinkSys WRT-610N. I also would like to have a gigabit switch in it to support my HP MSS and other desktop/backend machines. Any help to understand this better is appreciated. Thanks.

I have heard bad things about the 5 GHz, the range is very short and drops out frequently. I haven't tested myself though, I just disabled the 5 GHz from the start and have been running with the 2.4. In theory what you suggest about dedicating the 5 GHz to extenders would make the most sense if it works. Has anyone else here had luck with the 5 GHz?

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

I've had excellent results on both the 5GHZ and 2.4 GHZ bands with my Linksys WRT610N every since I installed the January firmware release. Most of what I've read online indicates somewhat reduced range and more difficulties with the signal traveling through walls, etc, with 5GHZ. My router is located on the top floor of a two story house and there are a few places, like the far corner of my basement, where both the 5 and 2.4 GHZ signals become quite weak, however overall I haven't noticed a significant difference between the two, FWIW.

In anticipation of reciept of 2- x280n's I picked up a D-Link Dual Band Wireless N Gigabit router (DIR-825). I set the 802.11n radio to operate only @ 5GHz, and connect all the wireless PC's on the 802.11g @ 2.4GHz. My MSS is connected at a gigabit and both x280n's use the 5GHz 'n' network exclusively. We played back several videos yesterday and I was more than pleased with the results, Zero stutter/drops and flawless playback.

Now I just have to figure out whether or not the MSS with a K-Lite install will tackle the recoding of all of the .mkv's I have. And a better navigational system for browsing the movies on the MSS through the MediaSmart Connect menu.

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HPjunkie: