Hello all.
Been awhile since my last post. Though I am always lurking.
Please excuse me if this has been discussed in other threads, and feel free to point me to them.
Anyways, here is the story.
Last May, my wireless router took a dump. I went to my backup router, which lasted a week then also died. So I did some research, and wanted to buy a Linksys E3000. Unfortunately, I had a Fry's gift card, they didnt have it yet, and I couldn't wait, so ended up buying a Netgear WNDR3700.
My laptop a/b/g/n wireless card sucks, and couldn't connect faster then 54mb (802.11g). Max throughput I was getting between my server and laptop via wireless was 3-4MB/s (verified with iperf). Wireless signal srength at 85%, from 30ft away, 1 wall away, 2.4ghz, or 5ghz, no major electronics in the way. I also tried from 5ft, 10ft, 15 ft. Not enough for divx or HD streaming. IOMeter clocks my server raid1 at 90MB/s, my laptop HD at 60MB/s...Through wired GB connections, I get 40MB/s. So I know my server is fine.
With that all in mind, I went and bought a D-Link DWA-131. This device sucked, and actual throughput dropped to 1-2MB/s.
I returned that, and bought a Netgear WNDA3100 v2. This device really, sucked. After 4 tech support calls, and 6 hrs wasted, turns out that it doesn't support windows7 x64. Yet it says so on the box. So I returned that, did some more research and bought a Netgear wnhde111 wireless bridge.
So my laptop hard connects to the bridge using 10/100 connection. Bridge connects to router using 5ghz, and connects via wired GB to server. Iperf clocks the connection at 24MB/s. This is almost enough...divx is fine. But when streaming 720p I can watch it, but I get artifacts.
using both vlc, wmp, and xbmc.
My questions:
1. What throughput speeds do you get to your streaming wireless device?
2. Is it enough to stream a clean 1080p video?
3. Did you have to do any special router / adapter settings? MTU 4k, jumbo frames, etc.
4. What is your wireless configuration?
I had 3 additional thoughts on the matter...
1. Returning everything and buying a Linksys E3000, with a linksys bridge, or wireless adapter.
2. Going to a powerline configuration...but have not done any research on this yet, and I don't know if it would provide enough throughput.
3. Spending much more money and going to a professional wireless AP like a Cisco Aironet 3500.
I would love to go wired, but we are selling the house.
No answer is to complicated. I am a network / systems / SAN administrator.
Thanks for your thoughts in advance.
Reorx