Help Optimizing Network

[MAGNUStm]

Below is a diagram of my current set up. Although it currently "works" I still feel there's room for improvement.

Note: All wireless devices are connected via wireless N. All Apple devices are wireless N 5ghz

What I would like to do is move my Diskstation back into office next to my iMac. Both hardwired to either my AEBS and/or router/switch. The AEBS is a recent purchase however I'm finding the the transfer speed is not what I had hoped. At times I up to 32MBs however it is not constant. It will at times drop to 10 or below.

I placed the AEBS/DS in my living room as I started ripping my bluray collection and wanted to be able to watch on my tv without hickups... Before the AEBS, I had my DS wired to the router (wireless g) provided by my ISP and playback on my tv was very choppy. So ideally I would like to keep everything wireless N. Anything that is not (tv/ps3) I would prefer to hardwire.


Any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

 

[cwaddell2002]

This may sound obvious...

...hardwire everything. If you have several items located in one room, you can run one ethernet cable to a switch that they all plug into - but having a home run for every device will be the fastest option. Make sure that any switch you buy is gigabit, and done. You aren't ever going to achieve advertised N transfer rates, and your video stutter/buffering indicates that you need to increase your transfer rate.

I wired my house and my network 3 years ago... The only thing wireless in the house are the laptops, and i devices... the 2 mac mini servers, gaming console, htpc, appletv, printer, etc, are all networked. I can't think of the last time I had a buffering issue.

Good Luck...

 

[mikes63737]

Definitely hard-wire the Xbox and iMac, with a gigabit switch as cwaddell2002 suggested. Connect this gigabit switch to the AEBS. You might see less lag on the Xbox and greatly improved transfer rates between the iMac and DiskStation. The iMac and DiskStation are both gigabit, which is over 3x faster than the theoretical max of wireless-n and probably over 10-20x faster in real life.

Are you compressing your blu-ray rips? I don't compress blu-rays any further when I rip them and they are choppy over wireless-n but play perfectly over even 10/100 ethernet.

 

[MAGNUStm]

I live in an apt so hardwiring my place is not really an option. Unless I run a long cable from my office to my livingroom I cant really go that route.

My main objective is to optimize transfer speeds from my iMac/DS while being able to stream full HD to my living room without issue. I've come up with a solution, however I'm not sure if it is the best, or if it's the most cost effective.

I plan to buy an Express Station for office, connect a switch, and hardwire iMac/DS. This will allow me to keep the AEBS in the livingroom and hardwire my PS3/tv/Xbox. Having the DS connected to a ES will allow me to connect to my AEBS (tv) via wireless N 5ghz.


Thoughts?

 

[squeakr]

When you place the ES in the loop you are halfing the throughput to that link, so in essence are throttling it even further than it was before.

I know that they are not the best, but in your situation, maybe a power line bridge that sends the signal over power line might be a better option (this is assuming that your lines in the different rooms are on the same circuit. They had some better ones out today that are going up to 200 Mbps transfer rate. You could buy from a place with a generous return policy in case it doesn't work.

 

[cwaddell2002]

I live in an apt so hardwiring my place is not really an option. Unless I run a long cable from my office to my livingroom I cant really go that route.


Thoughts?

you plan appears as though it would help. If your apartment is like most apartments these days, you could get some really cheap Ethernet cable from monoprice, and tuck it between the carpet and baseboards and just make the long run. You can probably make it pretty indiscreet.....

 

[MAGNUStm]

I know that they are not the best, but in your situation, maybe a power line bridge that sends the signal over power line might be a better option (this is assuming that your lines in the different rooms are on the same circuit. They had some better ones out today that are going up to 200 Mbps transfer rate. You could buy from a place with a generous return policy in case it doesn't work.

I might have to look into this. I've seen some on 9to5toys for fairly low price.

Thanks

you plan appears as though it would help. If your apartment is like most apartments these days, you could get some really cheap Ethernet cable from monoprice, and tuck it between the carpet and baseboards and just make the long run. You can probably make it pretty indiscreet.....

I would but cant hide much with hardwood floors.

 

[ezramoore]

You've heard the best advice there is: hard wire it to go faster.

One thing you could try is moving the devices that are most bandwidth hungry into the room with your modem/router.

For instance, instead of locating my cable modem in my study room (where Comcast wanted to put it), I put it in my office, where I have a 24 port gigabit switch for my lab. It is also the location of my NAS.

Other than things like that, there isn't going to be a lot you can do. There is no magic pill for this.

 

[rwwest7]

Wireless is for convenience only. It's shared bandwidth and extremely susceptible to interferance. Living in an apt means your neighbors microwave could be causing your problems. If you can't hardwire then you just have to live with the drawbacks of wifi.