Lessening the AEBS' Burden?

[cosmichobo]

G'day,

I have a 2011 AEBS that serves my household, which includes:

Ethernet:
Early 2009 iMac
WD MyCloud 4TB

WiFi:
2009 MacBookPro
iPhone 5S
iPhone 3GS
iPad Retina
iPad Mini
Wii
XBox 360
&
G4 Mac Mini HTPC

The MyCloud houses my media files, that are accessed wirelessly via the Mini.

Whilst the Mini isn't perfect, it does OK at playing non-HD material over the WiFi - UNTIL my wife opens the MBP and gets on Facebook... (Yes, typically Facebook is the issue) Then the playback deteriorates, with dropped frames/freezing etc.

In order to reduce the WiFi burden on the AEBS... Should/would things improve for the Mini if I set the iMac to share its internet via WiFi, and get the MBP to feed off that connection instead of the AEBS??

What kind of security dangers does this expose me to?

Thanks,

cosmic

 

[mvmanolov]

G'day,

I have a 2011 AEBS that serves my household, which includes:

Ethernet:
Early 2009 iMac
WD MyCloud 4TB

WiFi:
2009 MacBookPro
iPhone 5S
iPhone 3GS
iPad Retina
iPad Mini
Wii
XBox 360
&
G4 Mac Mini HTPC

The MyCloud houses my media files, that are accessed wirelessly via the Mini.

Whilst the Mini isn't perfect, it does OK at playing non-HD material over the WiFi - UNTIL my wife opens the MBP and gets on Facebook... (Yes, typically Facebook is the issue) Then the playback deteriorates, with dropped frames/freezing etc.

In order to reduce the WiFi burden on the AEBS... Should/would things improve for the Mini if I set the iMac to share its internet via WiFi, and get the MBP to feed off that connection instead of the AEBS??

What kind of security dangers does this expose me to?

Thanks,

cosmic

Why not just hook up the mini with an ethernet cable, and solve all your problems quite simply? and if no cable is easily accessible why not get a power line adapter? Zyxell just put out a shiny new one that's supposed to be pretty good...

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-news/32499-zyxel-announces-gigabit-homeplug-duo

 

[mmomega]

The absolute best way to enjoy consistent streaming HD material is to go wired to as many devices as you can.

 

[cosmichobo]

...it does OK at playing non-HD material over the WiFi

The absolute best way to enjoy consistent streaming HD material is to go wired to as many devices as you can.

Think you miss-read...

 

[mvmanolov]

Think you miss-read...

that's besides the point, what mmomega is saying stands regardless of whether what you are streaming is HD or not...

having a wired (ethernet) connection will speed things up immensely (though keep in mind that the "MyCloud" is a rather sloooooow NAS. but still, the only way to "alleviate the burden on the AEBS" is to go wired.... see my previous post for the power-line ethernet adaptor if you cannot/dont want to run cat 5e through your house!

 

[cosmichobo]

Thanks for the advice.

What kind of security dangers does Mac to Mac wifi expose me to?

 

[mvmanolov]

Thanks for the advice.

What kind of security dangers does Mac to Mac wifi expose me to?

not sure, but i imagine not many (especially since you can specify a WPA2 password in the sharing preferences...). the bigger problem will be that of range, signal strength and speeds...

 

[Altemose]

Thanks for the advice.

What kind of security dangers does Mac to Mac wifi expose me to?

It isn't so much a security risk but rather asking for a slower, spotty wireless connection.

 

[pellets007]

Attempting to circumvent the router will not help your case. Mac to Mac wifi would just cause one Mac to make network requests through another Mac. The end result is the same, but now you have another pipe to travel through. It would likely make it worse.

 

[cosmichobo]

I'm not trying to be argumentative... Just curious.

I have tried my idea - the iMac is now sharing its connection by WiFi with the MacBookPro.

The iMac is wired to the Airport.

Using SpeedTest.com, there was no loss of speed (16mbps/7mbps).

I've set a WPA2 password, which was my main concern.

Also ran Apple's wireless diagnostic to determine the best channels to use for both.

I'll try and see how it goes...

Cheers,

cosmic

 

[mvmanolov]

I'm not trying to be argumentative... Just curious.

I have tried my idea - the iMac is now sharing its connection by WiFi with the MacBookPro.

The iMac is wired to the Airport.

Using SpeedTest.com, there was no loss of speed (16mbps/7mbps).

I've set a WPA2 password, which was my main concern.

Also ran Apple's wireless diagnostic to determine the best channels to use for both.

I'll try and see how it goes...

Cheers,

cosmic

i'm glad you got it working, let us know how it turns out.

but speediest.com does not measure your internal network speeds you do know that right? as in it does not tell you how fast the connection is between your WD and your mini.... it only tells you how fast you can access the internet. (which is limited by your ISP) your internal network can go much faster than 1.6MB/sec. wired speeds will be around 120MB/s and wireless even on an older AEBS will be around 20-30MB/s.....

and why were you concerned about WPA2 ? unless you are running a RADIUS server WPA2 Personal is the strongest protection you can get for your wifi.... (just use a nice long passphrase.)

and just for the sake of having a discussion, you seem rather reticent to employ the wired alternatives that many here have strongly recommended, can you tell us why?

 

[cosmichobo]

and just for the sake of having a discussion, you seem rather reticent to employ the wired alternatives that many here have strongly recommended, can you tell us why?

There are basically 3 reasons...

1) I'm renting, so can't go drilling holes in the floor/etc to run cable from one end of the house to the other...

2) Anything costing $$$ is an issue as I don't have a lot of it...

3) Running a cable involves going under the house, and I'm a huge arachnophobe! :}

As it happens, I had birthday since my last post, and have used some cashola to pick up a 4 port DLink EOP... (Thanks for the suggestion).

Hopefully it will solve my problem.

I'll keep advised...

 

[mvmanolov]

There are basically 3 reasons...

1) I'm renting, so can't go drilling holes in the floor/etc to run cable from one end of the house to the other...

2) Anything costing $$$ is an issue as I don't have a lot of it...

3) Running a cable involves going under the house, and I'm a huge arachnophobe! :}

As it happens, I had birthday since my last post, and have used some cashola to pick up a 4 port DLink EOP... (Thanks for the suggestion).

Hopefully it will solve my problem.

I'll keep advised...

Happy belated birthday!

that makes sense.
i do hope that the drink works for you, but remember not all power line adaptors are the same. did you do any research not he d-link model that you bought.
smallnetbuilder has nice reviews about things like that.

Cheers,
M,