Networking → Re: upgrading wireless/wired network questions

Ok, how big is your house? The reason I ask is I upgraded my parents router to a Asus RT-N66U router and the wireless signal can be seen through the entire house. It can go through all 3 levels of the house and still have enough signal strength to make it outside.

So when I look at your overall infrastructure, I ask why you have a wireless router bridge in the living room and a airstation in the bedroom. Seems like you have all these extra pieces of equipment when a current router would replace both of those things. The ASUS RT-N56U and ASUS RT-N66U would be great for you. That would get you the wireless N that you need.

So in essence....

I would disable the router portion in the FIOS if possible and plug in my ASUS router to do the routing work.

Coax from FIOS ---> FIOS Router ---> ASUS Router ----> Devices

As for the Xbox, upgrading the Xbox connection isn't necessary. The key here is latency, and if you have a nice fast wireless connection that is going to be just fine. The slowest part of the connection is your connection to the internet and Xbox live. Your ping to the Xbox won't be an issue while gaming. Now, if you are watching movies on the Xbox like Netflix, then throughput may be an issue. You would have to test it on what you have now to see if it is sufficient. There is an Xbox video testing utility that is right on the xbox that you can do. I would skip on the adapter though unless you see a need for it. The xbox should be fast enough with the right equipment at 25 feet.

You will see a speed improvement on Wireless N and gigabit if you are doing a lot of internal transfers of files. If you are just using the internet, you will notice a little difference because of the speed of your FIOS and you only have b/g right now. At 25/50 speeds, the wireless N becomes more of a necessity to see those speeds on all your systems.

I don't know your answer to #2. I have never had FIOS, but I wonder if you are overthinking it. Coax cable is coax cable. I don't think you will need a FIOS adapter, but maybe someone else can help you on it since I have never had it.

Why isn't powerline an option? I understand that you are running phone over powerline, and that is fine. I just don't see how this is a stopping situation though. I know many people who are using multiple powerline options to get very fast connections in their homes. I have 3 such adapters in my environment.

I hope this helps.

thanks guys

the bridges are the only way to wirelessly connect the older dtv receivers - it stinks. It is not a signal issue.

The router is about 25 feet from the blu ray (living room) with tv and receiver - thru one wall but on the same floor.

The xbox room with the ps3 and tv are 9 feet below the blu ray/tv/receiver on the lowest floor.

The air station with the receiver is one floor up and about 10 feet away from the router.

We do not stream video on the xbox but now that amazon video is there we probably will do so. We did do that on the ps3 previously.

I agree that the more I think about it the more using a wireless N router would make the most sense. i will look into the asus

as for the powerline, I did not know that you could run both.

thanks again guys

Ah, ok. Thanks for the clarification on the bridges. Yes, the bridges will work great.

As for the xbox, run the little utility in the xbox that measures performance right now. See if you can get HDTV quality over wireless. You may have to look into powerline or the ASUS Wireless router for more throughput. I recommend something wired. I have my Xbox using a powerline adapter and I get 100mbit speeds for less than the cost of a new Xbox wireless adapter. Look into this.

The ASUS RT-N56U or the ASUS RT-N66U are both great routers. I have used both and they have great performance. You will enjoy.