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Is a bridge more efficient than multiple connections?

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Muis

Occasional Visitor
I have three computers in one room. I also have a wireless bridge located there. Only one of the three computers does not have a wifi adaptor. Does it make sense to connect the rest also to this bridge (and disable their internal wifi adaptors)?

The advantage I can think of is that the bridge has larger wifi antennas than the computers have themselves, so the reception may be increased. Another advantage may be that the main router only has to deal with 1 client instead of 3 (so less interference in the air).

The downside might be that if the 3 computers are all downloading stuff at the same time, they might get lower bandwith (since it is not 3 connections in parallel but only 1 shared connection)? Or will it make no difference in bandwith? Since the main router also has to share it between the 3?

What option is the best?
 
I have three computers in one room. I also have a wireless bridge located there. Only one of the three computers does not have a wifi adaptor. Does it make sense to connect the rest also to this bridge (and disable their internal wifi adaptors)?

The advantage I can think of is that the bridge has larger wifi antennas than the computers have themselves, so the reception may be increased. Another advantage may be that the main router only has to deal with 1 client instead of 3 (so less interference in the air).

The downside might be that if the 3 computers are all downloading stuff at the same time, they might get lower bandwith (since it is not 3 connections in parallel but only 1 shared connection)? Or will it make no difference in bandwith? Since the main router also has to share it between the 3?

What option is the best?

The choice is between routing the traffic of two PCs over the router/AP WiFi, or over the media bridge WiFi link. You have not defined the various WiFi connection link rates and data throughput/speeds, the various volumes of traffic in time, the inherent performance difference of the router and media bridge... etc.

I think the simplest thing to do is try it each way for a test period and then ask the users for their feedback. If the two PCs enjoy a fast WiFi connection to the router/AP, I'd try leaving them on that WiFi to lighten the wireless traffic on the media bridge WiFi link.

OE
 
If the two PCs enjoy a fast WiFi connection to the router/AP, I'd try leaving them on that WiFi to lighten the wireless traffic on the media bridge WiFi link.

The reason I wanted to move them over to the bridge is so that they will have much faster LAN speeds, like you acknowledged in my other topic.

The only thing Im afraid of is that their WAN speed will suffer because all the traffic will be bundled by the bridge. I hoped it could be determined theoreticaly wether 1 bundled connection vs 3 seperate connections should perform identical.

Another option would be to do both at the same time: connect them to the LAN ports of the bridge AND wirelessly to the main router to the same time. This should get me the best of the both worlds I guess, but will make things complicated since each hostname on the network will have two different local IP's at the same time.
 
The reason I wanted to move them over to the bridge is so that they will have much faster LAN speeds, like you acknowledged in my other topic.

The only thing Im afraid of is that their WAN speed will suffer because all the traffic will be bundled by the bridge. I hoped it could be determined theoreticaly wether 1 bundled connection vs 3 seperate connections should perform identical.

Another option would be to do both at the same time: connect them to the LAN ports of the bridge AND wirelessly to the main router to the same time. This should get me the best of the both worlds I guess, but will make things complicated since each hostname on the network will have two different local IP's at the same time.

I think you've got it figured. A theoretical answer would require more data, imo, although wiring all PCs to the media bridge would likely be best for their local traffic.

However, I would not enable both wired and wireless network adapters on the two PCs... it has been awhile since I tried this and then it caused me trouble. I trust I could be wrong about this now.

OE
 
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(since it is not 3 connections in parallel but only 1 shared connection)

Separate Wi-Fi connections do not work in parallel. They all share the same radio airtime. One theoretical exception is if all three use MU-MIMO at the same time to MU-MIMO capable 4-stream router, with reduced total bandwidth per client. If the wireless bridge is fast and holds a steady connection to the main router, connect all 3x computers to its LAN ports. Routers have better radios than client Wi-Fi adapters.

This should get me the best of the both worlds I guess

No. One wireless bridge with all near LAN clients connected to it is the best option.
 
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