need a good wifi router for watching 720p videos & basic browsing

[elcid]

Hello there.

*I live in an apartment surrounded by other apartments= lots of wifi traffic around me!

*I want to stream 720p videos smoothly (no hiccups!) from my laptop & do basic web browsing.

*I'd like to have guest network options.

*I'd like good range to allow me to surf from my neighbor's (same building)

*I am not connecting other devices to wifi

*I live in a one floor apt.


I'm using a dlink dir-655 = lots of hiccups watching 720p. Also will not go above 65mbps

I tried Engenius esr-7750=5ghz would not work steady at all. hiccups with general browinsg with computer in clear sight 15 feet away.

What wifi routers can you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[DaveMcLain]

The DIR-655 has guest networking options already. For me the range on that box has been quite good too. One reason your speed is limited to only 65Mbs is most likely because the wireless is set to use the 20Mhz channel width and not 40Mhz. It's designed to drop down to the 20Mhz channel width if it detects other wireless networks operating in the vicinity that it could interfere with(block/reduce throughput on) 802.11n has this good neighbor feature built in.

Now you could change the settings to make it use the 40Mhz channel width and possibly wreck your neighbors' wifi, get a higher link rate at your computer etc. This might but probably not help to make video stream more effectively.

 

[tipstir]

Need to download inSSIDER (site survey test) and see what's going on in your APT complex or surrounding homes that might be stamping on your signal. See what wireless channel you need to use or where to position the best non-interference location for ESR or wireless router of choice. ESR you have should provide you with a very good wireless connection.

 

[thiggins]

First, make sure your laptop can handle 720p by connecting via Ethernet and watching the same content that you are trying to watch via wireless.

Check this article 5 Ways To Fix Slow 802.11n Speed for things that can be holding your speed back.

Tipstir's suggestion of doing a site survey is correct. You might also be getting interference from non WiFi sources like microwave ovens and cordless phones.
You would need a spectrum analyzer like the MetaGeek Wi-Spy 2.4i.

I do not advise using 40 MHz bandwidth in 2.4 GHz band as Dave suggested. It eats up too much bandwidth and doesn't provide that much performance improvement. I've also never seen "auto" 20/40 fall back to 20 MHz bandwidth when other traffic is active.

Are these web-based or locally-sourced video streams?

 

[elcid]

Thanks for all the responses guys!

My laptop can handle 1080p when connected to ethernet. And my needs are specifically streaming video.

I think I want to try another router. I am not saavy enough or interested in downloading these apps.

I did try the tips for improving speed with N but none of them worked.

Will getting a dual band help matters?

For my needs, what do you guys recommend?

 

[thiggins]

Unless you understand what is causing the problem, you don't know what you're trying to solve.

You've already tried a dual-band router (Engenius esr-7750) and it didn't help.

In your environment, it doesn't sound like wireless HD streaming is going to work reliably. Other routers you can try are NETGEAR WNDR3700 and Cisco E3000. But no guarantees that they will help.