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Setting up a 11n wireless bridge

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yukit

Occasional Visitor
I currently have a 11g wireless bridge with a Netgear WPNT834 & WGPS606 for a relatively low-bandwidth connection between my home office (cable modem drop) & living room (HTPC).

I want to replace it with a cost-effective 11n bridge operating at 5Ghz. Since I can continue to use WPNT834 as a wireless AP, the new bridge can be a single radio dual band units configured for 5Ghz only.

I see that Netgear a pair of WNHDE111 (or WNHDEB111 kit) seems to be a most cost-effective solution. Maybe I can get a WNHDE111 and WNDR3300 since I need a router to connect multiple devices anyways.
The reviews for both of these here are not that great, especially some people are having frequent disconnects.

May be I would be better off with a pair of D-Link DAP1522 since I don't care about the legacy 11g.

I am not sure if Linksys WRT600/610 can operate in the bridging/WDS mode. They are much more expensive, so I think I am limited to these two choices so far.

The third choice is obviously to wait a while for something better/cheaper to come out.

Any thoughts?
 
What is "low bandwidth"? What is the distance and obstacles (walls, ceilings) involved?

The WRT600N/610N does not support WDS.

Have you considered powerline instead of wireless?
 
What is "low bandwidth"? What is the distance and obstacles (walls, ceilings) involved?
...
I am getting about 800KB/s PC to PC file copy across the bridge right now.

I am guessing about 60-70 feet inside the house, but may be 40 feet through walls (interior & exterior) if I place the WGPS606 adjacent to a window in my living room.

I have not considered powerline options. I did not realize I can get a throughput equaling 11n. I suppose that is something to look into.

Thanks.
 
5GHz will have shorter range, because signals encounter higher reduction when passing through physical obstacles.

Powerline isn't perfect, but the "200 Mbps" technologies can yield 60+ Mbps throughput.
 
...
Powerline isn't perfect, but the "200 Mbps" technologies can yield 60+ Mbps throughput.
I started looking around for these powerline bridges.
I found 3 possible candidates that use "200 Mbps" tech to provide a max 85 Mbps (so why these devices are not sold as 85 Mbps?)
1. D-Link DHP-301
2. Netgear HDXB101
3. Linksys PLK200

They are all around $140, slightly cheaper than the wireless bridge solution I was looking at originally.

The reviews I found (mostly on Amazon) are all over the place. Some people got 40 Mbps, some got less than 10 Mbps. Interesting thing I found was that you can try different outlets even in the same room to get different results. I suppose the quality of electrical wiring in the house does matter.

Since I am already getting ~10 Mbps with my current 11g bridge, I may not get a better result with the powerline bridge. I don't think it is worth the upgrade if I don't get at least triple of the current rate.

I will look for these powerline bridge at local stores so I can return them easily if they don't work as expected. I have a feeling I would be waiting another 3-6 months for something better & cheaper to come along.
 
First, manufacturers always quote the link or "PHY" rate when talking about networking speeds. The PHY rate is the speed that the transmission technology is capable of supporting before applying networking protocols.

When comparing throughput numbers, it's essential that you understand how the measurements were taken and what number is being reported. A Windows drag-and-drop file copy will provide one measure of throughput, while applications like IxChariot, iperf/jperf and others will yield very different results.

Many times, people quote the "speed" number that is reported by Windows Local Area Connection Status, which is actually the link/PHY rate. Or they report numbers they see in a utility that is provided with the device, which are also usually the link rate.

With any "alternative" (non-Ethernet) networking technology, it is always best to try it for your self and be able to return it if it doesn't work for you.

It's not really the "quality" of electrical wiring that affects powerline throughput, but more an issue of filtering and electrical noise.

Things that will reduce powerline throughput are:
- plugging into surge protected power strips
- plugging into the same outlet (or one nearby) as certain power adapters
- light dimmers on nearby circuits
- AFCI circuit breakers (required in U.S. new construction for bedrooms)
 
I just saw the following article popup in my RSS feed, so I thought I should follow up in my experiment/experience with the powerline bridge:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30538/84

I was lucky enough to find all three powerline units I was targeting at local Frys.

I picked the Linksys PLK200 since it was the least expensive pair, also it seemed the least bulky at the outlets. It seems that they expect the outlet to be dedicated to the powerline unit, but an old house like mine does not have many outlets available in every room. They strongly discourage UPS & outlet extension as I found that I could not get them to work through them.

Even if I connected them directly at the outlets, I could only get them to connect in the same room. I was not enable to connect from my my office to living room. Needless to say, I was very disappointed with the powerline bridge. Maybe I will try WNHDEB111 next.

BTW, the configuration software for PLK200 did not work on Vista x64 either.
 
Thanks for the report. Yes, powerline devices can't be connected through UPSes or surge-protected power strips. You are probably ok with a short (3 ft) plain extension cord, however, if necessary.

As I demonstrated, powerline is also sensitive to noise. I have found that motor noise (hairdryer, etc.) doesn't bother it. But light dimmers, some chargers / power "warts" and now plasma TVs will really knock down throughput.

What is the distance between rooms and what is the home construction? 5GHz has smaller range than 2.4GHz.
 
I finally took a plunge to replace my wireless bridge with Netgear WNHDEB111 connected in n-mode. So far so good.

The wireless status page is indicating the AP & bridge are connected at about 50% signal strength, but the rate is as high as 81 Mb/s, normally settling between 27 & 54. I did confirm that ftp from one machine to another is about 2 - 5 MB/s transfer rate tested at different times.

It is nowhere near the ideal max rate, but I think they work well enough compared to the original g-mode bridge (WPNT834 & WGPS606). We will have to see how sustained data transfer for real multimedia content with WISH enabled.
 
Thaks for the report. Let us know if WISH makes any significant difference.
 

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