Wireless Bridges Hard to Find

[Bulldog]

I recently received advice here that a wireless bridge (Ethernet to WiFi) has the potential to be a better wireless client than a USB adapter or a PCIe card - where 'better' means superior signal reception and transmission - due to its larger size (affording larger antennas and more circuitry) and separate power supply. This makes sense. But I am surprised that there are so few of these in the market, particularly with dual radios. If it's such a good idea, why aren't there more to choose from?

 

[stevech]

I recently received advice here that a wireless bridge (Ethernet to WiFi) has the potential to be a better wireless client than a USB adapter or a PCIe card - where 'better' means superior signal reception and transmission - due to its larger size (affording larger antennas and more circuitry) and separate power supply. This makes sense. But I am surprised that there are so few of these in the market, particularly with dual radios. If it's such a good idea, why aren't there more to choose from?

Wireless bridges are also marketed as "game adapters" for XBoxes and TV's that lack WiFi.

The typical PCI/PCIe WiFi card with integral antennas is not good - antennas are in a bad location.

a WiFi USB dongle is good - small antenna but this makes little difference as compared to the meager 2-5 dB of gain from rod (dipole) antennas. Put the dongle on a 6 ft. USB extension cable and elevate that into the clear - remarkable difference in many situations.

The bridges are a very good solution - and the bridge's ethernet side can have an integral ethernet switch, or connect to a switch, to serve several PCs or other ethernet capable devices at once.

Some products are called Access Points but have a bridge mode option.
Buffalo Tech makes (made?) some good ones. If you haven't, search on newegg.com

 

[Bulldog]

Thanks for your help. I'll also try out the USB-adapter-on-a-6-ft.-wire approach.

 

[sfx2000]

Depending on your application, WiFi to Ethernet adapters can provide better performance compared to a USB stick.

Trendnet and Buffalo, IMHO, do the best job on these, based on first hand experience.

Linksys offers a couple of devices, but I've seen issues with packet rewriting that can cause problems with some applications - they were my first choice and rapidly replaced with Buffalo gear... at the time, Trendnet was under consideration, but the Buffalo gear was readily available.

The only downside I've seen with the Buffalo equipment is in 5GHz, where they limit the channel choices to the lower channels (36-64), likely a side effect of their home market in Japan.

 

[Nitro785]

Hi!

I need wifi bridge too.
My goal is stream HD video from NAS to media player.

Here is my network config




My question is:

On media player Netgear 550 i watching only HD videos with DTS sound, so i need pretty fast network connection. Now i use wifi adapter netgear wnce2001 (2.4 Ggz). When i trying to watch HD Rips (bitrate 40+ Mb\s) there are too much lags.
I think i need media bridge based on 5 Ggz technology.
What bridge is better for my situation?
I choose beetwin Cisco WES610N and Netgear WNCE3001.

Ore maybe i should choose smth else?

thanks!

 

[stevech]

Opinion: HDTV 1080i is barely viable on an IDEAL WiFi signal strength connection and with no competition with neighbors' WiFi.

HDTB at 1080p (not "i") is not doable with most realistic WiFi conditions.

 

[StratmanX]

The best solutions in descending order are ethernet cable, MoCA (uses coaxial cable), Powerline plugs (uses electrical power lines), WiFi.

If the Netgear NeoTV is in the same room, maybe the next room over, and there are few or no obstructions to signal, then maybe WiFi can work. You may still experience lags.

Obviously you cannot use ethernet cable between your NAS and the NeoTV, so the next best solution is MoCA which requires coaxial cable installed in your home such as would be used to hook up cable TV service. If you do not have coaxial cable in your home then the next solution is a Powerline plug like Netgear's XAV5001.

Unfortunately, only ethernet cable can assure the desired throughput. A number of variables can interfere with all the other measures. You won't know if something works for you until you try it, so purchase from a business that has a good return policy (doesn't charge a restocking fee).

SmallNetBuilder has a number of articles and posts on MoCA and Powerline products. There is a troubleshooting article on Powerline products as well as good reviews by both webmaster thiggins and forum member rhombus in the forum.

 

[Nitro785]

Thanks a lot!

I`ll try poverline adapters.
And post the results.

 

[sfx2000]

Hi!

I need wifi bridge too.
My goal is stream HD video from NAS to media player.

Here is my network config




My question is:

On media player Netgear 550 i watching only HD videos with DTS sound, so i need pretty fast network connection. Now i use wifi adapter netgear wnce2001 (2.4 Ggz). When i trying to watch HD Rips (bitrate 40+ Mb\s) there are too much lags.
I think i need media bridge based on 5 Ggz technology.
What bridge is better for my situation?
I choose beetwin Cisco WES610N and Netgear WNCE3001.

Ore maybe i should choose smth else?

thanks!

You didn't mention where your serving the files from - looking at your network diagram, it would appear that perhaps you're feeding them from the DLink DNS-320 Network Attached Storage box... consider that it may be the bottleneck, as read performance for straight file copies on the DNS-325 as reported here is around 45 Mbit/Sec using CIFS/SMB - if you're running the media server...

You may want to consider transcoding the media files down to 720P perhaps

Also, the wifi bridge - you're running in 2.4Ghz - it's a dual band, is running it at 5GHz an option?

 

[keenanj]

you coudl try the new 800mW engenius ENH202 11n bridge.

It has a 2t2r mimo for 300Mbps and a directional 10dBi antenna.

Just aim at your router and it will give you a better connection than other bridges with omni antennas.

more info here:

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=346

 

[sfx2000]

you coudl try the new 800mW engenius ENH202 11n bridge.

It has a 2t2r mimo for 300Mbps and a directional 10dBi antenna.

Just aim at your router and it will give you a better connection than other bridges with omni antennas.

more info here:

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=346

Not going to help him if the content source is not capable of providing the upstream bandwidth - the NAS is a 800MHz ARMv5 processor...

It would be interesting to see if he hooks it up to GigE and it's not much better...

a CAT6 cable strung down the hallway is a quick test, and much cheaper approach before buying extra gear... the WAF factor is low, indeed, for the cables, but only temporary, and better than explaining why a spend isn't working...

 

[Nitro785]

The best solutions in descending order are ethernet cable, MoCA (uses coaxial cable), Powerline plugs (uses electrical power lines), WiFi.

If the Netgear NeoTV is in the same room, maybe the next room over, and there are few or no obstructions to signal, then maybe WiFi can work. You may still experience lags.

Obviously you cannot use ethernet cable between your NAS and the NeoTV, so the next best solution is MoCA which requires coaxial cable installed in your home such as would be used to hook up cable TV service. If you do not have coaxial cable in your home then the next solution is a Powerline plug like Netgear's XAV5001.

Unfortunately, only ethernet cable can assure the desired throughput. A number of variables can interfere with all the other measures. You won't know if something works for you until you try it, so purchase from a business that has a good return policy (doesn't charge a restocking fee).

SmallNetBuilder has a number of articles and posts on MoCA and Powerline products. There is a troubleshooting article on Powerline products as well as good reviews by both webmaster thiggins and forum member rhombus in the forum.

My report))...

First of all i tryed to use PowerLine (dlink) - it works, but..... HD is still with to much lags

Then i try to use my old router (Cisco E3000) with Tomato firmware as a wireless bridge....
Well, What can i say.... - its perfect )
So Cisco E4200 (as a primary router) plus E 3000 (as a bridge) work very well together, even with HD content.

Thanks to all!