Configure router for video and audio streaming...

I've been wirelessly streaming video for some time now without problems, but I'd like to be sure that I'm using my new router properly and have it configured correctly for video streaming without impacting on my internet speeds at all. I have a D-Link 2750U.

What piqued my interested here is wireless N. I recall reading that my computers will generally by default connect at 802.11g/b instead of n and that I need to configure each computer to receive the n signal. How do I do this on Windows and Mac and I'm also unsure about the router settings in this respect. I've set it to transmit 2.4GHz at 20MHz and 5G at 40MHz. I have no idea what this really does and what impact it has?

My 802.11n rate is set to auto. Since changing the MHz setting, it removed a few options from here. Seems to have slowed down the max rate here. Again, some advice would be appreciated.

802.11n client only is off.

54G rate is greyed out for changes and set to 1Mbps.

Multicast rate is set to auto.

Basic rate is set to auto.

WMM is enabled.


So are these the optimal settings? Do I need to tell my computers (Mac and Windows) and phones to use a different wireless setting to take advantage of wireless N? What more should I do to ensure that there are no dropped connections? For example when I stream music to multiple devices using Airplay I've noticed that sometimes one system will drop the connection after a bit and then the audio goes out of sync for a bit.

Any advice would be appreciated...

If you look under the windows task manager -> network tab you can see at what rate its currently connected. From that you can extrapolate what its doing. Anything above 54mbps will be n standard.

If your equipment support 5ghz then thats what you want...chance are not all your gear will though. 2.4ghz is full of crap interference.

The 40hz indicates the width of the b/w channel used. i.e. Its twice as big a pipe as a single 20mhz channel. Pretty sure some devices freak out though with 40hz because the standard is designed to only allow 40hz when there is free spectrum...so forcing it would possibly yield unpredictable results.

I don't think you can force n standard on that router. Best bet is to set router to auto and force it wifi adapter side...should be under device manager >> properties for the WLAN adapter.

You're on your own Mac side...

I see that my Win laptop is connecting at 802.11g, but the adapter is Wireless N capable. How do I set it to connect using the n connection? I went into advanced configuration and the options there have wireless n enabled, but task manager says it is connecting at 802.11g still.

These settings are greek to me...

Hi There,
Here is a quote from a post I found looking to solve the problem for you. My adapter only does B&G so I cannot say if this is guaranteed to work or not.
"Users always set up their Routers, but never think to setup their adapters accordingly to match their Router settings. To do this, open your Device Manager, then navigate to your adapter that you want to setup. Right click on it, then click on Properties, then Advanced. Go down the list and setup the adapter to match your Router settings. Make sure that your Adapter settings are also set to Mixed - it's a probable bet that they're somehow set to B, which is why you're getting such slow speeds"

Regards

Tim

Oddly enough my adapter in the Windows laptop says that it is a Centrino Wireless N-130, which I assume means that it is capable of connecting on the n-band/range, but in the adapter settings it only gives me the b/g options. No n-mode which I found odd. So I left it...

Hi again,
Make sure you have the latest driver. I looked at the Intel site and it shows 15.3.1 as the latest version.
The Intel site also shows how to configure the adapter and one of the elements there is it talks about ad-hoc as being b,g not the normal setting.

Regards

Tim

Thanks for that, Tim...