TheGreenButton - Windows Media Center Forums

Ok, so file this in the category of, I want new toys and want to make sure there is a reason to justify it.

I have attached a diagram of my current network with equipment. Although i don't have any specific problems I do see occasional packet loss on the HD Homerun and I have to reboot the WRT-160 N at least once a month or so to keep things going smooth.

Would there be any benefit to my network in switching out my current router for either the Edge Router Lite or the Ubuiquiti Security Gateway?

I do utilize my HTPC to stream my media externally via Mediabrowser and the Baby monitor is able to be streamed out as well. Any thoughts here would be appreciated.

An overivew of my whole system can be found here .... http://www.avsforum.com/forum/15-genera ... otgun.html.

As you probably know, I am new to the ERL3. Out of the box, upgrade image to V1.6.0, and run the Wan+2lan2 wizard took about 5 minutes. If you don't want to separate/segregate your lan, there is a Wan+2lan wizard as well. Spec-wise, 3 Gbps line throughput, dual core MIPS64 processor, 1 million packets per second, 1/2 Gig of ram, and 2 Gig internal storage totally out-classed my previous router. I pretty much got an instant solution to most of my problems. Take a look into a feature called "The Black Hole" that might solve your existing "reboot the router" task.

So crash i take it you would recommend the switch to the ELR? Do I need a managed switch as well to take full benefits of the ER? If i start down this road I am sure that is where I will end up but curious if there are independent benefits i could see from using the ERL in my current setup with unmanaged switches.

Eth0 to Internet, Eth1 to your uplinked switches, UniFi on Eth2 seems to be a popular method in the Vlan posts that I read at Ubiquity. Don't know why though other than maybe it's a good idea to separate WiFi from wired. I don't think everybody really needs a managed switch, including myself, they do come in handy every once in a while, it's impossible to break them, and it appears they last forever, but as you may have noticed there is a learning curve.

Tell us a bit about all your WiFi devices/apps. Are you supplying the Neighbors, Guests, Kids, Kids friends at times, Party's?

What is the Upload/Download of the internet connection you are subscribed to?

My wifi use is currently limited to my wife and I's iphones and ipads and one laptop. We do utilize the wifi network to airplay music to computer which then feeds out over the whole home audio system. We also clearly grant access to family and friends when they come over. The typical max load on the wifi side is 6-10 users.

I pay for 50/5 but the most i have ever measured is around 30/5.

volfan6415 wrote:I pay for 50/5 but the most i have ever measured is around 30/5.

What do "They" have to say about that? Ever thought about upgrading your Upload? 3 instances of Mediabrowser pretty much eats all your upload 1.5 X 3 = 4.5, you could try out some 100/20 for a month, and see how you like it. Is your cable modem ready for that?

So far, I don't see a need for the ERL.

Thanks that tells me what i need to know. My cable modem is DOCSIS 3.0 so it should be able to handle the faster speeds.

One other piece of "low hanging fruit" you could harvest, (if possible) is to plug the UniFi into the WRT-160N. Assuming of course that the Iphones, Ipads, etc are just needing the internet. That way their traffic is straight out, and doesn't even touch the Homerun/Htpc/etc. Easy enough to test-just run a long patch cable for a few hours from the WRT to the UniFi.

the with regard to to the UniFi.

EDIT:

from the WRT-160 router to the UniFi.

It also wouldn't be too hard for me to put both the baby monitor and the unifi on the wrt-160n and take the tp-link switch out

Most of the wifi traffic is internet only and most of the baby monitor traffic is wifi/internet only

Ok new cat cables ordered off of amazon ... I'm gonna move the unifi and baby monitor to the wrt-160n. That's really how it should have been in the first place. I was using the tp-link switch when my internet equipment was behind our TV and it was harder to run cabling to that location. Now it's in the fireplace and I can run new cables to it.

Ok so to post an update, The new cables arrived on Sunday and I have rewired my network. I have attached a picture with the new layout. Will have to do some testing to see if WiFi performance improves as well as the intermittent problems with the HD Home Run.

One thing I will say, and i don't know if this is really the case or is just my eyes wanting me to believe that something is better but the picture on the baby monitor seems clearer and the camera seems more responsive to load. This could just be my confirmation bias wanting me to believe that things are better to justify the hour or two spent in the attic running the new cable.

Hope it works as well as it looks. If you haven't done this all ready, figure out what type of radio your wifi devices have. 2.4 or 5.0 and send them to the appropriate connection. Not sure if UniFi has multiple 2.4's or 5.0's but sometimes you can improve WiFi by putting one device on each 5.0 channel. The concept is that 1 device gets the whole pipe to itself.

http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Wire ... d-p/412227

Wanted to come back and post a quick reply. I've been using the new wiring arrangement now for a couple of weeks and the picture with the HD homerun has been almost perfect. The network changes has finally gotten the HD homerun to the point where it is actually a useable tuner alongside the ceton.

Maybe those ERL guys are on to something regarding the WAP on the 1st hop out. Glad it worked out for you. What did you end up doing to solve that signal issue you had a while back. I must admit I was grasping at straws on that one. Been researching demodulation errors lately.

Do you have anything to add? http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 086#p89086

I wish i did. I was able to isolate that the problem only occurred during significant network upload activity. My only hypothesis is that the cable modem was doing something screwy when there was significant upstream network activity. Maybe the uplink connection on the modem was too "loud" and was overpowering the downstream signal? I really don't know. I haven't seen the issue since the thread. I have moved my stuff around and now have all the AV equipment in an old converted fireplace ( link to avs post with pictures of conversion, upgrade starts at post 17 http://www.avsforum.com/forum/15-genera ... otgun.html) and i have the ceton and TA back running off the splitter and i haven't seen the issue pop up again. I had completely forgotten about the issue until you mentioned it.