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Proposed network solution


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Two days ago I took delivery of my MacBook and have so far managed to do the following :-

Connected it to my draft N router but at 802.1g only, every time I try a higher speed the Mac can not see the router.

Downloaded and installed "Signal" remote control Ap to my ancient PDA. Connected PDA to network. PDA is only capable of 802.1b and WEP, so router has to be set at low rate.

Mac connected to NAS drive (hard wired to router) with no problems.

 

The main problem I am encountering is that the PDA drops to a very low signal when in my listening room slowing down updating of the library lists etc.

The Mac seems to be coping better, I am able to listen to media from the ,library while ripping a CD at the same time (very very occasional dropouts).

 

I have two solutions to improving network reliability, the first is a quick fix, the second a more permanent and hopefully future proof solution.

 

1) Take the Draft N router off of the WAN and replace it with my old dlink router. Take the wireless router disable DHCP, then put it in my study which is closer to my listening room. It will still be on 802.11b/g as I need this for the PDA, but the PDA and Mac will both be getting a very good signal.

 

2) Keep the old router but attach it to a Gigabit switch along with all other existing connections (PC in study, NAS in garage, spare in bedroom, spare in living room)

then run two new CAT5 cables from the Gigabit switch, one to the study and in to the wireless router, and the other to the listening room and into The Mac.

This should give me all devices with a dedicated Gigabit connection to each other including the Mac to the NAS. The wireless in the study will provide for my PDA and have four spare 100 ports (1 for printer, 3 for tinkering). This leaves the kitchen and bathroom without connections, I was planning on using Airport express (N) for these rooms, assuming they can talk to the Mac's network card directly without an 'N' router on the scene.

 

Well if you have digested the above then perhaps you could advise me if you can foresee any problems, or suggest a better setup.

Or perhaps you just want to tell me I am mental. All comments welcome.

 

Oops forgot to mention, I want to keep the PDA as it has Nevo running on it which I use in place of all my IR remotes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are all audiophiles obsessive compulsives or is this just a Stereo Type? Yorkshire UK

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Hey thunktank - I had a somewhat similar issue. Here is what I did to solve it and now everything works perfect. I'm not saying this will fix your issues, but may at least provide an example of something that works.

 

I have my Airport Extreme set to 802.11n on the 5 ghz band so I get the max speed out of the router and don't allow anything slower to attach to the router. My MacBook Pro music server and NAS both connect to this router. MacBook via wireless and NAS via cat6 cable.

 

To use my iPod touch as a remote with Signal or Remote Buddy I still needed an 802.11 b/g access point. So, I connected an old Linksys router to the AE via cat6 cable and set it to work at b or g speeds. This way my files fly to my server without being slowed by my iPod Touch dragging down the whole network.

 

If I needed to bring the b/g linksys closer to my listening room I would connect the router via cat6 to an Airport Express which would send the 802.11 signal back to the Extreme via 802.11n.

 

Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems AudiophileStyleStickerWhite2.0.png AudiophileStyleStickerWhite7.1.4.png

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Thanks for the prompt reply.

 

My Draft N router is Netgear, having read a few posts it seems i am not the only one getting it to talk to Apple at anything above "g". As I do not intend to use the laptop anywhere but in the listening room I am happy for it to connect via cable. I appreciate that my second proposal seems a bit involved, but it is cheap, I can make the cables at work and second hand gigabit switches seem to be cheaper than the Airport Express.

 

Just one question, if i did install an Airport Express somewhere On Cat cable would this give me an 802.11n connection for the Mac Book?

 

Paul

 

Are all audiophiles obsessive compulsives or is this just a Stereo Type? Yorkshire UK

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If you connect an Express to the Gb switch via Ethernet then connect to the Express via a built-in 802.11n airport card, you'll be cooking at N speed. I haven't tried it but don't see any real issues by doing this. Since I'm not familiar with the Express features 100%, I'm not sure if it will pass DHCP requests to the Gb switch or need to hand out DHCP addresses itself, thus creating its own LAN and using NAT between the wireless and Gb networks. No big deal either way though.

 

Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems AudiophileStyleStickerWhite2.0.png AudiophileStyleStickerWhite7.1.4.png

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