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[roise_r]

hi. i am having trouble understanding this dual band thing. on my new DSM-750 media extender it states that it is dual band and can use both 2.4GHZ or 5GHZ. what is dual band??! two network simultaneously that boost speed by x2, or two different networks and the only reason for being, is so it wont interfere with other equipment? I want to get a N router but i am not sure if i really need the dual band. my HD content is in my computer. computer will stream to router, router will route to player. i see the benefit if i can connect from my computer to the router at two different frequencies simultaneously and the router connects to the player the same way. otherwise... ... pls express your opinion...

P.S. maybe i should just buy another N adaptor for my PC and connect the player straight to my PC. no router involved ??

[rob_t]

So far as I know (and the D-Link technical guru's will correct me if I'm wrong) the DSM-750 will only operate on a single band at a time. So it can use either 2.4GHz or 5GHz but only one or the other not both. (So it doesn't support the 600Mbps mode that some wireless gear has by combining 2 radios at once).

My personal experience has been that 5GHz is a much better choice for media streaming than 2.4GHz, so I'd encourage you to go that way. You should be able to setup an "Ad Hoc" 5GHz 802.11n network by adding a suitable card to your PC, or you can use a wireless access point, or a wireless router. If you already have a wired router that works well, just adding the wireless access point may make more sense than replacing the router. If you decide to do that, you may want to investigate D-Link's DAP-1522. It's dual band in just the same way as the DSM-750 and also doubles up as a gigabit switch. It's what I use.

[roise_r]

1. well.. i read a bounch of reviews on different dual band N routers and they all complain that the 5ghz frequncy does poorly, worse then the 2.4. what do u mean when u say 5ghz is better then 2.4, speedwise? 

2. I have a Linksys WRT54GS that has been my true companion for many years now, but times call for upgrade. i dont like stacking devices over devices.

3. about the suitable dual band N PC card, i searched many places and i havent found a dualband card whatsoever, only [exploitive deleted] USB adapters, which is the last thing i want to buy. i can imagine the range on those things. I want to have a big antenna on my desk. call it ego   how is the range doing on your setup. have you tried both 2.4 and 5.0ghz on the same equipment without changing their positions?

[Kittyburgers]

I've heard that as well, that the 5GHz band generally doeosn't perfomr as well as 2.4GHz.  I'm sure there's something to it.  The DIR 655 seems to work well with my 750 for the most part.

[roise_r]

I've heard that as well, that the 5GHz band generally doeosn't perfomr as well as 2.4GHz.  I'm sure there's something to it.  The DIR 655 seems to work well with my 750 for the most part.

i am trying to figure out, will my network perform better on the 5ghz - as manuals promote, or worse - as reviews promote , but i guess i will have to try them both and test for myself

what about a PCI dual band card w/ antenna. can anyone suggest one if any exists
what up with these USB adaptors, people dont care about range anymore?

[ECF]

Are you connected to MCE as an extender? MCE has the option to test your bandwidth for performance to play TV to HD quality videos. Goto Tasks and its the option to the very right.

[roise_r]

that options doesnt work whatsoever . it says unable to connect, but yet, my connection is working fine

[ECF]

Are you running the latest firmware 1.02?

[roise_r]

yeap   ver 1.02...

 double post, i fear , close this one if u wish

[rob_t]

1. well.. i read a bounch of reviews on different dual band N routers and they all complain that the 5ghz frequncy does poorly, worse then the 2.4. what do u mean when u say 5ghz is better then 2.4, speedwise? 

2. I have a Linksys WRT54GS that has been my true companion for many years now, but times call for upgrade. i dont like stacking devices over devices.

3. about the suitable dual band N PC card, i searched many places and i havent found a dualband card whatsoever, only [exploitive deleted] USB adapters, which is the last thing i want to buy. i can imagine the range on those things. I want to have a big antenna on my desk. call it ego   how is the range doing on your setup. have you tried both 2.4 and 5.0ghz on the same equipment without changing their positions?

My post was based on personal experience of running 5 different generations of wireless network around the house over the years, it may differ from reviews, but it's what I found the hard way.

Within the house I've been able to get much better data rates using 5GHz wireless technologies than 2.4GHz. The range is not as far, but it's more than adequate in my average sized home. (Yes I have tried walking to the bottom of the garden with a laptop and eventually the 2.4GHz range is better, but not in a way that helps me.) 802.11a always worked very well for me on 5GHz with a measured throughput of well over 40Mbps. There are also places in my house that the 5GHz signal reached and the 2.4GHz didn't - the opposite of conventional wisdom but it's what I saw!

At the moment I have a Buffalo 'N' access point on 2.4GHz and a D-Link 'N' access point (DAP 1522) on 5GHz. With no other network activity I get far fewer "hiccups" while streaming on 5GHz than on 2.4. I put this down to the longer range of 2.4GHz allowing more interference from other 2.4 GHz networks and cordless phones in the neighborhood. Wired is better still so, would be my first choice if possible.

I must admit I'd not checked the availability of 5GHz N cards. There's quite a few mini PCI-express ones around, but I haven't found any regular PCI ones. I was sure I'd seen one in my last visit to Fry's, but maybe I wasn't looking too closely at the details 

[roise_r]

well, dual band, non-dual band. i tried all possible configurations in the last four days with this thing. it wont do anything and thats it. i have no idea what i am doing wrong, but i am moving those furnitures around and i am crimping some of the wires, cause i had enough with this wireless stuff. like another fellow said in another thread - "seen too many times the network config window lately ... "

[greekstile]

5ghz is a much faster connection and virtually no clutter, unlike the 2.4ghz band.  2.4ghz tends to penetrate better (walls, etc.) so it's part of the reason that band has a better signal.  However, if you use 40mhz channels in the high range of 5ghz (159, 161, etc.) the signal becomes much stronger and cleaner.  2.4ghz will almost always have better range, especially indoors where walls come into play, but if you tweak 5ghz, you may not get as strong a signal, but it almost always be cleaner and faster.

If you can get 5ghz set up and working, it is considerably better than anything the 2.4ghz range has to offer.

[roise_r]

well i tried 5ghz on both the router and PC (in the form of USB adapter, since there are no N 5ghz real PCI cards). so basically everything involving streaming was on 5ghz band - PC->router->DSM750. I swear, the result was the same, not to say worse, then my current 4-year old G network. ping test were not only ridiculously inconsistent (30% drops), but even the packets that made it through had almost the same timing as those sent through the old G network. i tried four different routers, including those for ~250$, like the DIR-855, which were returned immediately of course. tried the linksys wrt610n btw, which was even worse.

[greekstile]

The WRT610N is garbage.  It has overheating issues and high traffic on the 5ghz band causes it to drop connections.

I have the WRT600N, and although it has s few issues with stock Linksys firmware, the 5ghz band is rock solid.  I actually have 2 of these routers in my house, one acting as a pure access point wired to the other WRT600N on the opposite end of the house.  I have great 5ghz coverage on all floors over the entire house.  Much better than when I only had one WRT600N.

[roise_r]

so u use the WDS, guessing that u are not using stock firmware.

i wanted to buy the 600 but they didnt have it at fry's, told me that no one bought it so they discontinued.

but anyway, i am one cable now. THAT's rock solid