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[Hard Harry]

Hi everybody!

So being the geek I am I have decided to help out my Ex with her network problems. Part of that is upgrading her router to, you guessed it, the DGL-4500. Unfortunatly, given her house layout, running Ethernet to her bedroom for her PS3 is not practical. So I am now looking into to buying a wireless game adapter to possibly improve signal reception, both by having the adapter in the open, and making use of the N band. Here is what I am thinking of getting:

TRENDnet TEW-687GA Wireless N Gaming Adapter

Everywhere I look it gets great reviews, but I worry the new stream tech much have some issues with the DGL on the N band. Anyone have one? Also, anyone have any other suggestions?

[kargo27]

Harry, I have that exact same one and I think I paid about $35 for it about 2 years ago.  Good Lord has the price gone up!

It works great, I didn't experience any drops with it.  It was very stable.

IIRC, I had to configure it to G mixed, then to N to get N band to work.

[Hard Harry]

You probably have this one.. Its also good but a couple people reported firmware bugs that I thought it was safe. Also, it has a 15db N antenna instead of the TEW-647GA's 13db antenna.

[Hard Harry]

Harry, I have that exact same one and I think I paid about $35 for it about 2 years ago.  Good Lord has the price gone up!

It works great, I didn't experience any drops with it.  It was very stable.

IIRC, I had to configure it to G mixed, then to N to get N band to work.

Would you mind sharing some of your configurations? I was looking through the manual (it gets delivered in about a week, just doing prep work) and  had a couple questions:

Manual found here

1. Page 23 - I notice the default RTS is 2347 while the DGL-4500's is 2346. Should I dial back the DGL or leave it as is? Is it even changable? The manual isn't clear.

2. Page 28 - Did you leave the HT mode to default?

3. Page 28 - I read in a few places TRENDnet has some issues with 20/40 channel widths, at least on their routers. What do you have yours set to?

4. Page 28 - Should I leave the MSC to Auto? That could be why your N didn't connect at first since the adapter can connect at up to 32 MSC while the DGL can only connect up to 15 MSC, and I think only 11 in G/N mode (don't quote me on that). Any data you could share?

[kargo27]

Harry I was wrong, I have the TEW-647GA, not the 687GA.

I was wondering why the price would have jumped so high!

Yours is the better version.

Honestly, bud, I have no idea what to tell you.  I'm not that knowledgeable about configuring.  That's why I look to you guys for advice.   

-Karl

[kargo27]

Harry, did it come in yet?

Also, I was wrong about saying you had to configure it to G then N.  That was my wireless print server I was thinking of.  Doh!   

[Hard Harry]

Oh yea, it came alright. LOL. What a headache. But to be fair to the adapter, I think the vast majority of the complexitity stemmed from issues outside it's control.

So heres how it went. She physically hooked everything up and I walked over a few things to test the connection and enable remote support (which worked flawlessly BTW) so I could configure it from over here. That part went fine. I saved configure files, and had her print out the network info on nice little index cards..we even saved the settings on a flash via the routers USB using WCN. Everything was going great. Everyone was online, speeds were good, etc. Then we went to hook up the adapter. My plan was to remote into her PC via teamviewer while she had a local only hardwire to adapter, and a internet connection through wifi to new router. Since I had already created WISH and Gamefuel rules for a certian IP destined for the PS3, I thougjh ....wait..thats it. Long story short, we were having 4 problems:

1. Out of no where the ethernet port on her laptop died.
2. Everytime we would set the default gateway to 192.168.0.1, it would be overwhelmed by the routers gateway and we wouldn't be able to access it, and would have to factory default.
3. And if we left it to DHCP, and set the wireless to connect to the network, it will still set a 192.168.0.1 gateway. Kind of a chicken or a egg problem.
4. Last issue was her friends laptop also started having issues, and I think we might have to rebuild his tcp with netsch.

What I just figured out though was we set DHCP reservations ahead of time. Which means the router is probably getting confused that the Mac address tied to the IP request is not the same mac address requesting it. When the game adapter connects, you don't see the mac of the adapter, you see the mac of the adapter of the laptop in the DHCP list. Thats because the packets are eth framed, not 802.11. Doh! So I will just delete the DHCP reservation for her friends laptop, rebuild the TCP, factory reset adapter, configure everything but the wirelesss,  then connect it wireless. Then disable wireless on router, go back in and change to a static ip. Last connect the PS3, then when I see the mac of the PS3 aquire in the router, I will just set a DHCP reservation to that. Hmm..I guess that is still kind of complicated.

[kargo27]

Um......WHAT?

No, actually, I'm following you because I had a similar situation with my wireless print server yesterday.  It said it was on the WLAN but my router did not show it.  It was set on B/G/N and I had to switch it (the print server) to "G" only then it was recognized and then I switched it back to B/G/N and set a static IP for it.

Out of curiosity, how old are you and how old is your girlfriend?  This has nothing to do with anything, I'm just an old fart at 44.   

[Hard Harry]

LOL. I am 30, she is 23. We are hardcore geeks of the same heart. <3

What I wanted to know was, how did you configure the adapter? Did you use the button for WPS? Or did you use the 192.168.11.10(or whatever it is) gateway? And when you did, did you choose static or DHCP for the LAN?

Here is a emulator if it helps.

[kargo27]

My wife and I are your same age difference, too.  Too funny!

OK, I think I did use the WPS button.  Sometimes the button works, but my experience has been that it's hit or miss.

I chose DHCP on the gaming adapter and then static IP on the router.  Am I doing this right?

I'm still learning. 

[Hard Harry]

Yes, you are. I had wanted to to do it with static IP, but you have to be really careful what order you do things otherwise you lock youself out. Right now I am getting about a 2ms latency to gateway with a 2ms jitter and a 34Mb throughput while 35-37mb is hardwired. I would say that is pretty damn good. So far I am rather happy with this piece of equipment. The real test will be when I start putting it under load and see if I see any latency spikes.

On a side note, I am opening up my own Minecraft Server. Anyone play?

[kargo27]

Those are great stats, Harry!  I think you'll be very pleased with this adapter.  Mine has worked flawlessly with our PS3.

[LookIntoMyEyees]

Ps3 everyone talks about Ps3 did you guys get the new firmware update? It was a bit disappointing that it only allows trophy sync at the given time you select... But I love the auto game save update

--
Chris

[Hard Harry]

Well I connected the adapter to the PS3 and the performance was dissapointing, but I think it has something to do with my WISH rules. I may try disabling it and see what that gets me. Does WISH over ride Gamefuel?

[kargo27]

Ps3 everyone talks about Ps3 did you guys get the new firmware update? It was a bit disappointing that it only allows trophy sync at the given time you select... But I love the auto game save update

--
Chris

I just did that update yesterday.  I moved my PS3 and now have it hardwired like my 360.  I bought the original Bioshock for PS3 yesterday as well.  I have it for 360 and love it.  It's my favorite game of all time.

So, how does that trophy sync work, Chris?  Where do you go to sync it?