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[MainerH55]

I am getting intermittent 1 second pauses during non-HD wireless video streaming from a DNS-323 NAS via the DIR-825 router.  Possibly related, I lose my Skype video calls at least once a session.

Streaming pauses happen at least once per 30min, where the video and audio slow down for a second and then return to normal speed again.  Sometimes the videos play with slight audio glitches also.

The wireless signal is strong, but my signal does jump around from 54mbps to 217mbps.  1080p HD video plays perfect except for the odd hitch every 5min.

There is another computer hooked up via Ethernet but it is typically off.

It seems odd that I appear to have the bandwidth but can not sustain a constant stream.  And dropping Skype video calls is really annoying.

All videos play perfectly from the local hard drive.

Laptop has a Dell 1505 internal wireless card using the newest drivers for Vista.

The router is configured as follows.

2.4GHz off
5GHz, N, Auto Channel, 20/40MHz, WPA2-AES
Everything else is default except for some port forwarding and assigning IPs.

Am I asking too much from wireless?

Any advice or experiences are appreciated.

[rickm1350]

it sounds like maybe your signal is not the best on 5 Ghz to/from the router..

You could try a different 5 Ghz wireless channel and see if that helps.  You might also try the 2.4 Ghz band.  If you use 2.4 Ghz though, don't use the default channel, choose something else.  It seems like every router mfg defaults to the same channel. If you are in a congested area, it's not going to work well.

Just FYI, I'm using the 825, with basicaly the same settings as you, to my computer on the 2.4 Ghz band and can stream video both from Netflix or my Windows Home Server with no buffering.  I'm also using the 825 to a Linksys gaming router on the 5Ghz band to an XBox 360.  The XBox can also stream video from the Windows Server or from Netflix with no buffering.

[MainerH55]

Thanks for the response.

Changing the 5Ghz channel from Auto to 48 did increase my bandwidth, but unfortunately the video is still hitching every 5min or so.  2.4Ghz is no better.

Interestingly, I discovered that my laptop will not detect channels in the 100 range.

For now I am going to assume that my laptop's draft wireless adapter is very draft.  At least it is reassuring know the router is not a lemon.

[MainerH55]

Everything is working now, after installing the newest wireless driver for the Dell 1505 linked below.

http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R242437&formatcnt=1&libid=0&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&fileid=350659

The installation failed to find compatible hardware, but I was able to install the driver manually.

Network Neighborhood no longer works, but is seems like a small price to pay to have working wireless.

Hopefully this post will help anyone else struggling with the 1505.

[rickm1350]

Thanks for the update, hopefully it will help others with the same issue.

What operating system are you using?  I know that I have problems with Network Neighborhood at work on our network at times.  I can't browse the network.  Usually, if I will take the time to go through the building and shut down every computer, then restart them one at a time, it will fix the network neighborhood problems.  However, with 50 plus computer running on the network, that's a time consuming chore, so I often just live without network neighborhood til I get time to fix it.

[MainerH55]

Vista 32

The Network Neighborhood window freezes and eventually a dialog comes up asking to close or restart Windows Explorer.

I suspect it is because the Dell Wireless Utility integrated into Network Neighborhood is incompatible with the driver.  I might try uninstalling the utility.

[rickm1350]

Ok, my problem was With mostly Win XP and Win 2K machines.  I'd just get an error saying that I could not browse the network.

I'm on Win 7 now and have a problem with the network map. I think the error is saying that I have an incompatible router.