[MaxCast]

or do I just wire it?  Not to thrilled with poking a hole in my audio aquarium.

netgear w614v8 g  upstairs, end of house.
SB is down stairs other end of house.
the room is concrete block with insulated double 5/8" drywall.

My signal rarely gets above 50% and get so many dropouts that I can't even use it.

I wanted to try a n router but my laptop antenna is g and the SB is g so that would not help.

I could hard wire it but would that defeat the wireless, line noise, jitter, etc???  (cheapest)

I could put the g router in the basement outside the room and hard wire the main computer upstairs.  (next cheapest)

I could get a netgear or Hawking wireless repeater and plug it in in the basement.  (most expensive)

what would you guys do?? 
Thanks,
Rich

[mcgsxr]

I used to have my Slimserver (yes, I have been around this THAT long!) PC on the 2nd floor, and my SB3 is in the basement.  I was not getting great signal, so I went on eBay and scored a Linksys WRE54G extender, to use with my Linksys router.

http://msmvps.com/blogs/netman66/archive/2008/04/19/installing-and-configuring-the-linksys-wre54g.aspx  explains how best to set it up.

Works great.

But, I have since picked up a cheap small form factor Dell, and I run my SB3 wired, so although the WRE is still up and running, it is only used to extend my vLAN for use with my work PC.

[MaxCast]

So are you saying if I wire the SB to the laptop in the basement it will find its way to the internet using the stronger reception of the laptop?  Would it still find my second library on the upstairs computer?

[mcgsxr]

Hmmn, not quite what I was saying.

I actually moved my Slimserver s/w to a PC local to the system - it no longer connects anywhere at all - I want that PC (running XP Pro, clean install) as an island.  The SB3 runs wired to it, and also is not running wireless, so I have only the one music collection in the house now.

Not sure if you can leverage your laptop AS a network node, to connect to the PC upstairs though, as you describe.

Does your laptop get better wireless reception than your SB3 in the same room?

[Doublej]

Four other options to consider:

1. You could install a better antenna on your existing router
2. You could buy a n router and wireless n card for your laptop
3. You could install open source firmware on your existing router and then crack up the transmitter power to see if it solves your problem.
4. You could get another router and turn it into a wireless bridge using open source software. This will still likely be much cheaper than an extender and have the added benefit of giving you wired ports in the wireless bridge. I see refurbished g routers on sale regularly now for $30. Or ask around. if you have friends that have to have the latest technology they will likely have a g router sitting around the house.

I'd look into DD-WRT and Tomato as open source firmware. If you want to see how it all fits together search youtube for wireless bridge or linksys wireless bridge.

I used a Linksys WRT54G and DD-WRT firmware to create a wireless adapter for my HDTV. While I didn't enable the wireless repeater function it should work fine.

[MaxCast]

Hmmn, not quite what I was saying.

I actually moved my Slimserver s/w to a PC local to the system - it no longer connects anywhere at all - I want that PC (running XP Pro, clean install) as an island.  The SB3 runs wired to it, and also is not running wireless, so I have only the one music collection in the house now.

Not sure if you can leverage your laptop AS a network node, to connect to the PC upstairs though, as you describe.

That is what I would like to do, but I want to use my itouch as a remote and it is nice to access itunes on the upstairs computer.

Does your laptop get better wireless reception than your SB3 in the same room?
YES, I above average reception on the meter.  The SB is usually 19-44%

[MaxCast]

Doublej
1.  sounds easy and cheep but would I get the feeling it would not give me a big enough improvement.
2.  That is what I wanted to do but the SB is only g so I don't know if it would improve.
3.  I'm too stupid to do that 
4.  I have been reading about that.  If I did I would want to go a new n router upstairs then bridge the g and place it down stairs...would that work?




Thanks for the help guys.

[lcrim]

Rich:
The sound will improve by going wired.  In essence, the wireless card gets turned off during setup and the power that it drew no longer degrades the sound quality.
I finally went wired last summer and I'm still working at painting over the CAT6 cables I used but the jump in quality was worth the effort.  Never experience noise or drops.

[MaxCast]

Rich:
The sound will improve by going wired.  In essence, the wireless card gets turned off during setup and the power that it drew no longer degrades the sound quality.
I finally went wired last summer and I'm still working at painting over the CAT6 cables I used but the jump in quality was worth the effort.  Never experience noise or drops.

would that mean a cat cable running from SB to the upstairs main computer or the laptop in the same room?  My main music library will be an external HD off the laptop in the basement.  I guess I could get buy not accessing the library on the upstairs main computer.

[rahimlee54]

 Make a bridge least amount of work and 30 bucks.  Get this http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?nm_mc=AFC-TechBargains&cm_mmc=AFC-TechBargains-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&Item=N82E16833320023

Use this http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Asus_WL-520GU

Takes about 30 minutes to install and configure.

[lcrim]

Rich:
CAT5 or 6 cables from each node back to the router.  Each device has an IP address of 192.168.x.x sequence.  The router has a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server that issues a leased address to each node on the network.  This is seamless, you don't need to be concerned w/ it. 
You can access the software on your router and change the security settings or the range of addresses it should make available by addressing its IP address which should be 192.169.1.1 by default.  You can reset it to default settings by putting a pen into the little hole in the back.  It sounds harder than it is.
Edit:
You don't need to buy anything but cables.

[MaxCast]

what if I move the router to the basement and run a wire to the upstairs computer?

[lcrim]

Rich:
Run a wire (CAT5 or 6) to all devices back to the router.

[mshan]

You could also try powerline ethernet adapters, but it is very hit and miss depending upon how your house is wired.

If you are only streaming audio, hopefully stuttering would not be an issue, even with something like an 85 mbps adapter.

I got two of these for about $60 and am very happy (use it with a Slingcatcher):  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122338

I originally owned some Netgear XE102 I bought off of eBay and they actually worked quite well to.  Their throughput rating is much lower and you have to assume significant loss through the powerline, but you could try them too if you can get a pair real cheap off of eBay.

[Doublej]

Doublej
1.  sounds easy and cheep but would I get the feeling it would not give me a big enough improvement.
2.  That is what I wanted to do but the SB is only g so I don't know if it would improve.
3.  I'm too stupid to do that 
4.  I have been reading about that.  If I did I would want to go a new n router upstairs then bridge the g and place it down stairs...would that work?




Thanks for the help guys.

1. I just saw that the antenna on your router is not removable so this isn't feasible
2. Probably not unless you move the router closer to the SB
3. If you know how to disable the wireless network connection on your laptop and enable a wired connection through the Windows control panel you could easily handle this yourself as that is the level of complexity. If not you'll need a computer friend. As stated it's merely a six pack favor.
4. Yes, anything that reduces the distance between the transmitter and the SB3 should solve your problem but as best I can tell you'll still need to install open source software so in a sense you are back to number 3.

You can also try reorienting the router antenna or the SB if that's feasible.

Can you move the existing router to be more centrally located in the house? Typically that requires only a phone or cable jack and electrical outlet in the location to where you want to relocate the router.

[MaxCast]

Thanks again guys.

Can you move the existing router to be more centrally located in the house? Typically that requires only a phone or cable jack and electrical outlet in the location to where you want to relocate the router.

I may try this today.  There is an unused phone line right out side my room (actually I have two lines in the room too) that I can use.  It would provide a fairly easy route for a wire back to my main computer.