Wireless Networking Questions

[Rids]

Hi all,

Currently trying to sort out the wireless network in my house. To say that networking is one of my weak points is an understatement, you can fit my knowledge on the back of a postage stamp and still have plenty of room to spare.

At the moment I have a wonderful D-LINK DIR 615 supplied by the lovely Virgin Media - not wishing to put too fine a point on it but... its ****. Despite the advertised 300Mbps speeds it is completely unable to stream 1080p content from my upstairs PC to a laptop downstairs.

Part of me was thinking of going the Powerline networking route, however with a laptop, an iPad and 2 mobile phones that can all benefit from Wireless a good wireless solution is my preferrred option, if possible.

I've been looking at some of the high end Wireless Routers that OCUK sell, for example the ASUS RT-N66U. First off, given that I dont live in a mansion but a small ex-council property with walls made of paper-mache would you assume that something like that router would have the power to stream HD content to the downstairs laptop without issue?

The next question is surrounding the USB ports present on the above router. I have a Drobo... unfortunately when I purchased the Drobo I bought the crap one that has only USB or eSata connections and not proper networking (I know, know) - so for me to stream my media at the present time my main PC needs to be on. Do you think it would be possible to plug my Drobo (which is essentially a massive external HDD) into the USB ports and allow remote access to the files without having my PC on?

I realise that you may need more information than that supplied, so please do not hesitate to ask.

Any help as always is greatfully recieved.

 

[Rids]

Virgin media gave me one of them D-LINK DIR 615 routers too, it broke within a few months.

I take it VM are your BB supply company m8? what modem do you have? and what BB package you on?

Are you only streaming from PC to 1x laptop or others?

Also, what's your PC like the one you want to stream your content from? would it take a HDMI graphics card? how far away is your laptop from your pc?

spursman

Mine has "lasted" if you can call it that, but to say I want to replace it with something better is an understatement.

Its from my main PC, which is the one specced out in my signature, to the laptop downstairs which is to act as a media server.

Will also need to be able to handle network traffic from the iPhone which is often used as a remote control for XBMC, and the iPad which will probably be doing some random web browsing and such.

Distance is certainly less than 10 metres, probably closer to 5 metres but the signal needs to travel through the floor.

Edit: Forgot to add I'm on 50 meg Virgin BB.