Finally, Ipad is happy with YouTube

[stuartmeyers]

After much stuffing around with DNS Settings, turning off notifications, changing wireless channels on the router and ever other little change that gave me marginal improvements, my YouTube buffer line is getting ahead of the play line and there is now no waiting.

For those who run 802.11g routers and have this issue, it is worth trying 802.11n.

I had an older d-link 802.11g router that was ok but after searching for a replacement router or combined router, I had an idea to use the Airport Express Base Station (AE) as the main wireless router instead of just being a client to my network for AirPlay to output to the hifi.

After 10 minutes of tinkering, I swapped the old router with the AE and tested it. Throughput went up a bit but the streaming effect was huge.

The only thing missed when using AE is the lack of browser interface but as a whole it works fine so far.

As a bonus, streaming movies from Itunes to my ATV2 is also improved and the movies load a lot faster.

The next question is to keep the AE, replace it with another 802.11n router or just buy another AE. I thought about the AE Extreme but I dont see the value. Maybe they will release a new version soon.

Anyhow, for improved output to ATV2 or Ipad I recommend giving 802.11n a go.

 

[SimonMTL]

, for improved output to ATV2 or Ipad I recommend giving 802.11n a go.

Question: I have an iPad, ATV2, iPhone, iMac, and AE. Since the iPhone 1g is at 802.11g, that it the lowest denominator so my AE addresses them all. Would that affect throughput that much?

If i was to lock the AE at 802.11n speeds, could I get my iMac to act as a Wifi host, and log onto it at 802.11g speeds?

Any help appreciated!

 

[stuartmeyers]

Question: I have an iPad, ATV2, iPhone, iMac, and AE. Since the iPhone 1g is at 802.11g, that it the lowest denominator so my AE addresses them all. Would that affect throughput that much?

If i was to lock the AE at 802.11n speeds, could I get my iMac to act as a Wifi host, and log onto it at 802.11g speeds?

Any help appreciated!

Interesting. There seems to be many articles about mixed mode performance issues and suggestions to use two routers.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30224/100/

Maybe I am getting a false positive because everything on my network is 11n except for my printer which is 11g. But the printer works ok - I think.

By what you are saying, the AE will fall back to 11g but I think I remember setting the AE to 11n only.

I think I need to do more testing when I get home. I at least have the option to plug the printer into the USB on the AE. Will let you know.

 

[stuartmeyers]

Results

I plugged the printer into the Airport Express and switched the AE to n only (yes it was on b/g compatible). I tried 5 Ghz first but one of the notebooks wouldn't connect so I put it back to 2.5.

I tested the Ipad and found marginal difference if any. The downside was that the printer would print but the HP Printer software couldn't recognize the printer which meant I couldn't scan. Game over. I reverted back to n with b/g compatible.

Summary, the difference between g and n (with g compatibility) was huge and YouTube was happy. Going to n only didn't make that much difference - for me anyhow but I am sure it could for ohers.

Basically the target was to improve YouTube and the Airport Express has achieved that.