Multi router (wired) setup - does it matter if Express or Extreme is first?

[posnera]

I have a large, old house with very bad wifi signal transmission. I have a multi router setup with all nodes wired back to the main hub.
When streaming live TV over Plex, there are pauses in the signal. On the Plex dashboard, it does not show CPU or RAM usage spikes, it shows that data transmission drops to zero temporarily. I can't figure out why this happens.
The first router in my setup is an Airport Express which goes to an ethernet switch to run individual wires through the house. Since I don't need the multiple ethernet ports there, I used Extremes in other locations.
Is this a potential bottleneck? Would the Extreme perform better as the first router in the setup?

 

[techwarrior]

Extreme has 1Gbps ethernet ports, and can handle more traffic and clients than Express with it's 100Mbps ports.

Chances are, your network would perform best with Extreme as the main router. Then, you have to consider if Expresses are really necessary in addition to the router. Too many WiFi access points can be as bad as not enough.

So, start with Extreme, test WiFi throughout the space and only put Express in one at a time to fill gaps until you have the coverage you need.

The dropouts could be devices switching WiFi access points.

 

[posnera]

Extreme has 1Gbps ethernet ports, and can handle more traffic and clients than Express with it's 100Mbps ports.

Chances are, your network would perform best with Extreme as the main router. Then, you have to consider if Expresses are really necessary in addition to the router. Too many WiFi access points can be as bad as not enough.

So, start with Extreme, test WiFi throughout the space and only put Express in one at a time to fill gaps until you have the coverage you need.

The dropouts could be devices switching WiFi access points.

The dropouts are occurring without any physical movement through the house.
The HDHomerun is wired directly to the main ethernet switch and the ATV in question is as well.
The multiple access points are critical to my home network as there are many dead zones.
In general there are no more than one or two wireless clients at any given time from any given access point. Does the main router maintain some control over how the satellites connect to wireless clients?
Wiring all the access points to the main hub has increased stability overall (used to have to reboot random satellite routers all the time to resume their connections). The only thing that regularly but unpredictably stutters is streaming live TV, and all those connections are wired.

 

[techwarrior]

The dropouts are occurring without any physical movement through the house.
The HDHomerun is wired directly to the main ethernet switch and the ATV in question is as well.
The multiple access points are critical to my home network as there are many dead zones.
In general there are no more than one or two wireless clients at any given time from any given access point. Does the main router maintain some control over how the satellites connect to wireless clients?
Wiring all the access points to the main hub has increased stability overall (used to have to reboot random satellite routers all the time to resume their connections). The only thing that regularly but unpredictably stutters is streaming live TV, and all those connections are wired.

Express has 100Mbps LAN and WAN ports. Extreme has 1000Mbps LAN and WAN ports. Express has limited CPU and memory, supports fewer clients (wired or wireless). Extreme is a better choice for the core router. Express connected by Ethernet to main Extreme should give you a better solution.

Dropouts and switching access points isn't limited to mobile devices, it can happen to fixed wireless as well. You are presenting multiple options on wireless to your devices, both access points, and frequencies.

But if they are overpowering the router (Express), it could be resetting itself causing dropouts. If you need more ethernet ports at locations were you would put expresses, use a 1Gbps switch.

I assume everything but the router is in bridged mode? If not, double NAT could be killing your connections, it tends to cause devices to reset to try to resolve conflicts.

 

[posnera]

Express has 100Mbps LAN and WAN ports. Extreme has 1000Mbps LAN and WAN ports. Express has limited CPU and memory, supports fewer clients (wired or wireless). Extreme is a better choice for the core router. Express connected by Ethernet to main Extreme should give you a better solution.

Dropouts and switching access points isn't limited to mobile devices, it can happen to fixed wireless as well. You are presenting multiple options on wireless to your devices, both access points, and frequencies.

But if they are overpowering the router (Express), it could be resetting itself causing dropouts. If you need more ethernet ports at locations were you would put expresses, use a 1Gbps switch.

I assume everything but the router is in bridged mode? If not, double NAT could be killing your connections, it tends to cause devices to reset to try to resolve conflicts.

That's good advice. I'll double check, but I'm pretty sure everything is in bridge mode other than the main router.
I will swap the Express out with one of the Extremes and see if that helps.