Setting up mutlipe home networks

[MarcMorgan]

I would like to setup a home network that allows me to download/stream/internet access

Basically I'm not sure if I would need to have 2 access points but I would like to have my downloading on 1 access point with full bandwidth then have another access point for my film streaming from a external HDD on the network and general internet use without having it slowing down from the downloading.

Is this possible and how would I go about setting it up and what would I need.

At the moment everything is on one and whilst I'm downloading the I am unable to stream a mobile from my external HDD over the network

 

[Gav2k]

To be honest your overthinking it. Most new routers can more than handle multiple downloads as well as streaming tasks without breaking a sweat.

What you do need is a dual band router to keep slower devices pulling your network speed down.

 

[MarcMorgan]

I have a Belkin N1 router but when downloading and streaming a movie its very laggy

 

[Weaselboy]

I have a Belkin N1 router but when downloading and streaming a movie its very laggy

What might help you with this issue is a router that supports QOS (quality of service). This would allow you to set it up so say your Macbook gets 70% of the bandwidth while an iPad gets 30% for example. This would prevent your kids watching Youtube on the iPad from killing your Macbook Internet speeds. Just an example. This won't magically enable you to download four HD movies at once, but it will give you some control over who gets priority.

Apple's routers don't support QOS, so you will need to look elsewhere. The site Smallnetbuilder is a good place for router recommendations. The new ASUS AC routers seem to be very popular there and they support QOS.

 

[jlehman]

QOS or Faster Internet or both. 2 APs (routers) are not going to really benefit you and will make things much more complicated for sharing stuff if you don't set them up correctly. You need to see if the N1 supports some type of QOS or look for a router that supports it. I would like to play with QOS but unfortunately i have a recent gen AirPort Extreme and like WeaselBoy said they don't support it. I think if my AExtreme dies im gonna go with an Asus, Netgear, or DLink depending on price / features. AE's are solid, but so expensive for such a lack in features.

 

[Panch0]

I have a Belkin N1 router but when downloading and streaming a movie its very laggy

I think you are saying that while downloading something from the internet to your iMac, streaming video from the external HDD to your iPhone lags.

Where is this external drive connected? Is it directly connected to your iMac? USB/FW/TB? is it a NAS? Is it single drive or multiple? Is it connected to an additional computer not mentioned in your sig?

Is your iMac on a Wired or Wireless connection?

Are you saving the file you are downloading to the External drive while you are trying to stream video to it?

Does the video require transcoding or does it play directly? (What file format, what app, what 'server')


streaming HD video should only take ~6Mbps, which is a small fraction of Wireless N. Unless you are several rooms away from the router or have some unfriendly building materials in the way, I doubt that wireless bandwidth is you bottleneck. I would think it is more likely that you are trying to stream from the same drive that you are writing to, possibly over a USB 2 connection, and the drive is your bottleneck. That's just a guess though...

 

[awair]

Basically I'm not sure if I would need to have 2 access points but I would like to have my downloading on 1 access point with full bandwidth then have another access point for my film streaming from a external HDD on the network and general internet use without having it slowing down from the downloading.

For what you are suggesting, you should not need 2 access points or routers or networks.

Typical Internet bandwidth has risen over recent years (depending on your location) from 1Mb to 30-100Mb. Streaming HD over the Internet needs in the region of 3-5Mb/sec, so this should not saturate a typical connection.

Your local network, depending on the age of the equipment, should be capable of 300Mb wireless (subject to range) or 1Gb wired. If there is an issue streaming inside your home network, there is some conflict that is not directly related to the speed of download.

There are so many aspects to check, but consider:

1) Disk speed: are you streaming to the device that is downloading?
2) WiFi channel interference (network conflicts)
3) Video format: is any trancoding needed (CPU bottleneck)

There are plenty of tools freely available or built in, to assist, but a complete list of hardware and how you are connecting would be a good start, rather than us making assumptions about how you really using...

Good luck.