As some here may know, in January I installed three Premier XL's, each with a TiVo Wireless-N adapter. Since completing the installation, I've been working towards improving the "wireless" portion of my home network.
As backgound information, the wireless portion of my existing network was 802.11g and my Cable Modem, Router (not wireless), and Wireless Access Point were located in my upstairs office. The office is located in the "bonus room" over my attached garage, which extends outward from the front of my home in kind of an "L" shape. In other words, the Wireless Access Point was just about as far away from the 3 TiVo's located downstairs in the main part of the home as you could get.
Before the TiVo's, we got acceptable wireless performance to other upstairs rooms and the closer rooms downstairs (closer than where the TiVo's are). The TiVo's were getting good enough wireless signal to get the Guide, but Internet viewing and streaming between TiVo's was very iffy.
So in my quest to improve I bought 2 new wireless Routers (NetGear WNDR4000) which have simultaneous 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz operation, and have bandwidth (theoretical) ratings of up to 300 and 450mbps. I quickly learned that the 5Ghz signal is much more susceptable to being degraded by traveling through walls and such.
I currently have the upstairs WNDR4000 configured to act as the Router, and it also has both transmitters configured and turned "On". Each transmitter on this WNDR4000 has a unique SSID.
I currently have the downstairs WNDR4000 configured to act as a Wireless Access Point only, and it also has both transmitters configured and turned "On". The 2.4Ghz transmitter on this WNDR4000 has an SSID to match the 2.4Ghz SSID on the upstairs unit, and the 5Ghz transmitter on this WNDR4000 has an SSID to match the 5Ghz SSID on the upstairs unit. The channel assignments between upstairs and downstairs are unique and spaced 6 channels apart.
The downstairs WNDR4000 is currently connected to the upstairs WNDR4000 via a long Cat5e cable running through the interior of the house and up the stairs to reach the upstairs WNDR4000. I plan to replace this Cat5e cable in the next few days with MoCA bridges attached to an existing (unused) coax cable that I have easy access to at both the upstairs and downstairs ends near where the WNDR4000's are located.
With this setup I am getting a decent signal strength throughout my house at all the computers and at the TiVo's (3 bars on every TiVo).
But I still don't know if I'm getting the optimum (well, wireless optimum) experience. The WNDR4000's have a WPS (Wireless Protected Setup) button, as do the TiVo adapters. So now the questions . . .
When using the WPS buttons, does the TiVo adapter pick up BOTH the 2.4Ghz AND the 5Ghz confurations, or only one of them?
If only one, how does the TiVo adapter decide WHICH one?
If any wireless "G" devices are on the network at any given time, does the whole wireless system drop to "G" speeds for all attached devices, or will the TiVo's still operate at "N" speeds?
Is there any way to give the TiVo's "names" that will show up on my home network when I look to see "connected devices"? Currently I only see the IP addresses I assigned to the Tivo's. I use fixed IP addresses in my network.. so I can recognize the TiVo's currently only by the addresses I have assigned. If I was using DHCP, I guess I would have to memorize MAC addresses?
I'm sure I have more questions... but I've had such a confusing few days I'm not even sure now what my other questions are...