How can I quantify my WiFi reliability over a period of time?

[ssdtester]

I'd like to avoid running ethernet through my house if I can. Everyone's saying that it's going to be much more reliable than WiFi; I want to know how *much* more reliable it's going to be before I take the plunge and spend a weekend drilling holes in my house.

I'm going to pick up a decent PCI-e WiFi card and test it over the course of a week. I'm looking for suggestions on how to test it and log it.

A tentative plan: Ping 192.168.1.1 every 30 minutes to test latency. See how consistent it is over hundreds of data points over the course of the week. To test throughput, I'm not sure. Maybe pull a 1MB file from a CDN? That's not the greatest because it's also testing the reliability of my ISP and the CDN itself. Plus it doesn't test upload reliability. Can I push some data through my router right back to my desktop?

Obviously an automated tool for this would be ideal, but I'll take what I can get.

 

[bjsm]

Are you gonna be gaming or downloading or ... what will you be doing on the wifi connected computer? With the technology today, wifi is getting really reliable do you have precise needs for super reliability?

 

[ssdtester]

Are you gonna be gaming or downloading or ... what will you be doing on the wifi connected computer? With the technology today, wifi is getting really reliable do you have precise needs for super reliability?

Some gaming, some video streaming, some downloading/uploading, some low-traffic web hosting. I don't think that I need "super" reliable, but if it's going to be dropping out in the middle of a movie a couple times per week, that'd be a pain. Obviously gaming comes with occasional hitches -- that's unavoidable -- but if it's "really bad" then I care.

My suspicion (seems to be your intution as well) is that it will be more than reliable enough for my needs.

That said, if I start having movies that don't load well or games that start stuttering, how do I know it's my wifi connection that's to blame? Hence, wanting to quantify the reliability to some degree.

 

[jsmithepa]

Head over to dslreports.com to find tools.

But don't listen to 1 dude what u should do... are you currently having WIFI problem? if not, give him the finger.

But OK, this is a new house, yes wire, and you will never have to worry about microwaves, adding users, 4k video blah-blah. If not too expensive, go 10g wiring.

 

[bjsm]

Don't spend a weekend wiring your house. If you buy a decent wifi card and you have a decent router you will be more than fine for gaming watching movies etc. As jsmithepa said, don't listen to 1 person. I use wifi all the time for gaming and streaming and there never is any drops or problems.

 

[boosted1g]

Its a decision you will need to make for yourself. If you don't need more then 60-100mbps real network speed, and don't need the most ideal low latency environment for gaming then wifi might be suitable for you. You can also use powerline adapters if say the far room has too low of wifi signal; they are basically between wifi and hardwired Ethernet.

Reliability is a variable that is going to be effeced by the size and floor-plan of your house, if the walls are insulated, your neighbors wifi, and what quality of router and laptops/devices you have. Cheap devices have cheaper chips/lower power/less quality for lower signal.



Your usage/demand will also make a huge difference on the justification of hardwired Ethernet. Lets take your 300mbps wireless n connection. That 300mbps is split in half, half transmit and half receive; thus in a lab the absolute best speed you will get is 150mbps, realistically if in the same room of the router you will get 120 and it will tapper down from there the more obstacles (walls/furniture) you have. Now for most people 50-100mbps is sufficient and still faster then their web connection.

I needed more then what wifi can provide and thus I hardwired my home with cat5e, for residential and small office use I don't recommend Cat6 as it is just a waste of money. You will get no noticeable speed difference with 6 over 5e, the only benefit is if you have a ton of rf/electric interference then cat6 will be better. Otherwise you are just paying more for heavier cable that is harder to terminate.

 

[bjsm]

Its a decision you will need to make for yourself. If you don't need more then 60-100mbps real network speed, and don't need the most ideal low latency environment for gaming then wifi might be suitable for you. You can also use powerline adapters if say the far room has too low of wifi signal; they are basically between wifi and hardwired Ethernet.

Reliability is a variable that is going to be effeced by the size and floor-plan of your house, if the walls are insulated, your neighbors wifi, and what quality of router and laptops/devices you have. Cheap devices have cheaper chips/lower power/less quality for lower signal.



Your usage/demand will also make a huge difference on the justification of hardwired Ethernet. Lets take your 300mbps wireless n connection. That 300mbps is split in half, half transmit and half receive; thus in a lab the absolute best speed you will get is 150mbps, realistically if in the same room of the router you will get 120 and it will tapper down from there the more obstacles (walls/furniture) you have. Now for most people 50-100mbps is sufficient and still faster then their web connection.

I needed more then what wifi can provide and thus I hardwired my home with cat5e, for residential and small office use I don't recommend Cat6 as it is just a waste of money. You will get no noticeable speed difference with 6 over 5e, the only benefit is if you have a ton of rf/electric interference then cat6 will be better. Otherwise you are just paying more for heavier cable that is harder to terminate.

Nice explanation, and yeah don't waste money on Cat6. I would use wifi for your needs.