Surface Pro 3 and wireless ac

[Seneleron]

What you need is to drop some ethernet cable.

Love to, but it's just not possible in the house I'm currently in. BELIEVE ME I have thought and thought and thought, but it's not happening without drilling through walls and floors, and it's just not worth it in the long run.

So how exactly do you go about streaming steam games to the surface pro 3?

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3629-RIAV-1617

 

[jnjroach]

Pssh! You may want AC but you don't NEED AC to do any of that. What you need is to drop some ethernet cable. Or are you one of those people who have extreme conditions and do teragigaplex data transfers across castle moats with 10 tablets watching Huluflix and also PS4/Steam/Atari streaming on your dedicated OC3 fiber... all at the same time?

Or you have a household that are Cord Cutters so we do everything via IP, HTPC which is an Intel NUC, 2 Xbox Ones, 1 Xbox 360, 3 SP2's, 2 S2's, 1 Dell Venue Pro 8, 3 WP 8.1 Phones and one legacy laptop acting as HTPC in the bedroom. We've been known to have 3 streams of HULU Plus, Netflix, Amazon Prime or similar service while my son is playing online multi-player games with my wife and I doing stuff online....

Everything is Wireless except for the NUC and the Xbox One in the living room... Why would I want to plug a cable into my shiny new Tablet?

 

[leeshor]

Why indeed?

 

[bamaster]

Or you have a household that are Cord Cutters so we do everything via IP, HTPC which is an Intel NUC, 2 Xbox Ones, 1 Xbox 360, 3 SP2's, 2 S2's, 1 Dell Venue Pro 8, 3 WP 8.1 Phones and one legacy laptop acting as HTPC in the bedroom. We've been known to have 3 streams of HULU Plus, Netflix, Amazon Prime or similar service while my son is playing online multi-player games with my wife and I doing stuff online....

Everything is Wireless except for the NUC and the Xbox One in the living room... Why would I want to plug a cable into my shiny new Tablet?

What you NEED is some KFC and have a family dinner at the table, sans anything with a screen.

 

[jnjroach]

Sushi and Sashimi but not KFC... I'm just reminding the thread there are reasons why people want additional bandwidth on the internal home network.

 

[DanL]

Why would I want to plug a cable into my shiny new Tablet?

Exactly. I don't want my new SP3 to resemble a cable box remote control from the 80's. Remember those with the attached cord everyone tripped over?

 

[MDS]

Have not done much reading about wireless AC. If you upgrade the router is it backward comparable with older devices? Do I have to upgrade my existing internet speed with the provider to get the maximum benefit or is the range and better connectivity enough improvement? Just general questions, I'm sure it might help to post my current provider specs which I'm sure are just average.

Update: Decided to look at my exiting setup to see if I could answer my own questions. Best download speed I've had is 22mg and upload around 2.5. Running a N duel band router (netgear n600) and surfboard SB5101u modem that has capacity for 30mg download to I think 36 upload. My download/upload speed very wildly, everywhere from 6 to 22 even with one devise running. I'd say average is 7.

So for me, anyway, can't see switching to AC with my current internet provider - upgrading service or unless my speeds would improve with better connectivity. Have I got this right?

 

[bamaster]

I'm not much of an AC expert. From what I understand, it allows for greater bandwidth and range, yes, but it also operates on 5GHz band, which is less crowded. Although I though 5GHz was a weaker band, no? AC routers are more expensive, much like Wireless-N were when they were new.

What I was suggesting is to improve your access point with something like the Ubiquiti UniFi AP. It gives me full bandwidth on 2.4GHz Wireless-N in my entire house. I have a D-Link DIR-825 router, which was hot stuff back in the day. I even added a couple "long range, high powered antennae" to it to help with range. Didn't help. I considered Amped Wireless stuff, but they are expensive too.

Finally ended up using a Ubiquiti UniFi AP because we have success with them in my office. You can add multiple AP's very easily, so you can have one in different corners of your house, yard, whatever. Basically, you turn off wifi on your router and connect the UniFi to it. The router does the routing/dhcp stuff, and the UniFi does the signal broadcasting.

For me, I didn't need more bandwidth. I needed signal strength. I have a one story, four bedroom, 2400 sqft house and no matter where I am, I get nearly the same download speed as if I were hardwired in. YMMV

 

[olimjj]

Yes an AC router is backward compatible
5GHz offers higher throughput at a shorter distance, while 2.4GHz offers increased coverage and higher solid object penetration. Both have increased in AC protocol over N.
An N band access point device with 5GHz would have been viable, if one did not want to spend the extra money for an AC router

 

[DanL]

Well I bought the Netgear Nighthawk R7000 at BB last night. Was going to set it up today. I checked in at the Netgear forums to get the latest scoop and found out the new Nighthawk X6 R8000 will be released in 2 weeks, July 11.

R8000 | WiFi Routers | Networking | Home | NETGEAR

Amazon.com: NETGEAR AC3200 Nighthawk X6 Smart Wi-Fi Router (R8000): Computers & Accessories

Whats a guy to do LOL. I haven't opened the box yet. I'm thinking about taking it back and waiting the 2 weeks. :crazy:

 

[TechGod2014]

Thought the SP3 was an AC capable device?

 

[olimjj]

Thought the SP3 was an AC capable device?

Yes it is. Not sure I understand your point. You must have a router capable of Broadcasting on the AC protocol to use your SP3 AC network capability. Of course you can still use a N band only router. albeit with lower throughputs