Wi-Fi Router for Pacenet Broadband

blr_p said:
Interesting, there is some history here that i was unaware of.


Presumably varkey already did what you are about to do.


Result will be different this time ?

If he wants the wife & daughter to access the web then he has no choice. If he wants torrenting as well then this comes as a bonus in one box. Will be interesting to see how the range of the N13 compares with the existing gigabyte. Do let us know, Terry.

Note to self: beware of 'combo deals' they seem to be stacked in the vendors favour.
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Actually, all he had to do was attach a drive, telnet into the device, find the correct partition and add that info to the Transmission UI.

And yeah, the deal will surely be stacked in my favour :p
 
terence_fdes said:
Damm... I promised you a "Mc Vada-Pav" [as I heard from "reliable sources" THIS IS THE LAST BASTION THAT McDONALD'S HAS TO CONQUER IN INDIA ]........AND THEY ARE GOING TO LAUNCH IT SOON ;)
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Alas, Terry, your info is behind the times and they have already launched the Masala Grill which is equivalent to a McVadaPav :p

However, those who have eaten it, have said they dont plan to try that again :p So, its McEggs for me :p
 
terence_fdes said:
Apologies ..... err BUT, I have not understood this
2Tx2R ???
wifi certification ??
Click to expand...
Academic interest.

Wi-fi Alliance Product cert search

The way it works is the alliance certifies 'n' products provided they are multi stream.
2T x 2R means two radios to transmit and two to recieve. These are N300 devices or two stream.

eg. here is the certificate for the Asus N13 which is an N300 device.

A N150 device is a 1T x 1R or one stream.

Now, N150 devices do not qualify as the alliance wants 'n' certified products to be multi-stream. But the portable devices vendors started complaining as they could not put N300 radios into their low powered devices ie tablets & cellphones. So they alliance waived the multi-stream requirement for mobile devices and still granted them a n certification.

All the certification means is that the device has been tested and found to be compliant with the 'n' standard. The goal is to make inter-operation between devices from various vendors easier, in theory.

I use the database to get confirmation of what the device can actually do, as opposed to what the marketing literature claims it can do. Generally speaking, if the device does not have a n cert, that means it's most likely a N150 or lower device.

So, cannot find your gigabyte card in there which is odd for a N300 device or 2T x 2R device.

The surprising thing for me about this pci card is that it works as a router, claims to be N300 and works on both the 2.4 AND 5Ghz bands. Had heard of pci based wifi clients but never pci wifi routers.

The only way to tell is if you use a N300 client, say a laptop of a recent vintage and it connects with a max link speed of 130-150mbs. You iball and cell phones will only connect at 65-72Mbs as they are N150 devices.
 
@blr_p Saw the certificate. The ASUS website said that the N13 (original) is a 3 antenna device and the B1 revision is a 2 antenna device. However, the certification says that is a 2 antenna device all along. :p

Just FYI. I think ASUS needs to correct their page :p

http://in.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTN13U/#specifications


AntennaInternal 3 dBi antenna x 3
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http://in.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTN13U_B1/#specifications


Antenna 2 x internal antenna
Antenna Gain in 3 dBi
Click to expand...
 
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vivek.krishnan said:
Just FYI. I think ASUS needs to correct their page :p
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No, its fine.

The wifi cert confirms that the N13 IS a N300 device. Three antennas does not imply N450. Three radios however does.

The 3rd antenna for the N13U would work in receive mode only. What this means is the N13U will have a higher upload rate ( client --> N13) ie more sensitive than the N13U-B1. Same applies to any N300 model with three antennas instead of two (eg. various 3 antenna tp-links and N16). Its a performance issue only if you need to upload a lot from any wifi client back to the router. This also matters in a client bridge configuration where 3 antennas will hear a router better than two, provided power is similar between the two.

Whereas download rate (N13--> client) remains unchanged in both models.

And the B1 has double the flash & RAM compared to the N13U only model :)
 
blr_p said:
No, its fine.

The wifi cert confirms that the N13 IS a N300 device. Three antennas does not imply N450. Three radios however does.

The 3rd antenna for the N13U would work in receive mode only. What this means is the N13U will have a higher upload rate ( client --> N13) ie more sensitive than the N13U-B1. Same applies to any N300 model with three antennas instead of two (eg. various 3 antenna tp-links and N16). Its a performance issue only if you need to upload a lot from any wifi client back to the router. This also matters in a client bridge configuration where 3 antennas will hear a router better than two, provided power is similar between the two.

Whereas download rate (N13--> client) remains unchanged in both models.

And the B1 has double the flash & RAM compared to the N13U only model :)
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Checked, the B1 is not WiFi certified. That either means with the doubling of the RAM and Flash, they have not taken the certification, else they have changed antenna design.

As for 450, 300.... I thought it was about antennas. How do the radios come into the picture? And AFAIK, there are only two radios, 2.4 and 5 GHz.
 
vivek.krishnan said:
Checked, the B1 is not WiFi certified. That either means with the doubling of the RAM and Flash, they have not taken the certification, else they have changed antenna design.
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Was not necessary to re-certify for B1. The previous cert covers it.

vivek.krishnan said:
As for 450, 300.... I thought it was about antennas. How do the radios come into the picture? And AFAIK, there are only two radios, 2.4 and 5 GHz.
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You are mixing up dual band with dual stream.

The N13's radio has two streams hence dual stream 150 + 150 on the single band of 2.4Ghz. Number of streams a radio puts out are what make the device 150, 300, 450 etc. Antennas just make the radios send/receive better. With dual band ie 5Ghz its the same again so we get 600, 750 & 900. This implies simultaneous dual band or a router that can work on both bands at the same time. bear in mind that just because a router does not have an external antenna does not necessarily mean its range will be less. The MIMO models have been doing quite well and even beating the external antenna models eg. N13 vs N16.

The only way the external ant models can catch up is if you upgrade the client antennas as well and give a 6 db boost to the main routers antennas. Most people will not bother with this.

To qualify for a cert a 'n' router has to be multi-stream.

When deciding between a 2 antenna vs 3 antenna model, decide what is important, upload/download/both. If its mostly download then check out the specs of the radio chips of the two models, if they are from the same generation then there will be little difference in download throughput between the two models and you could save a few bucks.
 
I am learning a lot from this discussion. Thanks so much.

Another querry ?

When was the B1 version launched ?
- newegg states "product discontinued" ....although not very clear about B1 version in the US ?
- Only Flipkart has listed clearly the B1 version.
- prime & other sites do not specifically list B1

Is there also any 3rd party W-Fi software that I can use (freewares) to work with my Gigabyte wi-fi PCIe card ?
- to resolve the irritating "password entry each time" issues
 
terence_fdes said:
Is there also any 3rd party W-Fi software that I can use (freewares) to work with my Gigabyte wi-fi PCIe card ?
- to resolve the irritating "password entry each time" issues
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You asked what you could do with that card. I figured....

pacenet--->N13 )))) WB300D + iball + 2 cellphones

This isn't really necessary because you can also do this...

pacenet----->N13----ethernet--PC

N13 ))) iball + 2 cellphones

wb300d beceoms redundnat in this case and can be removed from the case unless you still need bluetooth.

Googled the manual for the wb300d. If its setup in ('wifi only' mode on page 3) your password issue goes away as the N13 will be sending the password and that recently demoted wb300d will act as a mere wifi adapter connecting the PC to the router. A mere shadow of its past glory.

Same applies if you remove the card from the case too.

Either way your password issue is pretty much history once you get the N13.

Actually, where is it you entering the pacenet password, AFAICT this card or its accompanying software has nothing to do with your internet connection. All this card does is function as an access point ie sharing your pacenet connection with your wifi clients. Unless they've got some extra 'user-friendly' software to manage it all :D
 
Ahoy there .... I am reviving this thread and need your expertise again @blr_p ; @vivek.krishnan

FYI : I am back in India/Mumbai after 6 months and will be around for a few weeks.

I need a wifi router urgently. Nothing has changed from my requirements as posted in this thread.

Need your suggestions as what is the best option today (the N13 was suggested 6 months ago), are there other/better options within a budget of upto 4K.

I will order online in the next 24 hours or so..... anywhere your suggest FK, prime etc

Thanks folks

Terry

edit: is this good Asus RT-N12[DOUBLEPOST=1393836716][/DOUBLEPOST]AHOY.... anybody out here. I need guidance on whats the best wifi solution within a budget of 4K.

I have been out of the country and away from all recent trends.... so what is the best model at this point of time (check my initial post..... only budget has changed; rest all conditions are same)

Tx

Terry
 
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Hi @terence_fdes If you are still going to use this router with Pacenet
you can basically use any decent router which lets you clone the mac id.

Pacenet binds the MAC id when you login. unless you logout that MAC is not released.
So I cloned my MAC id to the router and used PPPoe in the WAN Connection setup.
There provide your user name. You will have to ask your local PaceNet guy for the "ServiceName" field.
For pune its Pacenet1 and GTPL. Any of the two works.
sShowImage.jpg
This is the ASUS router I am using. Ignore the other markings.
Also do not enable the PPPOE Relay. Keep it disabled.
Keep all settings as above and add the Service Name. You should be good to go.
Provide the MAC if of your PC or phone there and every time it logs on Pacenet will think you have logged on using the same device but in reality you just need to switch on the router to log on :)
I recently switched from PaceNet to reliance and reset my router but this is pretty much what I did.
Hope this helps.
 
blr_p said:
hey terry, was too busy with stuff. Either the n12 or n13 would work. I see you went with the n14 now.
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I hope the N14 is a good choice ..... I was running out of time. The N13U-B1 is very hard to find today (no stocks anywhere).

onlyravi said:
Hi @terence_fdes If you are still going to use this router with Pacenet
you can basically use any decent router which lets you clone the mac id.

Pacenet binds the MAC id when you login. unless you logout that MAC is not released.
So I cloned my MAC id to the router and used PPPoe in the WAN Connection setup.
There provide your user name. You will have to ask your local PaceNet guy for the "ServiceName" field.
For pune its Pacenet1 and GTPL. Any of the two works.
View attachment 38555
This is the ASUS router I am using. Ignore the other markings.
Also do not enable the PPPOE Relay. Keep it disabled.
Keep all settings as above and add the Service Name. You should be good to go.
Provide the MAC if of your PC or phone there and every time it logs on Pacenet will think you have logged on using the same device but in reality you just need to switch on the router to log on :)
I recently switched from PaceNet to reliance and reset my router but this is pretty much what I did.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks a tonne bro... I will need your help for sure. BTW are you referring to the config for Asus-N14U (or this is common for any router with Pacenet) ?
 
Most welcome. These settings are pretty standard for most new routers. The UI may change.
The attached screenshot will be common for many ASUS routers. Key thing is to look for these settings under WAN connection.

P.S: Earlier after configuring the router for some weird reason I had to put the pacenet DNS entries in each of my device. But I guess that was a local issue of the Pune office as later that was never required.
 
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