When people buy new streaming products like NAD’s M33, C658, C700 or a Bluesound Node,
we often get calls related to the streaming feature. The problems are almost never with the new products. The problems relate to DETAILS pertaining to your Internet provider and to a greater extent, your home’s network system.
Streaming audio puts much more demand on your network than browsing web pages.
Streaming video demands much more than audio.
*What is your Internet speed?
You don’t need a lot to stream music. You do need a lot to stream video.
We hate to break it to you, but you’re very likely NOT getting the level of signal that you’re paying for.
We have seen signal coming to the house that is a fraction of what is spec’d. This pipe needs to provide full water pressure!
That speed needs to be at a minimum of 10Mbps. (That’s 10 mega bits per second)
You might be paying for 25Mbps, but actually GETTING 5!
Use “www.speedtest.net” to verify what you’re getting.
Spectrum and AT&T both advertise anywhere between 20 to 100 Mbps.
What you pay for is a speed “UP TO” that spec, meaning that it can and will fluctuate at various times of the day.
It is not a constant. As more customers log on in your “AREA” the more traffic is consumed which equates to less speed.
With the above, we are assuming that it is a wired connection. When you go wireless the signal speed drops more and CAN get “wonky”. Because there is much more ERROR correction being introduced.
Your Wi-Fi is going thru walls, HVAC, appliances etc. and can be severely impacted by those inhibitors.
Be in the know:
A 5G signal has more bandwidth than a 2G signal.
However, the 5G signal cannot go thru walls as easily as the 2G signal.
Right now streaming manufacturers are recommending using the 2G system.
*What is your router?
It needs to be something current and fast- made within the last five years. Routers matter!
The ISP (Internet Service Provider) is continually updating & upgrading its systems and many times that requires newer hardware. Providers do updates that require routers to implement those changes. Old routers… can’t.
For example:
> Time Warner started out with just providing Modems. If you wanted more than one computer you bought a router. If you wanted Wi-Fi you needed to purchase a Wi-Fi router.
> Then they started providing a box that was a modem/router/Wi-Fi all in one.
> When Charter bought out TW they decided to go back to separating the modem and Wi-Fi router.
> AT&T does their technology, mostly all in one box.
*Connectors
Yep, are your heads attached properly? We’ve seen systems where affixing new heads to old wire made a world of improvement. This includes Ethernet and coax connections.
*Cable
Do you have RG59? Cat 6? Yep, it matters.
Be in the know:
Current BEST practices are
> RG6 quad shielding for coax cable
> Category 6a for Ethernet cable
Time and time again, we find that customer streaming problems can be traced to network equipment that is not operating correctly, or to its fullest capacity.
There is still rumbling in the industry about the use of Fiber Optic to residential homes, but don’t hold your breath.
We have been seeing an increase in customers using mesh networks in their homes to improve the Wi-Fi signal. While this works fine for surfing the web, various systems will have an adverse impact on your audio and video streams.
Mesh Networks:
Definition – A mesh network is a local network topology in which the infrastructure nodes connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other nodes as possible and cooperate with one another to efficiently route data to/from clients.
While we do not recommend systems per se, we’ve gotten feedback from customers that they’ve had success with:
*Eero System
*Linksys Velop System
When streaming either audio or video it is always best to connect via hard wire.
Nomenclature:
Ethernet cable: Usually is Cat 5 or 6, other classes used in business’s and IT gateways.
Used in connecting various computer devices to the network.
Modem: Acronym for Modulator/Demodulator. This is the device that “talks” to the outside world wide web. (WWW)
Router: This is the box that routes all the local traffic (read, all computer devices) to the modem
WAP: Wireless access point
Wi-Fi Router: A box that has a router and WAP all together
LAN: Acronym for local area network. This is the system in your home or business
WAN: Acronym for wide area network. This is basically the whole WWW