Optimizing streaming and transfer from router to BB10 device?

I have a Z10 and a high-end router with the following specs:

Performance: AC1750 WiFi (450 + 1300 Mbps)
Band: 2.4GHz & 5GHz
RAM: 256 MB

The desktop is connected to the router via a cable. It is Windows Vista, but a high-end machine at the time of purchase (5.9 Windows Experience Index in each category and overall).

On the 5Ghz band (supposed to be the faster one), streaming 1080p or 720p from the desktop to the phone buffers a lot.

Given the above data:

What's a standard xfer speed that I should be able to expect on a BB10 phone?
What are things I can do to optimize the speed?
Are there diagnostics I should run on the router or Z10?
Would a Z30, Leap, or Passport have better streaming performance than a Z10?
Etc.

Any related comments and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

....@BBHermes... thanks for raising this question. Even i face the same problem with my desktop which has got a wired connection with (cat 5) with the switch/hub and my Z10 is connected via a wifi router in the same intranet. Sometimes connectivity is so bad that i loose patience working with BlackBerry Blend. This problem was solved for sometime when i changed my desktop's power supply (SMPS) with a new one... but again after working for 2 -3 months, it is still the same. It was also resolved for sometime when i had successfully done the factory reset. I'm not very sure about my switch / router specifications, but i face the same problem still now....

Posted via CB10

First of all, you've got what looks like a good access point, but unfortunately the phone itself isn't a match for it completely.

Your AP is a WiFi AC (aka 802.11ac), and is 3x3 MIMO, which means there are 3 separate antennas and 3 channels for each radio (the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz). The 2.4GHz channels are "up to" 150 Mb/s each (150 Mb/s x 3 channels = 450 Mb/s), and the 5GHz channels are "up to" 433 Mb/s (433 Mb/s x 3 channels = 1300 Mb/s). If you add up all channels on all radios, you get a max theoretical throughput of 1750 Mb/s. This is the top of the heap for WiFi today.

The Z10, however, is a WiFi N device, and only 1x1 (one antenna, one channel, for each radio), and as a WiFi N device, it can only use 2.4GHz or 5GHz, but not both at the same time. This means the max theoretical throughput using 2.4GHz is 150 Mb/s, and using 5GHz it's 433 Mb/s. Obviously, this means 5GHz is the obvious choice, at almost triple the theoretical speed... but 5GHz frequencies are much more directional and penetrate much less well than 2.4GHz, so range is usually much lower. Depending on your AP's location in your house, the construction of your house, and the size of your house, and the distance between your AP and your phone, this could easily result in lower performance. And remember that, at best, you're only going to get up to about 80% of "theoretical" speeds in the real world.

On the other hand, streaming a movie should be doable on a single-channel 2.4GHz WiFi connection IF you don't have a lot of other devices eating up WiFi bandwidth. A full-quality DVD, or a typical 2-hour Blu-Ray rip that's been compressed down to around 2 GB in size, only needs about 10Mb/s to stream. A full-quality Blu-Ray rip (no compression - an exact copy) is usually around 50-60 Mb/s but can peak close to 100 Mb/s, so that can start to be a problem.

Even the best Vista-era computers have lousy internal bandwidth (slow hard drives with SATA-II interfaces at best, and not very fast RAM by modern standards) and usually don't have much RAM - often 4GB or less. Depending on what that machine is running, the PC could be a bottleneck. It could also be your other networking hardware - cheap gigabit switches and routers often have low max throughput, and a surprising number of people still have 100 Mb switches or routers in their network chain slowing everything down.

I'd give all of your network hardware a look, and Google the model numbers and check out their specs - make sure you don't have any 100 Mb/s hardware anywhere, including the LAN port on the PC (believe it or not, many Vista PCs only had 100MB/s ethernet ports built-in). If that's all good, see what you can do to optimize the PC (defragging, install at least 8GB of RAM, uninstall anything not needed and remove anything unnecessary from Startup). Also, do some throughput tests on both WiFi frequencies on your phone with SpeedTest.net or something similar.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by Troy Tiscareno

First of all, you've got what looks like a good access point, but unfortunately the phone itself isn't a match for it completely.
<snip>

Thank you very much, Troy, for the detailed analysis. This gives me an excellent springboard from which to analyze the situation. Based on what you have said, it appears that the PC is probably the weak link. Question:

Under

System Information > Components > Network > Adapter

I've got 43 (!) network adaptors listed. I presume that most of these are virtual adaptors, not hardware. Without opening the machine, how do I find the one controlling the ethernet?

Thanks again for the advice!

PS: PC RAM is 8GB

Check under device manager - network adapters

Posted by PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2876

All of those entries are a combo of virtual adapters and any time you've installed a network adapter (USB WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.) - or if you've uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers for any of them. They can add up! But you should see your PC's IP address assigned to one of them - that's the one you want to look at.

Originally Posted by Troy Tiscareno

All of those entries are a combo of virtual adapters and any time you've installed a network adapter (USB WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.) - or if you've uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers for any of them. They can add up! But you should see your PC's IP address assigned to one of them - that's the one you want to look at.

I found two:

Intel(R) 82567V-2 Gigabit Network Connection
Adapter Type Ethernet 802.3
Product Type Intel(R) 82567V-2 Gigabit Network Connection

Atheros 802.11 a/b/g/n Dualband Wireless Network Module
Adapter Type Ethernet 802.3
Product Type Atheros 802.11 a/b/g/n Dualband Wireless Network Module

My guess is that it's the Intel one that the cable is plugged into. From here, how do I find the relevant specs? For example:

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc...work-brief.pdf

does not mention anything about speeds that I could find.

The Intel entry is the wired connection, the Atheros is a WiFi adapter. The Intel is Gigabit (1000 Mb/s theoretical, 800 Mb/s typical real-world max). So, that's not the bottleneck, unless there's a driver problem/bug or something.

What about the switches/router and so forth in between the computer and the AP?

Originally Posted by Troy Tiscareno

The Intel entry is the wired connection, the Atheros is a WiFi adapter. The Intel is Gigabit (1000 Mb/s theoretical, 800 Mb/s typical real-world max). So, that's not the bottleneck, unless there's a driver problem/bug or something.

What about the switches/router and so forth in between the computer and the AP?

Thank you kindly, Troy, for your continued help with this. The computer is wired via ethernet to the router, and the router is the access point. Maybe there's a driver bug... Or a RAM memory issue (the machine has 8mg)... Thanks again for helping me to track the bottleneck!

No problem. Good luck!