NETGEAR RangeMax™ Dual Band Wireless-N Router WNDR3300 Reference Manual

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•

Advertisement Period

.

The advertisement period is how often the router broadcasts its

UPnP information. This value can range from 1 to 1440 minutes. The default period is 30

minutes. Shorter durations ensure that control points have current device status at the

expense of additional network traffic. Longer durations might compromise the freshness

of the device status but can significantly reduce network traffic.

•

Advertisement Time To Live

.

The time to live for the advertisement is measured in hops

(steps) for each UPnP packet sent. The time to live hop count is the number of steps a

broadcast packet is allowed to propagate for each UPnP advertisement before it

disappears. The number of hops can range from 1 to 255. The default value for the

advertisement time to live is 4 hops, which should be fine for most home networks. If you

notice that some devices are not being updated or reached correctly, then it might be

necessary to increase this value.

•

UPnP Portmap Table

.

The UPnP Portmap Table displays the IP address of each UPnP

device that is currently accessing the router and which ports (Internal and External) that

device has opened. The UPnP Portmap Table also displays what type of port is open and

whether that port is still active for each IP address.

3.

Click

Apply

to save your settings.

Optimizing Wireless Performance

The speed and operating distance or range of your wireless connection can vary significantly based

on the physical placement of the wireless router. You should choose a location for your router that

will maximize the network speed.

The following list describes how to optimize wireless router performance.

•

Identify critical wireless links.

If your network has several wireless devices, decide which wireless devices need the highest

data rate, and locate the router near them. Many wireless products have automatic data-rate

fallback, which allows increased distances without loss of connectivity. This also means that

devices that are farther away might be slower. Therefore, the most critical links in your

network are those where the traffic is high and the distances are great. Optimize those first.

Note:

Failure to follow these guidelines can result in significant performance degradation

or inability to wirelessly connect to the router. For complete range and

performance specifications, click the link to the online document

“Wireless

Networking Basics” in Appendix B

.

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•

Choose placement carefully.

For best results, place your router:

–

Near the center of the area in which your computers will operate.

–

In an elevated location such as a high shelf where the wirelessly connected computers

have line-of-sight access (even if through walls).

–

Avoid obstacles to wireless signals.

–

Keep wireless devices at least 2 feet from large metal fixtures such as file cabinets,

refrigerators, pipes, metal ceilings, reinforced concrete, and metal partitions.

–

Keep wireless devices away from large amounts of water such as fish tanks and water

coolers.

•

Reduce interference.

Avoid windows unless communicating between buildings.

Place wireless devices away from various electromagnetic noise sources, especially those in

the 2400–2500 MHz frequency band. Common noise-creating sources are:

–

Computers and fax machines (no closer than 1 foot)

–

Copying machines, elevators, and cell phones (no closer than 6 feet)

–

Microwave ovens (no closer than 10 feet)

•

Choose your settings.

–

Use a scanning utility to determine what other wireless networks are operating nearby, and

choose an unused channel.

–

Turn off SSID broadcast, and change the default SSID. Other nearby devices might

automatically try to connect to your network several times a second, which can cause

significant performance reduction.

•

Use WMM to improve the performance of voice and video traffic over the wireless link.

Configuring Quality of Service

Quality of Service (QoS) is an advanced feature that can be used to prioritize some types of traffic

ahead of others. The WNDR3300 router can provide QoS prioritization over the wireless link and

on the Internet connection. To configure QoS, use the QoS Setup screen.

NETGEAR RangeMax™ Dual Band Wireless-N Router WNDR3300 Reference Manual

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From the main menu of the browser interface, under Advanced, select

QoS Setup

. The QoS Setup

screen displays:

Using WMM QoS for Wireless Multimedia Applications

The WNDR3300 router supports Wi-Fi Multimedia Quality of Service (WMM QoS) to prioritize

wireless voice and video traffic over the wireless link. WMM QoS provides prioritization of

wireless data packets from different applications based on four access categories: voice, video,

best effort, and background. For an application to receive the benefits of WMM QoS, both it and

the client running that application must be WMM enabled. Legacy applications that do not support

WMM, and applications that do not require QoS, are assigned to the best effort category, which

receives a lower priority than voice and video.

Figure 5-6

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WMM QoS is enabled by default. You can disable it in the QoS Setup screen, shown in

Figure 5-6 on page 5-15

, by clearing the

Enable WMM

check box and clicking

Apply

.

Configuring QoS for Internet Access

You can give prioritized Internet access to the following types of traffic:

•

For specific applications

•

For specific online games

•

On individual Ethernet LAN ports of the router

•

From a specific device by MAC address

To specify prioritization of traffic, you must create a policy for the type of traffic and add the

policy to the QoS Policy table in the QoS Setup screen. For convenience, the QoS Policy table lists

many common applications and online games that can benefit from QoS handling.

QoS for Applications and Online Gaming

To create a QoS policy for applications and online games:

1.

From the main menu, under Advanced, select

QoS Setup

. The QoS Setup screen displays, as

shown in

Figure 5-6 on page 5-15

.

2.

Click

Add Priority Rule

. The QoS - Priority Rules screen displays.

3.

In the

Priority Category

list, select either

Applications

or

Online Gaming

. In either case, a

list of predefined applications or games displays in the

Applications

drop-down list.

4.

From the

Applications

list, you can select an existing item, or you can scroll to the bottom of

the list and select

Add a New Application

or

Add a New Game

.

Figure 5-7

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a.

If you select to add a new entry, the screen expands as shown:

b.

In the

QoS Policy for

field, enter a descriptive name for the new application or game.

c.

Select the packet type, either

TCP,

UDP,

or both (

TCP/UDP

), and specify the port

number or range of port numbers used by the application or game.

5.

From the

Priority

drop-down list, select the priority that this traffic should receive relative to

other applications and traffic when accessing the Internet. The options are Low, Normal, High,

and Highest.

6.

Click

Apply

to save this rule to the QoS Policy list and return to the QoS Setup screen.

7.

In the QoS Setup screen, select the

Turn Internet Access QoS On

check box.

8.

Click

Apply

.

QoS for a Router LAN Port

To create a QoS policy for a device connected to one of the router’s LAN ports:

1.

From the main menu, under Advanced, select

QoS Setup

. The QoS Setup screen displays, as

shown in

Figure 5-6 on page 5-15

.

2.

Click

Add Priority Rule

.

Figure 5-8