Computers & Networking

[groberts39]

 I have a Linksys WRT54g router.  When we use a PC laptop wireless, the response time for download is noticeably less thatn when we connect it to the router.   The input from Cox is 27 mbps and the PC tells us it is receiving 100 mbps wired, 54 mbps wireless, both faster than the input, so there shouldn't be an issue, but downloading from youtube as a test shows the wireless download buffering, whereas the wired download is perfect.   The laptop is placed in the same place in both cases, less than 10 feet from the router.   I had a chat session with Linksys, who suggested there was interference, and we should change the wireless channel.   We did, to both channels 1 and 11 (it had been the default 6).  That made no difference. 

We do have a 2.4 ghz remote phone in the room, but that shouldn't be a factor if it isn't being used.   We also have an iMac wired, but even turning it off doesn't  impact the test.   There is a large window in the room.  Cox proides statistics on use and that would indicate that no one else is using the wireless (it is secured).  And this is not a new problem, it has always been there through two physical routers - it has just been made more critical since we have bought an internet ready TV and would like to take advantage of it, but the wireless response is terrible.

So is there something else I am missing here?   Would getting a newer N router fix the problem?   Presumably there is some interference around that covers the whole 2.4 GHZ band.

Help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[acky]

i have used a wrt54g with no problems. it is faster than my new e4200n, i have mediacom cable internet, standard cable service download speeds are up to 10 mbps, vip service is up to 15mbps, and max service is 20mbps. nobody that i know of is putting out any faster services unless you have a business service or pay a lot for the service, what your pc is telling you is your net card speeds.(what the card can go up to) if the input really is at 27 mbps that is very sweet, if your router is "G" and you have any thing that is hooked up with "a" or "b" cards they will slow your router down , to try a few things make sure nothing is hook up less than a "g" anything like the phone useing 2.4 ghz is unpluged, your microwave is not running (that will interfear with 2.4 ghz real bad) and last but not least do a hard boot on you modem, router, and main pc. hard boot is unplug power for 20sec. if that does not work go into your router and check the settings, to get into a linksys is start a web page type in 192.168.1.1 if you have not changed the password default is admin also to test you speed go do a search for internet speed test look for speakeasy run your test. i hope this helps you.

[NoNoBadDog]

You are confusing so many things.  You have an 802.11g router, which is *theoretically* capable of 54 Mbps, but in real life 25 to 30 Mbps is average for wireless.  The 100Mbps is the speed of the wired LAN connection.  It will always telll you that it is 100Mbps, regardless of what the true transfer speed is across the wired portion of your network.

Your Cox connection is advertised at 27Mbps, but that is if you are within 1500ft of the local switching station.  You will norlammy never get that speed.  In addiition, the more people that are sharing your local swiching substaion, the less your bandwidth will be, as all users must share the same "big pipe".  This means that your download speed will fluctutate during a normal day depending on the number of other users sharing your "node".

You can conduct a test:  with a computer connected to the router with a cat5 cable, go to www.speedtest.net and run a test.  Actually, run the test 3 times to get an average. Next, repeat the smae test with the computer connected wirelessly to the same router.  Do it three times as above.

You will alwasy get less speed over a wireless network.  This is because there is "overhead" in the signal, making less of the available bandwidth available for wireless data.

Since you have tried different routers, and different channels, then you are perhaps getting the best signal for your given conditons. 

Once again, to be clear, you will never get either 27Mbps, 54Mbps, or 100Mbs.  Those are theoretical limits, not real world limits. 

[groberts39]

Thanks for the responses.   This problem has existed for years.  Maybe I am expecting too much of wireless, but my basic premise is that if I can download seamlessly from youtube when wired, why can't I do it when wireless.    As it stands, it is useless for TV downloads - we will have to wire it, with some difficulty.  And we rarely use it for the laptop.

The laptop we use for testing will be available later in the day.  However, I did the suggested testing on the iMac wired and got results of 28 +/-1 ms ping, 28.41 +/- 1 mbps download and 12.09 +/- .5 mbps upload.   I am paying for premier service from Cox and I think they advertise 27 mbps average and it is 11:30 AM on a school day.  The iMac hasn't been set up for wireless and my first attempt failed, so I am going to have to research it.  I used to work remotely as a DBA and got to expect the faster response time. :-)

Is the laptop (Microsoft) accurate when it says it is receiving 100 or 54 mbps?  Because that is usually what it has said, although I have seen times when a laptop has said something smaller, in conditions where there could be additional interference (home remodelling project in progress).

I will post again with results from the laptop.  But it is discouraging to hear that this is the best we can get.

[acky]

good day to you. your testing looks very good.(you have a very good service)  the ping test is "very good" also if you had no packet loss that would mean that all the wiring to your server is good and has no problem. i have to agree with you at this point it has to be the the wireless.

first thing i can think of is how strong is your signal? (how many bars do you have) good may get you utube with little or no buffering, strong or better is needed for hdtv, and 3D pretty much has to peg the signal ranges. start with the signal because if it is not where it should be the speed test and dowloads will always have buffering and the speed test should be intermitent and slow on the wireless device. also that should help you identify anything that is interfearing with the wireless.

if your bars are strong. then you need to look at what is reciving the signal. if you have had this problem for years and its the same laptop or device that you are hooking up that would tell me that its wireless cards are outdated. remember if your router is a "G" and what your hooking up is a wirless "A or B" device it will slow your wireless back down to the "A or B" speeds even if the signal is strong

try to hook up one device with a wireless "G or N" card to the "G" router and test with only that wireless device hooked up (wired devices can still be hooked up) and at this point if all else fails take your wireless device out to a good public wifi hookup and do a speed and signal test there. after that maybe barrow a router from somebody you know. remember go one step at a time you should find the problem.  DO NOT GIVE UP. 

you have a great service not to use wireless for the future.  i have 5 wireless computers and 1 x-box,2 wiis,2 dvds, a cell phone and i also have a guest account up to ten devices when my kids come home with there cell phones and computers, also a 1tb hard drive connected straight into my routers usb port that way all the music and movies can be shared straight from the router.  you may need to do some updateing but if i was you i would find my problem first before spending money and getting upset with a problem that may still be there.

maybe this will also help you. on my brand new routers box it says broad compatibility, works seamlessly with all a/b/g/n wi-fi devices.

the problem there is if i hook up a "a/b/g" device it will limit my routers speed to that older device. so i had to upgrage all my older stuff to "N" cards to match my routers highest speed range.

[groberts39]

So, it is the evening, and I don't nkow if that is a problem, because for the most part, ,my wired numbers are similar to what I got earlier.  In fact, the ones from the laptop are a little better.

My wireless numbers are so bad, I sometimes couldn't evem get the speedtest.net to load, and if I did, they then reported a network problem.   When I did get some connectivity on the laptop, the ping number was better, at 19.5 over 4 attempts rnaging from 14 to 32 ms, the download was 0.25 mbps - down by two orders of magnitude, and the upload was 1.125 mbps.  I got the iMac up and running on wireless with no better response.  Both machines are within 10 feet of the router, so signal strength is great.   The iMac is about a year old, the laptop is an older Dell that works quite well wirelessly in the charter shcool environment my husband daily uses it.

So I would appear to have some serious interference here.   The router may add additional overhead, but not that much.  I noted about 6 other networks available on the laptop, most of which were locked, and about 3 other ones on the iMac, not necessarily the same.   I reconfigured the router to pick up G only - maybe the Mac is new enough to use N but I haven't figured out how to check that.   I assume the Dell uses G but I also haven't figured out how to check for sure - networking was never a strong point.

There is nothing else going on here - no other wireless devices in use, just FM radio, the two machines running wireless and another wired Mac.  Maybe I should be lodging a complaint with the FCC for extraneous interference?  I can try in the day with the Mac on wireless to see if tie of day is a factor.  Any other suggestions?

Thanks again for the interest and help.

[xl]

A little observation.... the last 48 hours is "patch Tuesday". Could something on your computer be running in the background? I noticed some slowdown on my computers, likely things downloading in the background.  This can throw your numbers off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_Tuesday

[acky]

use speakeasy.net for your test. thats what in cable techinan uses here.  i have had problems with speedtest.net it seams they get overloaded at times. have you checked for a firm ware update on the router? also have you went into the pc device manager and checked for any updates for the wireless net card? where you noted the other networks what did the computer show your singal strength ?? and what was the signal strength of the near by computers??? wow 6 other networks is a lot. how do you have that many routers within about 300 feet from you?  i would almost have to think your airways are a litlle jammed up there. i am not sure but i would think if the other near by router have a strong signal that might be a problem. you might have to start changeing the channel you are on.  you might want to look into how to set up a wireless router in apartment buliding environment. i just did a seach on that for you go here this may help you. 

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/21132/change-your-wi-fi-router-channel-to-optimize-your-wireless-sign...

[groberts39]

Thanks again.  I figured out my problem with getting  the iMac wireless going - misreading the password between ones and lower-case ells, but response was impossible.  It is not subject to the Tuesday patches.   I have changed the channel to both 1 and 11 without any significant change in response.   I did check the Linksys website and there is a firmware upgrade available, and that is something I can do, however I wouldn't expect it to have that much impact.  But I am convinced that interference has to be the issue.   So I went to Cox and google and I will pass on the basics of my search for those of you that have been following along.  I hadn't expected to find anything on Cox, but I did.

Sources of interference include wireless mouse and keyboard and the router should be placed at least 6 feet from a computer (Cox)  Uh oh, the router is placed behind the 27" Mac within two feet of the wireless mouse and keyboard.  (Other sources can be a remote phone, microwave, bluetooth, other networks,  and other devices that use the 2.4 G band, sometimes monitors).  I also learned that remote phones tend to use channel 6 and microwaves channel 11.   Ham radio buffs hate Linksys products saying they aren't properly shielded although Linksys says they meet FCC regs.

Placement of the router can have an impact on performance and replacing the antennae if possible can provide a stronger more directed signal, if you place the router against an outside wall or corner of the house.  Also there is a standard list of materials that impact propagation.

Here is a useful site: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/wirelesstips.aspx.   Cisco also has a list of 20 myths that was interesting.

So this weekend, we will be moving things around and downloading and implementing firmware.  Hopefully that will have an impact.   BTW, I realized that the PC maintains a list of networks it has seen / used (including the one at school that works well) and I never checked to see how many were active.  The Mac only saw 2 others this morning.

[acky · Accepted solution]

Well it sounds like you might be on your way to getting it fixed. Good luck I hope that I have helped you at least a little bit. I know when I talk to someone about a problem that I have had it is very hard for them to help me because they really never know what I have or have not done already. But the good thing is they always get me thinking of something I have forgotten. As I am getting old these days. LOL. Send a post when you find the problem, or if you need to put two minds together again.  .