loss of speed using wireless
 

Hi all,
I noticed that speed tests showed upto 20mb download speeds when my PC is directly connected to the modem...

When using wireless I tend to only get about 8mb...

I have a Linksys WRT54G with DD-WRT firmware. Is that now quite out of date technology on the speed stakes? I wondered if it's worth getting the newest style of Linksys router (the one with all the wacky antennas on the antennas on the top)

Is it normal to lose that amount of speed through a router and wireless connection compared to a direct wired connection?

If there's things I can do to improve the router's performance any tips or advice would be much appreciated. On my laptop the signal is generally 'excellent' and ranges between 24-54mbps. I did think about trying different channels again...
I also increased the router's output power to 250mw but no real difference...

Any help or thoughts much appreciated...

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

Maybe the router can only put through a maximum of 8mb.

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

The legal EIRP limit is 100mW!

In fact you'd probably get a better reception by lowering the power and moving to a channel that is not used as much. Increasing the power just increases your coverage area for interference and will most likely reduce your overall throughput.

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

Whoops! I had no idea!

Cheers for the tips, is there any way of really testing to see what wireless channel is the best? I think the nearest wireless router to my house is on the same channel (6)...
The router offers 1-14 but I think most of my wireless devices only work up to 12...

Can you get any kind of accurate test program to work out the best channel with the least interference?

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

normally they say 1, 6 or 11 are the best channels to use

i have found that the higher the connection to the router the better the speed download, my WRT54GS gives about 12.5meg avg with spikes of over 14meg when connected to the router at either 48 or 54, but as soon as it goes to 38 or 24 it drops to below 10meg, also what speed is the router transmitting at?

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

Because the frequencies do not overlap 1,6,11/12 are the best to use.


As for searching for the least occupied (therefore best) channel, try NetStumbler: http://www.netstumbler.com/ Free last time i checked! :D

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

Not sure, how can I tell, I think it's Auto, I set it to 54mbps but it didn't seem to make any difference.
All my network devices are 54MBps, is it worth setting it to that rather than Auto?

---------- Post added at 19:38 ---------- Previous post was at 19:36 ----------

I tried the different channels this evening. Channels 1 and 6 work fine (probably 2,3,4 etc inbetween too) but when I set the router to 11 or 12 I could no longer wirelessly connect to it...
I had to use a cable. I did set the adapter to find it on those channels, not sure why it played up on channels 11 and 12...

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

try different channels,

Wi-Fi uses the same frequencies a cordless phone, and I beleive some microwaves can affect it.

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

im going to get rid of my wrt54gs as it cant cope with 20meg and is under 100% load when downloading at 11-12meg

the dd-wrt firmware should say when you log intothe router on the firsat page of ths tats

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

Cheers for the tips everyone...
I've been experimenting with different channels using Net Stumbler.
I find that I can set my DD-WRT WRT54G router to channels 1-9 ok but 10 or above and the wireless signal seems to go completely, I have to connect with a CAT5 cable to change the channel back for some reason...
Anyway, I have two other routers in my local area, one's on channel 1, the other on 6 (the same as mine).
Channel 3 seemed to have the highest value SNR...about 50-60.
In Net Stumbler it shows noise as -100 and signal as -44. Does that sound good?
I've been looking everywhere on the net for a simplified summary of what the numbers should be for the best result, which should be high and which should be low...

Can someone advise? I believed that SNR should be as high as possible, is that right? How about Noise and signal on their own?

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

Noise should be low, signal should be high, signal to noise should be high ;) Signal to noise is the important one.

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

Newer models of cordless phones, Bluetooth, wireless networking, video senders and microwave ovens all radiate in the vicinity of 2.4Ghz. So any of these can affect any other device in this list.

BTW depening how old you cordless phone is, it could work on either 49Mhz, 800Mhz, or 2.4Ghz.

Re: loss of speed using wireless
 

"I have a Linksys WRT54G with DD-WRT firmware. Is that now quite out of date technology on the speed stakes? I wondered if it's worth getting the newest style of Linksys router (the one with all the wacky antennas on the antennas on the top)"

your talking about the so called MiMo devices that take the incoming signal from all of them and then cleans up the interference by canceling out abnormal bits (very complicated ,but it works and gets you more distance etc).

the only way to increase your general data throughput is to make sure the CPU inside the router is powerful enough to begin with.

many old 11g devices do have 10/100 WAN/LAN ports, but many only have the slower CPUs inside to keep the BOM (Build Of Materials)costs down.

temp turn off all your security and firewall router options and you may see a slight improvement in throughput as the CPU is then not having to deal with that extra processing load.

but if your going to buy new today , just look to the gigabit/s routers as found on many wired and wireless 11N router devices today, they are designed to push FAR MORE DATA throughput and so have better CPUs inside them.

MiMO is good to have too to lower SNR and higher signal etc, its almost totally seperate to the real data throughput you see though, as thats a CPU/SOC (System On a Chip) thing remember....

---------- Post added at 14:47 ---------- Previous post was at 14:39 ----------

BTW , has anyone seen any new wired and wireless 1gig router devices with a PPC (powerPC) chip/SOC at its core ,with a good end user price point?...

commercial grade (ISP etc)routers have used PPC CPUs for a very long time now as you get the best throughput with that CPU and Altivec optimisations, but i cant seem to find any consumer grade 1gig devices today.

any URL/price pointers to these welcome.