100M What's going on with my speed???(wireless)

r94yan · 13-08-2013, 22:15

Ok, so I have already complained that my speeds are not that fast to Virgin, they attempted to help me and the time managed to get my speeds to 27MB highest. Even though my PC is capable of higher speeds.

Though recently my speeds are barely clearing 10MB, nothing has changed regarding positioning of the PC, just the speeds have dropped. When i first got broadband a few years ago it was amazingly fast, its now deteriorating.

Also I am on 100MB, due to be upgraded to 120MB in December.

MUD_Wizard · 14-08-2013, 00:31

Test your speed wired using an ethernet cable to your hub first, using a reliable speed test site like: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html

Post a link to the graph results.

As you give so little information it's difficult to know whether it's your wired speeds that are slow or your wireless only.

Even if your wired speed was constant 120mb, your wireless speed will vary depending on range between your computer and the wireless router and the amount of interference from your neighbours routers on the same or nearby channel. It could be from 0.1 to 100mb/s depending on the range and level of interference.

Use http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/ to find out what is the best channel for you. Good ones to start with are 1, 6 or 11 as they do not overlap with other channels. Use the Link Score to determine which is best. The higher the link score the better.

Also, check the link speed of your wireless adapter:
http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/de...and-throughput

If the maximum speed of your wireless adapter is 54mbps, then the highest throughput you'll ever get will be about 20-30mb/s. Severely limiting your wifi speed, even if you get full speed when wired.

For best results buy a dual-band 802.11n wifi adapter that does 5ghz and 300mbps or more.

The 5ghz band generally has less interference than on the 2.4ghz band.

Kabaal · 14-08-2013, 09:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by MUD_Wizard

The 5ghz band generally has less interference than on the 2.4ghz band.

That's what pretty much saved wireless in our house with the SH2. 1,6 and 11 have good few on each channel around our house with neighbours and not a single one of them using 5Ghz so we have it all to ourselves, it's heaven

Some static things we have like the WDTV only use 2.4ghz but homeplugs sorted them out nicely.

OT - first time i used Inssider i was shocked how many people just leave their WIFI open and unencrypted. If we ever have a broadband outage there's plenty of free bandwidth floating around to use while it gets fixed lol.

r94yan · 14-08-2013, 15:42

Ok testing the wireless while sitting right next to it the speed is:
21.56 MB(Download)
11.47 MB(Upload)

Plugged into the ethernet it is:
90.07 MB(Download)
11.53 MB(Upload)

Kushan · 14-08-2013, 15:52

That looks like you're on Wireless-G. What are you using to perform the wireless test? As in laptop? Wireless dongle, etc?

MUD_Wizard · 14-08-2013, 16:01

Right, so the most likely explanation for your wireless speed is that you only have a wireless G (802.11g) adapter.

What is the make and model of your wireless card/adapter?

As for your wired speed being 90mb instead of 100mb, what is the make and model of your network card?

If you have a 10/100 network card it will be limited to 100mbit communication speed, which means the speed you actually get will be less, more likely around ~95mbit.

You will need a gigabit network card (10/100/1000) to get speeds over 100mbit.

If you use a cat 5 ethernet cable, then it will limit your wired speed to around ~95mbit. For speeds over 100mbit you need cat5e or cat6 ethernet cable as well as a gigabit network card.

Then there's power levels, noise and errors which can lose a few more mbit.

Or maybe the cable is over-utilised by other users at the time when you tested. Cable is a shared connection afterall. Try testing after midnight when utilisation is less.

Always use the same speed test site. London Namesco is usually reliable.

Make sure you run a speed test several times as you may get lower results on the first one.

r94yan · 14-08-2013, 16:09

Ok, the whole wired not being higher than 100MB makes sense, and tbh I am fine with the wired speeds.

My wireless card is: Ralink RT3090 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter

qasdfdsaq · 14-08-2013, 16:23

11.5Mb upload looks like he's already on 120Mb, which makes even the 90Mb ethernet result pretty low when the connection speed is actually 133Mb.

---------- Post added at 17:23 ---------- Previous post was at 17:22 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by MUD_Wizard

Then there's power levels, noise and errors which can lose a few more mbit.

Ehmm, not in the world of twisted pair ethernet. Your connection either drops to a lower sync (e.g. 10Mbps) or breaks completely. You don't get slight slowdowns.

MUD_Wizard · 14-08-2013, 16:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

11.5Mb upload looks like he's already on 120Mb, which makes even the 90Mb ethernet result pretty low when the connection speed is actually 133Mb.

---------- Post added at 17:23 ---------- Previous post was at 17:22 ----------

Ehmm, not in the world of twisted pair ethernet. Your connection either drops to a lower sync (e.g. 10Mbps) or breaks completely. You don't get slight slowdowns.

I was talking about Docsis, not ethernet obviously.

I agree, that it looks like he's already on 120mbit by his upload speed, which is why I mentioned utilisation and the other things.

qasdfdsaq · 14-08-2013, 16:35

But even on DOCSIS your 100Mb service is actually 111Mb, and so "losing a few Mbit" would drop you to around 105Mb not 90... Then again, congestion and utilisation is quite possible, considering OFCOM's last average for VM 100Mb was 76-85Mbps at peak time :-/

MUD_Wizard · 14-08-2013, 16:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by r94yan

Ok, the whole wired not being higher than 100MB makes sense, and tbh I am fine with the wired speeds.

My wireless card is: Ralink RT3090 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter

Although it's wireless N, it's only a single stream device which means it's only capable of a maximum communication speed of 75mbps:
http://wikidevi.com/wiki/Ralink

Actual throughput would be a lot less than the communication speed due to overheads, even less with interference.

Buy a better wireless adapter and you'll get closer to your full wired speed.

---------- Post added at 17:49 ---------- Previous post was at 17:46 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

But even on DOCSIS your 100Mb service is actually 111Mb, and so "losing a few Mbit" would drop you to around 105Mb not 90... Then again, congestion and utilisation is quite possible, considering OFCOM's last average for VM 100Mb was 76-85Mbps at peak time :-/

No, you're only counting standard communication overheads that reduce you to 105mb given a perfect connection. I'm talking additional problems.

We only have one wired speed test to go by so far. Not a good statistical indication. Perhaps if he ran it several times he would get a result closer to 100, but then again perhaps he has a cat5 cable and low SNR levels. Lots of unknowns here.

Kushan · 14-08-2013, 16:57

If he's getting 90mbit wired, he's only connected at 100.0Mbit, not 1.0Gbit, I am near certain of it.

Anyway...

This still reeks of being on wireless-G, even if the adapter is capable of Wireless-N. Could be a setting on the hub. Actually r94yan, do you have a superhub? How about a router? What is your setup at your end? And assuming a superhub, have you changed the wireless settings at all? (wireless name, password, etc.)

MUD_Wizard · 14-08-2013, 17:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushan

This still reeks of being on wireless-G, even if the adapter is capable of Wireless-N. Could be a setting on the hub. Actually r94yan, do you have a superhub? How about a router? What is your setup at your end? And assuming a superhub, have you changed the wireless settings at all? (wireless name, password, etc.)

The router could be one of VM's separate wireless G routers for "improved wireless"! LOL.

Or he has the Superhub wireless mode set to 54mbps.

Kushan · 14-08-2013, 17:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by MUD_Wizard

The router could be one of VM's separate wireless G routers for "improved wireless"! LOL.

Or he has the Superhub wireless mode set to 54mbps.

Exactly my thoughts.

MUD_Wizard · 14-08-2013, 17:41

It's also possible that you are getting 95-96mb, but 90 is your average speed.

To see how average and burst rates differ, see this example speed graph:

The top figures are averages over the whole time and the burst rates are the highest speeds you attained at any point. If your speeds vary at all then your averages will be lower than your maximum.

The same thing can happen over wired or wireless if your speeds vary.

So you can get more accurate and useful results by using this site: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html