Speed via router and using Slingbox

gmc · 10-03-2007, 23:58

I have a couple of issues and I am not sure where the problem is. I am sorry if this is a bit waffley!

I access the Internet via a cable modem from Bromley (ex Nynex, C&W, NTL). A D-Link DI-624 wireless broadband router is used.

My media center PC is plugged directly into the router via ethernet cable.

My connection speed from Virgin is 10 Mb.

I have not been happy with the connection speed for some time and whenever I run a speed test from the PC the results vary and the maximum speed had been about 4 Mb but it could be as low as 512k.

One of the things I am trying to access over the Internet is my Slingbox located in New York. The streaming speed seemed to max out at about 400k if lucky although the potential speed from the NY end should be at least 1 Mb.

This evening, I ran a speed test and the reported speed was less than 512k.

I therefore unplugged the ethernet from the router and plugged it directly in the cable modem. I had to reboot the cable modem.

The test now rocketed to about 10 Mb and my throughput on the Slingbox peaked at nearly 900k.

I swapped everything back via the router again and the test this time showed about 4 Mb.

All this would seem to imply that the problem is accessing the Internet via my router.

Has anyone got any view of whether this is likely to be the case and if so, if there is a better wireless router I could get, especially as I want the best streaming throughput I can.

Thanks

lordy · 11-03-2007, 02:35

Not sure but your router might have sub-optimal MTU / RWIN settings??

gmc · 11-03-2007, 10:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordy

Not sure but your router might have sub-optimal MTU / RWIN settings??

You are so right with this one.

In fact, I ran the tweak tests at http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks

Following the instructions for checking and changing the RWIN settings, I amended the value as recommended.

The resulting change was amazing. In fact when connected to the Slingbox, instead of slowly running to a max of about 500k; it quickly shot up to and exceeded 1 MB. In fact at one point it nearly reached 1 1/2 mb.

I also updated the firmware to the latest version too.

Moral of this:

1 Keep firmware uptodate
2 Check your TCP/IP settings

Glenn