Is My Router Limiting My Speed?

[Crawlerz246]

I have a couple of things using wireless internet in my house (I live with my *censored* parents)...

My PC (using a ASUS wireless PCIe card), and two laptops using built-in somethings. My dad has his PC (my 6 year old DELL) hooked up to the actual broadband cable.

all the wireless things are getiing around and his is getting about 14/3 (which still not 15/5 that was promised but better then I'm getting).

our router is linksys WRT-54G something like this...

what am I missing? (in router preferences I checked use 54mbps vs AUTO but I got no change. what property is limiting my speed?

[cjloki]

that thing (the linksys) allows you to have "fast ethernet" speed to 10/100....but todays state of the art is "gigabit ethernet" 10/100/1000....yes you are missing alot of speed...if you have an internet backbone provider for you internet then your isp is more than likely sending gigabit speed signal to your house and provided you have gigabit ethernet ports on your computers then you are ready to receive gigabit speed....if those things are true then a gigabit router would definately improve your up and download capability...if instead you have the "fast ethernet" interfaces on your computers a faster router won't improve the speed...and i suppose it's possible that a secondary or tertiary level isp could deliver gigabit speed signal but not likely, but you're limited to the signal speeds your isp is sending....

 

i use charter cable where i live because it's a bit faster (dollar for dollar) than what i can get from att for the money...the downside of cable is that the more people get online the slower the bandwidth....there's a trade off ....

 

bottom line is you could benefit from a faster router but that depends on you isp and end nodes at home...

 

you can certainly upgrade you computers for gigabit ethernet by installing a new gigabit nic for wired units but you're stuck with the isp speed unless you decide to change your provider ...(i'm pretty sure comcast like charter is a secondary provider)

 

...so if you upgrade to a wireless n router and adapters on your systems you will see some wireless speed improvement but still limited by wireless transmission rates and isp speeds....

 

a good gigabit wireless n capable router will cost some bucks...at least $100 give or take a few, and if wireless n adapters are needed they run around $50...give or take....upgrading could cost a bit...

[Phil]

I just replaced my Linksys router because it was limiting my downloads to 1 MB, my speed immediately jumped to 9-15 MB (depending on the server) with a new router (same model, and I think the same as the one you have). I had updated firmware so I guess the hardware was going bad? Maybe yours is going bad too.

[Crawlerz246]

since the firmware was updated a while ago, I think that's OK.

it is some years old actually. cuts out several times a day (but I don't blame that on the router as it happened several days before and when the modem was reset, it began working...)

 

IDK - I'm a bit lost.

maybe a new one would fix matters.

[cjloki]

since the firmware was updated a while ago, I think that's OK.

it is some years old actually. cuts out several times a day (but I don't blame that on the router as it happened several days before and when the modem was reset, it began working...)

 

IDK - I'm a bit lost.

maybe a new one would fix matters.

if you have the money to upgrade the router the go for it....it couldn't hurt...for my gaming machine i used only a wired connection at 10/100/1000 but the rest (4 others) are wireless n and they connect to this router at usually 154 mpbs....which is three times faster than the old linksys router i used to have...

[CheeseMan42]

The fastest you can get on a 10/100 port is 12.5MB/s, converting from Mb to MB. If your connection is rated higher than that then your router will be limiting your speeds. I know I noticed a great difference when I upgraded my router to one than had all Gb ports. Though my entire school was wired with Gb, even in the apartments. I noticed a jump in speeds from about 10MB/s to 50MB/s.

[Crawlerz246]

but my internet is SUPPOSED to be 15/5 mbps. that isnt higher then the router's capability since it can do 54mbps. that's my problem! and the ASUS card can do 300 so that aint the limit.

 

then what is?

[Crawlerz246]

...oh and I get these disconnects many times a day and the strange thing is - my baby bro was playing crossfire at the same time and he didn't have any conection problems. can it be a deffective WLAN card? my PCIe card?

[CheeseMan42]

but my internet is SUPPOSED to be 15/5 mbps. that isnt higher then the router's capability since it can do 54mbps. that's my problem! and the ASUS card can do 300 so that aint the limit.

 

then what is?

 

Sorry, I misread the speed test as MB not Mb. The 54Mbps is in reference to the wireless networking only, as in internal network traffic. Your external speed isn't limited by this. My guess is that it is due to a wireless connection. You said that your dad is getting 14/3, is that a wired connection? I always find that I get better connection through wired than wireless so that is probably the only reason.

[CowKing]

that 54 Mbps is a theoretical transfer speed, so even if you were right next to the router and moved an incredibly large file it would only go about 46Mbps. Now, from what I read is that in order for your router to make a stable connection it needs to decrease the bandwidth of the connection, so you're probably only getting a 12Mbps connection with your router. You can increase the transmission power of the antennas with DD-WRT firmware. That's what I did and now i get a full 54Mbps connection through 2 stories

 

OR you could buy a better router with a greater signal coverage

[CheeseMan42]

that 54 Mbps is a theoretical transfer speed, so even if you were right next to the router and moved an incredibly large file it would only go about 46Mbps. Now, from what I read is that in order for your router to make a stable connection it needs to decrease the bandwidth of the connection, so you're probably only getting a 12Mbps connection with your router. You can increase the transmission power of the antennas with DD-WRT firmware. That's what I did and now i get a full 54Mbps connection through 2 stories

 

OR you could buy a better router with a greater signal coverage

 

Regardless of his router, he is still limited by his connection. He won't get 54Mbps to the outside world, but he may be able to within the network. The speed test he posted shows connection to an external server. If you have several wireless devices, try transferring a file from to the other. It will probably be close to 54Mbps.

[sdy284]

can you move your PC next to the modem and plug the modem directly into your PC? run the speed test again and see what you get.

 

Also, where is your PC in relation to the router? upstairs? downstairs? through a bunch of walls? Obstacles diminish the wireless signal and can reduce your speed as well.