wireless routers

[twitchee2]

Right i am currently running on on this 11Mbps router. yes i know my dad is cheap. How much is speed effected if there is 1 wired machine and 4 wireless? willit slow down? i we are running on verizon dsl.

next, if i talk him into getting this 108mbps router, would the signal be able to be recieved by a B wireless card or will new cards be needed? Thanks you for your help.

 

[atybimf]

I have a D-Link wireless router and a Belkin Wireless Desktop Adapter and it is faster than my Desktop wired to the internet..

 

[twitchee2]

well i should say i need reasons to make my dad commit to getting a new router. The more people using the wireless, the slower it is correct?

 

[JasonE4]

Your internet bandwidth is most likely less than 11 mbps so you really don't need a wireless G router unless you do a lot of transferring of files between your computers. Also, 802.11b cards will work just fine with an 802.11g router, just at an 11 mbps rate.

 

[bob4432]

first you need to figure out what speed you have from your isp and then go from there.

i have a linksys wrt54g router and a ibm t42 laptop with built in b/g wifi, and then i have 2 desktops connected to the router via the switch.

i have cox which gives me about a 4Mb/s down connection.

i also live in a condo that is surrounded by many RF interferences - cell phones drop calls all the time, cordless phones drop calls, so i am not in the best test area.

what i have found is that when my laptop is connected, it usually connects @ 22Mb/s, even though i have a hacked firmware allowing me to turn up the power on my wifi. it also seems like the latency is much higher.

that being said, when i run a test for speed on dsl reports, i usually get the full 4+Mb/s down from the wired machines, but the wireless is usually about 25-50% less. don't know why because it is still connected to my isp at a higher speed than the internet speed i get from them.

 

[twitchee2]

how do i test what my speed is?

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: twitchee2
how do i test what my speed is?

I transfer files across my network all the time and the easiest method is to look at the network utilization in task manager. You can guess the average rate based on that.

I upgraded from a Netgear MR814 v3 to a Linksys WRT54G v1.1 with HyperWRT+tofo11 firmware last week. The difference is significant. I have four wired computers on gigabit ethernet and a single laptop with an old 802.11b card. My girlfriend's laptop can do wireless G, and that's where I saw the large improvement.

Only get a faster router if you transfer large files across your network. For basic web browsing, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Netgear MR814!

 

[tiap]

Originally posted by: Gerbil333

Originally posted by: twitchee2
how do i test what my speed is?

I transfer files across my network all the time and the easiest method is to look at the network utilization in task manager. You can guess the average rate based on that.

I upgraded from a Netgear MR814 v3 to a Linksys WRT54G v1.1 with HyperWRT+tofo11 firmware last week. The difference is significant. I have four wired computers on gigabit ethernet and a single laptop with an old 802.11b card. My girlfriend's laptop can do wireless G, and that's where I saw the large improvement.

Only get a faster router if you transfer large files across your network. For basic web browsing, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Netgear MR814!

In addition, a simple realworld test.

Start a download of 20 mb or more and compare results after it stabilizes. ( you can cancel operation after that. )

With a linksys wrt54g, wired desktops, 1 thinkpad w/abg, and 1 thinkpad w/b, they all download at an average of 375kb/sec on bellsouth dsl, but file transfers are much beter with wired being best and wireless b being worst. Happy with it.

 

[CraigRT]

11mbps is more than enough for surfing. The fastest mainstream end user connections out there are 5mbps or less. Most are 1.5 - 3. I have a 5, but even then, it's not enough to saturate a 11mbps connection. As stated above, no need unless you do network transfers, then 11mbps is DOG slow.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
11mbps is more than enough for surfing. The fastest mainstream end user connections out there are 5mbps or less. Most are 1.5 - 3. I have a 5, but even then, it's not enough to saturate a 11mbps connection. As stated above, no need unless you do network transfers, then 11mbps is DOG slow.

actually the fastest i have seen are ~9Mb/s, which is what i could get through cox, but the 4Mb/s i have works for me.

 

[twitchee2]

well i know on average i get about 50kb/s down so i dont know if thats the isp or somthing else cuz its really slow and i game on a regualr basis aswell.

 

[bob4432]

get on your wired machine, go to dslreports.com and on the left side there is a link for tools, hit it and go to speed test. run 3-5 and take the average of what you get. you may try this over the course of a couple of different days to really verify what your isp is giving you. also, you could call your isp and ask them what plan you are on.

 

[0roo0roo]

u are lucky if u have a 11mbit connect. most dsl is 1.5 course with overhead and whatnot ur not likely to get more than 6mbit actual transfer .... big file transfers on even g or higher isn't very nice. 100mbit wired blows it away. and 1000mbit wired blows away everything else.

 

[Markbnj]

In practical terms, unless all the people in the house start a fat download at the same time, you aren't going to see much, if any, impact from four people sharing a broadband connection. Most of the time when people are using the Internet they aren't actually moving any data at all. They're reading the page they downloaded in .3 second, or they are waiting on a server to repond with a page they want to read.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Markbnj
In practical terms, unless all the people in the house start a fat download at the same time, you aren't going to see much, if any, impact from four people sharing a broadband connection. Most of the time when people are using the Internet they aren't actually moving any data at all. They're reading the page they downloaded in .3 second, or they are waiting on a server to repond with a page they want to read.

QFT

 

[NateSLC]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: CraigRT
11mbps is more than enough for surfing. The fastest mainstream end user connections out there are 5mbps or less. Most are 1.5 - 3. I have a 5, but even then, it's not enough to saturate a 11mbps connection. As stated above, no need unless you do network transfers, then 11mbps is DOG slow.

actually the fastest i have seen are ~9Mb/s, which is what i could get through cox, but the 4Mb/s i have works for me.

Comcast gives me 10 Mb/s at the moment due to the fact that fiber optic direct to the house will be rolling out in my area over the next few months. 100Mb/s up and down.

:: rubs hands greedily ::

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: NateSLC

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: CraigRT
11mbps is more than enough for surfing. The fastest mainstream end user connections out there are 5mbps or less. Most are 1.5 - 3. I have a 5, but even then, it's not enough to saturate a 11mbps connection. As stated above, no need unless you do network transfers, then 11mbps is DOG slow.

actually the fastest i have seen are ~9Mb/s, which is what i could get through cox, but the 4Mb/s i have works for me.

Comcast gives me 10 Mb/s at the moment due to the fact that fiber optic direct to the house will be rolling out in my area over the next few months. 100Mb/s up and down.

:: rubs hands greedily ::

are they really going to give 100Mb/s up???? or will it be capped?

 

[NateSLC]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: NateSLC

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: CraigRT
11mbps is more than enough for surfing. The fastest mainstream end user connections out there are 5mbps or less. Most are 1.5 - 3. I have a 5, but even then, it's not enough to saturate a 11mbps connection. As stated above, no need unless you do network transfers, then 11mbps is DOG slow.

actually the fastest i have seen are ~9Mb/s, which is what i could get through cox, but the 4Mb/s i have works for me.

Comcast gives me 10 Mb/s at the moment due to the fact that fiber optic direct to the house will be rolling out in my area over the next few months. 100Mb/s up and down.

:: rubs hands greedily ::

are they really going to give 100Mb/s up???? or will it be capped?

Hmmm..

Did some checking, and it looks like the couple ISPs are only offering 15 Mb/s up and down at the moment. The system can do 100 Mb/s up and down or 1000 Mb/s up and down for business, but looks like they're starting at 15 Mb/s and 30 Mb/s.

Still, that is up AND down.

XMission UTOPIA

UTOPIA details

I live in Murray, UT


Edit: to OP, sorry for hijacking the thread. My experience with my D-Link 802.11b router, 3 devices accessing the internet was just fine. As stated before, file transfers were horrible though.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: NateSLC

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: NateSLC

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: CraigRT
11mbps is more than enough for surfing. The fastest mainstream end user connections out there are 5mbps or less. Most are 1.5 - 3. I have a 5, but even then, it's not enough to saturate a 11mbps connection. As stated above, no need unless you do network transfers, then 11mbps is DOG slow.

actually the fastest i have seen are ~9Mb/s, which is what i could get through cox, but the 4Mb/s i have works for me.

Comcast gives me 10 Mb/s at the moment due to the fact that fiber optic direct to the house will be rolling out in my area over the next few months. 100Mb/s up and down.

:: rubs hands greedily ::

are they really going to give 100Mb/s up???? or will it be capped?

Hmmm..

Did some checking, and it looks like the couple ISPs are only offering 15 Mb/s up and down at the moment. The system can do 100 Mb/s up and down or 1000 Mb/s up and down for business, but looks like they're starting at 15 Mb/s and 30 Mb/s.

Still, that is up AND down.

XMission UTOPIA

UTOPIA details

I live in Murray, UT


Edit: to OP, sorry for hijacking the thread. My experience with my D-Link 802.11b router, 3 devices accessing the internet was just fine. As stated before, file transfers were horrible though.

excellent speeds and prices

 

[eXx08]

I have the Linksys Wireless Router w/ Speedbooster and the Liksys wireless PCI Card w/ Speedbooster and it is more than fast enough the only problem is with wireless sometimes the dignal cut out during a download but that doesn't happen very often.

 

[tiap]

Originally posted by: twitchee2
well i know on average i get about 50kb/s down so i dont know if thats the isp or somthing else cuz its really slow and i game on a regualr basis aswell.

If you access your router you should find a page that tells you what max speed you are connected to with your isp. If this doesn't match, then you may have line problems and/or modem problems at your end or their end. This is where you should start, then work on your pc settings.
50kb/sec is pretty darn slow, even with basic 1.5 you should be seeing at least 100kb/sec.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: tiap

Originally posted by: twitchee2
well i know on average i get about 50kb/s down so i dont know if thats the isp or somthing else cuz its really slow and i game on a regualr basis aswell.

If you access your router you should find a page that tells you what max speed you are connected to with your isp. If this doesn't match, then you may have line problems and/or modem problems at your end or their end. This is where you should start, then work on your pc settings.
50kb/sec is pretty darn slow, even with basic 1.5 you should be seeing at least 100kb/sec.

what router do you have that shows that?

 

[bigal40]

I used to have a use a Linksys 802.11b router but when I got Verizon FIOS I upgraded to the D-Link DI-524 802.11g. With the new G router I get 13Mbps from testmy.net and using the B router I get 8 Mbps. My PC connected with an ethernet cable gets 15Mbps. So by going to the 802.11G I gained 5Mbps.

EDIT: i just tested it again and got 14.5Mbps on the wireless

 

[vanvock]

Try TOAST.net for a speed check.

 

[tiap]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: tiap

Originally posted by: twitchee2
well i know on average i get about 50kb/s down so i dont know if thats the isp or somthing else cuz its really slow and i game on a regualr basis aswell.

If you access your router you should find a page that tells you what max speed you are connected to with your isp. If this doesn't match, then you may have line problems and/or modem problems at your end or their end. This is where you should start, then work on your pc settings.
50kb/sec is pretty darn slow, even with basic 1.5 you should be seeing at least 100kb/sec.

what router do you have that shows that?

Sorry for the mistake. I meant modem
The dsl modem should display your sync and it should be very close to the speed you pay for.