Increasing Internet Speed

IkilledLassic

IkilledLassic

CAGiversary!
Hi all, and a foreword of thanks to all the help, I appreciate it.

I am new to wireless internet, in fact, Ive been using a wired Linksys for years, with relatively zero problems. I've switched to wireless, and bought the Dlink wireless router, DIR 655. Ive noticed some significant decrease of speed. I expected some drop of speed, but not quite the rate its at. I checked the speed at speedtest.com, and D/L is at 4000, and U/L is at 1000, quite slower then what it was wired, and also, lower then the average for my service provider, Optimum Online.

Is there something outright I could do to improve speed? Is there methods that I am unaware of, such as free programs I could download to increase speed?

A desktop is the host computer and a laptop is on the network.

Thanks again.
 
I'm not too sure about this but I remember hearing that DLink routers wern't that good and had some compatibility issues.

Is wired faster than wireless on the new router?
 
[quote name='dragonsho']I'm not too sure about this but I remember hearing that DLink routers wern't that good and had some compatibility issues.

Is wired faster than wireless on the new router?[/quote]


From what I can tell, the wireless is slower then the wired linksys. Thats about how technical I can get. The D-Link did recieve some good ratings from several outlet sources such as CNet, but Im not sure how much stock they have in the grand scheme of things.
 
A wireless connection will always be slower than a wired connection but I see the router you bought is capable of N speeds. What is the laptop capable of b\g\n speeds? N is the fastest...G is probably the norm now...and b is the oldest of the three. If the laptop is running on b you would notice a difference. You also need to take into account the distance between you and the router, what's in between you and the signal, and any settings (on the router or otherwise) that may limit your speed.
 
[quote name='jkam']A wireless connection will always be slower than a wired connection but I see the router you bought is capable of N speeds. What is the laptop capable of b\g\n speeds? N is the fastest...G is probably the norm now...and b is the oldest of the three. If the laptop is running on b you would notice a difference. You also need to take into account the distance between you and the router, what's in between you and the signal, and any settings (on the router or otherwise) that may limit your speed.[/quote]

Just doing a bit of research I see that that Laptop is a Atheros 802.11b/g wireless; dont see an N.

The Dell is a Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit -- No idea what that means.
 
[quote name='IkilledLassic']Just doing a bit of research I see that that Laptop is a Atheros 802.11b/g wireless; dont see an N.

The Dell is a Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit -- No idea what that means.[/QUOTE]

So you should be running at G speeds which are pretty quick for the most part. I would try to look at router settings or anything else that may be limiting you.
 
Unless you have some kind of ultra-speed connection, your router being A/B/G/N has no bearing on your internet speed.

1) Reboot your modem/gateway

2) Reboot your router

3) Run speedtest on a hardwired machine & a wireless & compare the results.

4) If wireless is way out of whack from hardwired make sure your wireless card has the latest drivers. If that doesn't help update your router's firmware.
 
[quote name='klwillis45']Unless you have some kind of ultra-speed connection, your router being A/B/G/N has no bearing on your internet speed.

1) Reboot your modem/gateway

2) Reboot your router

3) Run speedtest on a hardwired machine & a wireless & compare the results.

4) If wireless is way out of whack from hardwired make sure your wireless card has the latest drivers. If that doesn't help update your router's firmware.[/QUOTE]

I read it as his speed on the laptop is slow...OP is your desktop now slower on the net as well?
 
[quote name='klwillis45']Unless you have some kind of ultra-speed connection, your router being A/B/G/N has no bearing on your internet speed.

1) Reboot your modem/gateway

2) Reboot your router

3) Run speedtest on a hardwired machine & a wireless & compare the results.

4) If wireless is way out of whack from hardwired make sure your wireless card has the latest drivers. If that doesn't help update your router's firmware.[/QUOTE]

Excellent advise. If it were me I'd run a speed test with just the modem attached to the computer directly so I'd have a reference point so when I run the same test through the router I could see how much of a drop off is actually occurring for that specific connection.

Other things to consider is any potential security software such as a firewall which can bottleneck a connection. I don't encounter it on a regular basis (I work tech support for an ISP) but I have come across cases where disabling the firewall fixes speed issues. Again, these cases are few and far between. Most issues are resolved by resetting the modem and router.
 
[quote name='IkilledLassic']Just doing a bit of research I see that that Laptop is a Atheros 802.11b/g wireless; dont see an N.

The Dell is a Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit -- No idea what that means.[/quote]

Simply put. His wired connection can go up to a Gig (ie 1000 Mbps). Though I'm sure you didn't have the networking hardware to do this so it was running at the standard rate of 100 Mbps. Your wireless card is a 802.11b/g which can run from either 56 Mbps or 108 Mbps. If it's considerably slower then before, you are probably only getting 56 Mbps which is about half of your previous wired connection. Usually not enough of a difference to notice but sometimes there is. It does seem like if anything it's the wireless in the laptop itself that would be slowing it down.

Also some things that weren't asked was anything to do with interference. Other items can conflict with a wireless connection. Cordless phones, running microwaves, other wireless internet close by, etc etc. Stuff like this can serverly interfer with a wireless connection.

As a side note though, now you can probably run a gigabit wired connection. All you need are the right cables (are they still standard ethernet?). This would blow the wireless clean out of the water.

I hope any of this made sense ... I'd like to note I'm literally falling asleep as I type this :drool:
 
[quote name='strikeratt']so it was running at the standard rate of 100 Mbps. Your wireless card is a 802.11b/g which can run from either 56 Mbps or 108 Mbps. [/quote]

Slight correction here.

802.11b runs at 11 Mbps
802.11g runs at 56 Mbps

If the laptop is older, it's possible that it only supports 11 Mbps. It will also default to 11 Mbps if there are issues with compatibility.

Most people don't have the luxury of a 1000 Mbps pipe coming into their homes. I pay for premium roadrunner service and I only get 15 Mbps. Since the speed of the "g" flavor of wireless is already faster than that most people don't see any speed decrease on wireless. You will.
 
[quote name='daminion']Slight correction here.

802.11b runs at 11 Mbps
802.11g runs at 56 Mbps

[/QUOTE]

Also note that these are theoretical MAXIMUM speeds. In the real world, you never get these speeds out of your wireless connection. Every bit of distance and interference lowers your actual performance.
 
I have to say, I am throughly confused by all this, to no fault of my fellow CAGers. Thanks for the help. I upgraded the routers firmware and it seems to have worked with general internet use. I haven't tried to download anything yet, but judging by the speedtest, it seems it has lost some of its speed. The laptop is actually brand new; is there a way to replace or upgrade the hardware to a N wireless? Any information about the desktops hardware -- the Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit, and any suggestions for hardware options that I can upgrade to to maximize speed at a relatively low price?
 
[quote name='daminion']Slight correction here.

802.11b runs at 11 Mbps
802.11g runs at 56 Mbps

If the laptop is older, it's possible that it only supports 11 Mbps. It will also default to 11 Mbps if there are issues with compatibility.

Most people don't have the luxury of a 1000 Mbps pipe coming into their homes. I pay for premium roadrunner service and I only get 15 Mbps. Since the speed of the "g" flavor of wireless is already faster than that most people don't see any speed decrease on wireless. You will.[/quote]

Ahhh thanks :D Very true all of this.Forgot to add in the fact when it comes to wired most of the time you won't see a difference no matter what the router is. Only every once in a great while.

If there's a noticeable slowdown while running on wireless it can be a couple of factors already mentioned. Interference and even a bad wireless card can create a large amount of slowdown.
 
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