Will a new Wireless Router speed up my internet?

[rg200amp]

Hey guys, srry for the lame question. I am just not familiar with the details of internet speeds. .

So, I pay for the "30mps w/ PowerBoost" internet from Comcast.

I really have no issues, but, now that I am really getting into computing, I was wondering if there is anything I can do to up the speeds without upping my ISP speed.

So, I have a wireless router that I got new in 2004. It's a Linksys WRT54GS. Considering it is 8+ years old, I am thinking a new one may "free up" some speed. I don't know. It may not do anything, that's why I'm hear!!!

I have a old Sony Viao wired to it, and I run a iMac, iPad, laptop, kindle fire, and Android smartphone on wifi. Usually only two going at the same time, some times three or four.

I do not know the speed limits this router has. Would buying a new router that can support 65+mbs speeds help? (not that I would get more speed than what I'm paying for since my limit is dictated by my ISP)

I ran a speed test from Comcast on my iMac (2.7gh quad i5 running 12GB RAM) that ran over my wifi and it came back as this:

Here is one from SpeedTest.net:

 

[GMZ]

I noticed a big jump in speed when I replaced my old Belkin router from early 2000's to a Airport Extreme, but I have the lowest speed net there is so the law of diminishing returns might be more apparent for you. I would replace anyway.

 

[wkcars]

I would recommend you connect your computer directly to the internet without your current router first and run the speed tests to see if your router is actually slowing things down, then if it is then you might want to look at a newer router, if it's not then there's no point getting a new router.

 

[OilNerd]

^^^^ This.

 

[Nick R]

do that first, yeah. If it doesn't improve, call comcast because you are getting less than 1/3 of the download speed you should be getting. But that upload speed, HNNNNNNG. If it does improve, then get a new router. A Netgear WNR2000 or something should do the job. A WNDR3400 or WNDR3700 if you want to spend a little bit more.

 

[Volvohead]

I had your good old 54GS (stuffed with DD-WRT). Still have it (in a box somewhere). A fine classic residential modem. I hated to retire it. But if you have N wireless devices and/or a good bit of traffic (the WRT54 series was not designed for multiple HD video streaming clients in 200x), it is a bit out of date.

Depending on your needs, a newer router can indeed make a difference. If you have a lot of traffic, the newer routers have the CPU and wireless engines to handle it better. We run a lot of wired and wireless equipment here; usually no less than 18 clients at any one time, all mixed from teamed gigabit LAN data servers/NASes to old 802.11g stuff. Computers, phones, pads, video and audio streaming clients all over the place. It's a busy house. The old Linksys would drop dead under that load.

We ran a Netgear WNDR3700v1 for several years, and once the firmware got sorted out (about nine months after release), it was very stable and much faster than the old WRT54GS. A very good router that could still run our network today. We had no dropouts in the last eight months it was in service.

We just replaced the 3700 with the 4500 in the past week to get full three thread 450mbps at 5G and at longer range. It is still a little unstable, but is much faster than the 3700 and pulls a slightly faster WAN. Great range in both bands. And it runs COOL (unlike some newer Linksys models). Netgear releases product with slightly immature FW in my opinion, but they do eventually get it right. One drawback is that sometimes they are not DD-WRT/Tomato compatible, if that matters to you.

Nevertheless, I can recommend the WNDR4500 if you want a solid safe pick, and are willing to put up with a little quirkiness for the next few months until the FW matures.

I'd avoid the gadget features on most new routers. USB drives and printers tend to complicate and create problems and they are never as fast or reliable as dedicated network devices with fixed addresses.

A good quality GB switch also makes a big difference in wired performance. We run a managed Cisco switch, and data zooms on it. The bottleneck is now local to the device bus. If you only have a couple wired devices, a good new router will at least move you up to Gigabit wire.

The modem can also help. We have similar Comcast service to yours, and just purchased our own D3 capable eMTA (got sick of the $7 rental for the obsolete Arris 602 box that we "bought" twice already). Comcast allows this in our market on a very limited basis. The new modem itself helped speed consistency as well, and we now routinely exceed our provisioned speed (voice is better too for some reason).

I don't recommend attaching any computer raw to the net without a H/W firewall.

But the short answer is yes, a new router should be a meaningful improvement over the old WRT54GS in 2012, especially if you have any 802.11n gear. Your reported speeds are very slow for that service tier, especially in Philadelphia, which is Comcast's premier (corporate home) market (which gets among the very best service).

 

[daves66nova]

Originally Posted By: Nick R
A WNDR3400 if you want to spend a little bit more.
Would this one be better for me than my WRT300N?

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: daves66nova
Originally Posted By: Nick R
A WNDR3400 if you want to spend a little bit more.
Would this one be better for me than my WRT300N?


If you want/need 5ghz coverage, the 3400 offers that, the WRT300N does not.

802.11n is somewhat hobbled in the 2.4ghz frequency in my experience.

 

[Bill in Utah]

I went through my 2nd Linksys WRT54GL (first one lasted many years the 2nd 13 months) so I went with what Chris recommended from ASUS.

I don't need Wi-Fi N (the normal works fine) and this one just rocks.

Here is my fiber speed with the girls watching a HD movie in the other room on Netflix;

Easy to set up and works great.

Take care, Bill

 

[Volvohead]

For the bargain hunters:

http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellShocker.aspx?cm_sp=ShellShocker-_-33-122-378-_-03312012_2

 

[rg200amp]

Thanks EVERYONE for the comments!!!

I was at best buy today and I was browsing the routers. I picked up a Netgear N600 dual band. It was around $80 after tax, I figured I could just return it if it did nothing.
It WORKED!!

Any ideas why the upload is so slow? Should I call Comcast?

Since I now know the router will help, I may return the Netgear and do what NickR wants me to do so badly...

Get an Apple Airport Extreme!!!

lol

Thanks again to everyone for the comments. After the suggestion of plugging the Mac in to the cable to see if it made a difference I was like "Duh, why did I not think of that!"
But, I was out at Bestbuy when I read the comment and I already had the router in hand.

 

[Volvohead]

What is your provisioned upload speed? Residential uplinks sare often throttled down a bit.

Still, that more closely approximates the usual "Blast" tier speed around here.

Which model Netgear did you buy?

Smallnetbuilder does a fair job at reviewing this things. If you are unhappy with the Netgear you have, you might want to look over there before picking anything else.

 

[rg200amp]

I did not realize the iMac supports the 5ghz band. After connecting it to that here are the new speeds!!

Can't complain!

Originally Posted By: Volvohead
What is your provisioned upload speed? Residential uplinks sare often throttled down a bit.

Still, that more closely approximates the usual "Blast" tier speed around here.

Which model Netgear did you buy?

Smallnetbuilder does a fair job at reviewing this things. If you are unhappy with the Netgear you have, you might want to look over there before picking anything else.


Not sure what my set upload speeds are. But your likely right.

I went with the Netgear WNDR3400

I am very happy with it. Those speeds are from the Mac, which is three floors down in a row house in Philadelphia. Lots and lots of brick in between!

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

The N600 is what I have, upgraded from a DIR-655 DLink model that served me well until recently, it's a solid product.

WIth the D-Link, my mac laptop would see only 6-12Mbps downloads wireless but 25Mbps wired. With our new N600, 35-40Mbps burst, 25-35 sustained on the mac wirelessly. The cable modem here is a Motorola Surfboard DOCSIS 3.0 capable model.


Night & day speed difference with the N600 over the DIR-655.

Lastly, uploads are nearly always slower than downloads on consumer-based internet connections. Some are lucky to have uber-fast up & down speeds (Bill, I'm looking at you!

)

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
The N600 is what I have, upgraded from a DIR-655 DLink model that served me well until recently, it's a solid product.

WIth the D-Link, my mac laptop would see only 6-12Mbps downloads wireless but 25Mbps wired. With our new N600, 35-40Mbps burst, 25-35 sustained on the mac wirelessly. The cable modem here is a Motorola Surfboard DOCSIS 3.0 capable model.


Night & day speed difference with the N600 over the DIR-655.


Yea, it is a night and day difference! Could not be happier!

Anyone want to buy my 8 year old Linksys???

 

[Nick R]

I have the N600 myself (WNDR3700) running DD-WRT. It's running great after almost a year. It works excellently, especially considering what I'm doing with it anymore. (downloading TV shows over torrent on one comptuer, while simultaneously storing it on another computer via gigabit ethernet. This works great with my 30mb/s download and 2mb/s upload, up to 6 torrents, or about 1,000 simultaneous connections. Beyond that, the router chokes, but that's still pretty impressive considering the incredible amount of ethernet I/O going on.

Also you are pushing against the limits of your internet connection, and the apple airport extreme is NOT any better than the router you just bought.

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: Nick R

and the apple airport extreme is NOT any better than the router you just bought.

Thought that would get your attention!

lol

I have to admit, I am 100% satisfied with the Netgear Router. Im keeping it!

 

[2Fast4U]

Just simply reboot your hardware and remove backup battery when doing the debit.

 

[97tbird]

sort of thread jack:
I am thinking i might need to do this as well.

We will be getting Time Warner cable internet pretty soon, and my old Linksys WRT54GL may not be up to the task anymore...having seen a lot of drop outs lately and i have a feeling that it's the router..

what's a good Linksys model that's affordable but new-ish?

EDIT I guess these are my choices:

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
what's a good Linksys model that's affordable but new-ish?


I am not aware of any

(Had a bad experience)
I have been using D-Link forever and always been satisfied.