Will a new Wireless Router speed up my internet?

[2Fast4U]

Wow a lot of bad advice from people.

Is the time warner service going to be faster then 54mbs down? No.... then keep the 54gl. Do you have SAN device or dlna and or copy tons from SAN or pc to PC? If yes then 'maybe' a new router is needed. Your 54gl can almost definitely handle anything you will throw at it. More then likely any tw service you get will have wireless g/n anyhow.

 

[Volvohead]

I think the OP would disagree with you.

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: 2Fast4U
Wow a lot of bad advice from people.

Is the time warner service going to be faster then 54mbs down? No.... then keep the 54gl. Do you have SAN device or dlna and or copy tons from SAN or pc to PC? If yes then 'maybe' a new router is needed. Your 54gl can almost definitely handle anything you will throw at it. More then likely any tw service you get will have wireless g/n anyhow.


Apparently you aren't familiar with overhead and the difference between theoretical and actual bandwitch. No wireless device will ever hit theoretical speeds. Generally with the 802.11 standard, you can expect between 35-75% of theoretical bandwith. The older the standard and hardware (ie g vs N) the less you will get. It's the same as with USB 2.0. Theoretically, it's 480mb/s (60MB/s), but actual speeds will rarely, if ever, top 35MB/s.

Unlike Gigabit ethernet, which will easily hit it's theoretical speeds, wireless is much more constrained, especially by distance . The further away from the router you are, and the weaker the signal, the slower the actual maximum is.

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: 2Fast4U
Wow a lot of bad advice from people.

Is the time warner service going to be faster then 54mbs down? No.... then keep the 54gl. Do you have SAN device or dlna and or copy tons from SAN or pc to PC? If yes then 'maybe' a new router is needed. Your 54gl can almost definitely handle anything you will throw at it. More then likely any tw service you get will have wireless g/n anyhow.


Did you see my before and after speeds?

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Nick R

Unlike Gigabit ethernet, which will easily hit it's theoretical speeds, wireless is much more constrained, especially by distance . The further away from the router you are, and the weaker the signal, the slower the actual maximum is.


You'd be surprised at the number of Gig-E devices (NIC's included) that won't do Gig-E speeds.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: Nick R

Unlike Gigabit ethernet, which will easily hit it's theoretical speeds, wireless is much more constrained, especially by distance . The further away from the router you are, and the weaker the signal, the slower the actual maximum is.


You'd be surprised at the number of Gig-E devices (NIC's included) that won't do Gig-E speeds.


That is not new.
Most stuff probably doesnt hit its rated speed. Some far worse than others.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: SLCraig
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: Nick R

Unlike Gigabit ethernet, which will easily hit it's theoretical speeds, wireless is much more constrained, especially by distance . The further away from the router you are, and the weaker the signal, the slower the actual maximum is.


You'd be surprised at the number of Gig-E devices (NIC's included) that won't do Gig-E speeds.


That is not new.
Most stuff probably doesnt hit its rated speed. Some far worse than others.


The good gear does.

 

[Nick R]

Mine does, and I don't have particularly high end equipment. Transferring data from one of the faster drives on the storebox, to one of the faster drives on my main box, I will achieve 98-99% network utilization. Heck, normally I'm limited more by HDD speed than by network. This is with an Intel Gigabit ethernet chip in the main, a Realtek one, and the WNDR3700.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Nick R
Mine does, and I don't have particularly high end equipment. Transferring data from one of the faster drives on the storebox, to one of the faster drives on my main box, I will achieve 98-99% network utilization. Heck, normally I'm limited more by HDD speed than by network. This is with an Intel Gigabit ethernet chip in the main, a Realtek one, and the WNDR3700.


How many MB/sec are you observing? 128MB/sec is the theoretical throughput of Gigabit.

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: Nick R
Mine does, and I don't have particularly high end equipment. Transferring data from one of the faster drives on the storebox, to one of the faster drives on my main box, I will achieve 98-99% network utilization. Heck, normally I'm limited more by HDD speed than by network. This is with an Intel Gigabit ethernet chip in the main, a Realtek one, and the WNDR3700.


How many MB/sec are you observing? 128MB/sec is the theoretical throughput of Gigabit.


When transferring using the faster HDDs, I will see 115-120MB/s often. Beyond that it's 80-100MB/s limited by 5400RPM drives.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
How many MB/sec are you observing? 128MB/sec is the theoretical throughput of Gigabit.


Unless you're teaming with link aggregation. Then it's the machine buses and storage throughput that slow you down.

But yeah, there's no substitute for quality equipment, well implemented. A cheap wire pull from a $7 nic to a $30 switch isn't going to see top speeds.

But I'm happy for the OP. Good to see someone find a bottleneck and fix it easily.

 

[97tbird]

Geez i just read through the 'set up without CD' part and i am overwhelmed.

TWC is coming today to set up internet... LOL i am almost tempted to accept their last minute offer of $8 morea month for their own wirless/router AND free upgrade to the "extreme' (30 mbps) speed - probably only a year 'free' though....

How hard is it to set this router up without a CD? (I don't have CD drive on netbook, but wife's laptop does - perhaps I should just set it up using the CD with HER laptop and then connect the rest of the stuff?)

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
Geez i just read through the 'set up without CD' part and i am overwhelmed.

TWC is coming today to set up internet... LOL i am almost tempted to accept their last minute offer of $8 morea month for their own wirless/router AND free upgrade to the "extreme' (30 mbps) speed - probably only a year 'free' though....

How hard is it to set this router up without a CD? (I don't have CD drive on netbook, but wife's laptop does - perhaps I should just set it up using the CD with HER laptop and then connect the rest of the stuff?)


It really isn't very hard at all. Don't read the manual, just go into the router settings. The default netgear firmware is ridiculously simple. Set wireless security to WPA2-Personal, set your network name, set password, set channel to 4 (most likely to be clear), and that's really all you have to do.

 

[97tbird]

Thanks !!!

So ok: is this what I have to do? : (some "?"s might be stupid)

connect the router to the modem.
connect the laptop to the router via ethernet cable

and then just go into the 198.68 etc?

or can / should the laptop just connect to the router WITHOUT the cable? (wirelessly, although wireless isn't set up yet??)

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
Thanks !!!

So ok: is this what I have to do? : (some "?"s might be stupid)

connect the router to the modem.
connect the laptop to the router via ethernet cable

and then just go into the 198.68 etc?

or can / should the laptop just connect to the router WITHOUT the cable? (wirelessly, although wireless isn't set up yet??)


I would do the following:

*****

Make sure modem, router and computer are all off.

Power cycle your modem (full disconnect, including all batteries and drop feeds). Allow it to fully come online. Hint: this is good to do every so often as the ISP periodically upgrades modem FW, and this is the best way to get it.

Power up your router.

Power up a computer hard wired into the router.

Open browser to the default address: 192.161.1.1 or 192.168.1.1/admin

You should come to a login screen.

Enter the defaults from the manual.

Follow the prompts to get into the router control screens.

*****

Make sure you have the latest firmware for your correct router version. I would not set up the router until the latest firmware is installed. FW upgrades should be done via hardwired computer. After the latest FW is confirmed, you can set it up. WPA2 is the norm.

Just a note about the WNDR3700 series: I didn't realize before, but they're up to HW version 3, and switched to a very different set of internals that is getting very mixed reviews on places like Newegg. It is not at all like the earlier v1 and v2 models. Just my opinion: If you have any serious connection problems early on, I would immediately exchange or return it and perhaps get something else.

FWIW, I got the Asus N66U and it is a major KEEPER. I'm keeping it over the WNDR4500. A killer router to say the least. Can't wait to try it with dd-wrt in a few months.

 

[97tbird]

Thanks to all the help so far.

OK so I connected the old Linksys WRT54GL for now, and got it working. (had to do a MAC address clone to get it working with the new TWC Cable modem; earlier this router was working with the century link DSL modem)

Somehow, the speed is only about 11-23 MPBS with the Linksys.
When laptop is hard wired directly to the TWC Motorola Cable modem, it's about 19-20 MBPS.(what it should be)

(with the old centurylink DSL modem, the speed was [censored] enough directly connected to the modem, but there wasn't such a big drop when connected wirelessly - it was almost the same)

I did change the security from WEP to WPA personal - could it have anything to with that?

or just like the OP did, do I just need a new router ??? is the WRT54GL just not cutting it with the TWC cable modem?

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird


I did change the security from WEP to WPA personal - could it have anything to with that?


No. If anything, WPA imposes less of a system load than WEP does. Try to use AES over TKIP if you can.

If you're experimenting with the 54G (and you're willing to take a chance at bricking it), I'd flash it with DDWRT, which will give you all it has left to offer.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead

FWIW, I got the Asus N66U and it is a major KEEPER. I'm keeping it over the WNDR4500. A killer router to say the least. Can't wait to try it with dd-wrt in a few months.


According to one reviewer at Newegg, the N66U broadcasts at 500mw.

500!

Add a few Hawking range-extending antennas, you can have everyone in your zip code using it! lol

 

[Volvohead]

Yes. You can adjust output all the way to the FCC ceiling. I'm not sure what impact it would have on transmitter life, though.

So far, it is getting strong whole-house coverage, including on 5ghz band, with just the default 80mw.

No complaints on this one so far.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead
Yes. You can adjust output all the way to the FCC ceiling. I'm not sure what impact it would have on transmitter life, though.

So far, it is getting strong whole-house coverage, including on 5ghz band, with just the default 80mw.

No complaints on this one so far.


Increasing transmit output usually reduce the sensitivity of the receive.