Problems With Wireless Download Speed

[EDK]

I thought I would post here to see if some of our experts can help before posting on a PC specific forum.

I have a Linksys WRT160N Wireless Router in my home. I have an old desktop that's rarely used wired into it, and then I use 3 wireless devices.

• My 160 GB Slim PS3
• A Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop running Windows 7
• A Dell XPS Laptop Running Windows Vista

Due to some issues I was having with GT5 Network connections, I did a firmware upgrade on the Router about 2 weeks back. I'm nearly positive that's when I began to have these issues with the one PC.


My internet connection is Comcast Cable, using a cable modem supplied by the ISP, with the router plugged into it directly. My typical Download Speeds are 15-17 Mbps, my typical upload speeds are 5-7 Mbps.


Since performing the firmware upgrade, the wireless download speed on my Dell Inspiron running Windows 7 has nearly ground to a halt. I now average between 0.5 and 1.5 Mbps, while upload speeds remain normal. All of my other devices continue to experience normal speeds, and the laptop that's having issues when wireless is fine when plugged in to the router with a wired connection. I've also noticed that I have better wireless speeds when in the same room as the router, sometimes even normal speeds, but this is still very erratic.


The PCI card is an Intel 2100 Mini PCI. I've already gone to the Intel site and downloaded the latest driver, but this didn't make a difference. I've tried several different settings with my router, and nothing makes an improvement. At this point, I've reset everything back to default.


Is it possible that this is either a hardware issue with the PCI card, or a software compatibility issue between the Router firmware and Windows 7? Or is there something else I'm missing here?

 

[wfooshee]

I've seen many mis-match issues with wireless-n for some reason. I've gone so far as to turn off n in the router and use g at a lot of my customers' sites. Most of their wireless is for Internet only, so 50-some Mbits instead of 100-some Mbits doesn't really make a difference, since both are faster than the Internet speed.

I don't know if it's a standards conformance issue or what, but since it happened with the firmware upgrade, I'd wonder if something changed in the router's radio.

 

[EDK]

I've seen many mis-match issues with wireless-n for some reason. I've gone so far as to turn off n in the router and use g at a lot of my customers' sites. Most of their wireless is for Internet only, so 50-some Mbits instead of 100-some Mbits doesn't really make a difference, since both are faster than the Internet speed.

I don't know if it's a standards conformance issue or what, but since it happened with the firmware upgrade, I'd wonder if something changed in the router's radio.

I currently have that set to "mixed". I will try changing it to G to see if that helps.

 

[Darren.]

Hmm, my router is 4.5mbs at the moment (normal for my area), make sure all the ports required are open for your router to get the best possible download speeds for your PC, if that fails, contact your service provider. 👍

 

[Owen.C93]

You can try changing the wireless channel since that may have been reset when updating.

 

[EDK]

Hmm, my router is 4.5mbs at the moment (normal for my area), make sure all the ports required are open for your router to get the best possible download speeds for your PC, if that fails, contact your service provider. 👍

First thing I did was contact the ISP, but unfortunately they had me doing things like resetting the router and modem, and as a result, I was in the same room as the router when running the follow up speed tests. My speeds came back while I was dealing with them, but I think it was just a result of being in the same room, as I mentioned in the first post.

And as far as opening ports, it's not something I had to do in the past to get the proper download speeds. And my other devices are OK, so I was not thinking of that as an issue. Any ideas on how to determine which ports to open?

You can try changing the wireless channel since that may have been reset when updating.

Right now, I have it set to Automatic. I tried specifying channels, but that actually seemed to make things worse. Is that maybe just a trial and error thing?

There does seem to be quite a bit of strong signal traffic from my neighbors, I suppose it's possible that it would be interference from them.

 

[Darren.]

http://portforward.com/ is a good place to start.

 

[wfooshee]

Port forwarding has as much to do with connection and download speed as underwear color. Port forwarding has zilch to do with plain old browsing from behind the router.

Interference is a possibility, but you're pretty much stuck with trial and error on selecting channels manually.

If you've got an iPhone, iPad, or Android device, get the app "wifi analyzer." It will show you lots of useful stuff about the air around your place. For example, if you had this view:

You'd know that channel 10, 11, or 12 would be your best bet for good access.

 

[EDK]

Port forwarding has as much to do with connection and download speed as underwear color. Port forwarding has zilch to do with plain old browsing from behind the router.

Interference is a possibility, but you're pretty much stuck with trial and error on selecting channels manually.

If you've got an iPhone, iPad, or Android device, get the app "wifi analyzer." It will show you lots of useful stuff about the air around your place. For example, if you had this view:

You'd know that channel 10, 11, or 12 would be your best bet for good access.

Love the analogy, thanks for that.


I do have an Android phone, so I will give your suggestions a shot when I get home. Thanks again, and I will let you know how it turns out. 👍

 

[wfooshee]

When you get the app, there are a couple of settings default you should change. In the app hit the menu button and go to settings. You want to check "Auto wi-fi on" and "Auto wi-fi off when exit." That way you don't have to remember to turn it on manually first, and it cleans up after itself by not leaving it on if it had to turn it on to work. If wi-fi is already on, it makes no changes, if it's not, it turns it on when you start, turns it off when you exit. It ought to default that way, but doesn't.
And try the sound on mode, too, just for fun. Beeps faster as you approach an access point, just like a tracking device on NCIS or something.

 

[EDK]

When you get the app, there are a couple of settings default you should change. In the app hit the menu button and go to settings. You want to check "Auto wi-fi on" and "Auto wi-fi off when exit." That way you don't have to remember to turn it on manually first, and it cleans up after itself by not leaving it on if it had to turn it on to work. If wi-fi is already on, it makes no changes, if it's not, it turns it on when you start, turns it off when you exit. It ought to default that way, but doesn't.
And try the sound on mode, too, just for fun. Beeps faster as you approach an access point, just like a tracking device on NCIS or something.

Thanks again for the help. 👍

I found load of traffic in the default low channel ranges, my closest neighbor was in the mid range, so I moved mine all the way up to the high range, channel 11.

Next, I changed the wireless to G only, and this was my immediate result on Speedtest.

Never would have thought of slowing down to speed up on a computer, knew about it on the track.

BTW, the app in the signal finder screen was really cool, but the dog wasn't too fond of the sound.

 

[wfooshee]

Good deal. I don't know what's going on with n, but I see this all the time.