Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter doesn't go faster than 11Mbps

J

Jonathan Eales 21 years ago

I just bought a Belkin Wireless G USB adapter F5D7050UK and loaded it on two computers (desktop and laptop) and I can't get either to go faster than

11Mbps.

The adapter is now sitting on top of the Linksys WRT54G router, so range isn't an issue. Other computers in other rooms connect happily at 54Mbps.

I use Windows XP SP2 and WEP 64-bit security. It connects immediately. I've also tried downloading and installing the latest drivers from the Belkin web site.

Any ideas? Anyone else with one of these gizmos that has it running at its rated speed?

Jonathan

Vote

A

Alan White 21 years ago

What are you trying to measure? File transfers between computers or download speed from the Internet?

If the latter, you are at maximum speed. 54 refers to file transfers only.

Vote

J

Jim 21 years ago

Vote

J

Jeff Liebermann 21 years ago

Can I guess? The stands were USB 1.1 only. The computah thinks it's talking to a USB 1.1 device and limits the speed. Max on USB 1.1 is

12Mbits/sec, which is far too close to 11Mbits/sec for comfort. Dump the stand and plug in directly to a USB 2.0 port, and you get full speed. Most of the other USB 802.11g data sheets include warnings of diminished thruput when used with USB 1.1.

Vote

J

Jonathan Eales 21 years ago

Thanks Guys, for your suggestions but the problem is fixed. If you use the supplied stand the speed is capped at 11Mbps, yet if you push the adapter directly into the USB socket the reported speed immediately jumps to 54Mbps. Go figure! Tried this on both computers and it works.

Jonathan

Vote

B

Beretta 21 years ago

Sounds to me like the "stand" may be using a USB 1.1 rated cable.

Try it with a USB 2 rated cable

Vote

J

Jeff Liebermann 21 years ago

The only real differnces between USB 1.1 and 2.0 cables are shielding and tolerances.

The problem is that many of the cheapo 1.1 cables are not even close to meeting the USB 1.1 standard, much less meeting 2.0. The usual problem is with the tiny, highly flexible, cables found on digital cameras, media readers, and other single device cables. They don't suck much power, so the cable manufactory skimps on conductor size. Since the brilliant designers of USB elected to supply 5.0VDC, demand that the load work on no less than 5.0VDC, and totally ignore the voltage drop, a smaller guage power cable becomes critical. This may be what's happening here. The base unit, and the radio both require power from the computah. Wireless devices are NOT low power devices. If the cable drop is excessive, one or these two devices may "fail" in some way. Try a short "fat" cable and see if it helps.

This may be of interest:

formatting link

don't exactly agree with everything, but it gives the general idea.

Vote