WRT54GSV4

I have a WRT54GSv4 using an 802.11Bcard and have WPA turned on. The best speed i seem to get is from mycinci.com which turns out to be around 2.7MB per sec. I am on RR with an 8MB down plan. From speed test site speak easy using the NY test, i get 349.9 KB per sec download rate. My question is given all these factors is the speed i am getting the best i can hope for. I should also note that my Laptop which is wireless is a Mac running OS X 10.4. I tried using the external card that goes with the WRT54GS and it freezes my mac as soon as its inserted and returns it to normal when i remove the card. Intially i had a DLINK 712P+ and only got this one because of not being able to use WPA with my PSP. So any help would be appreciated.

Reply to
b117sat
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If you aren't using the Linksys card then you don't have the Speedbooster component. Not that you are missing out. My speed is around 10% faster without Speedbooster. WPA made no difference to the speed with G and GS cards.

My best speed, computer to router to another computer (wireless file transfer) is around 2 MB/sec. I think I did achieve 3 to 4 MB/sec with one of the computer connections being wired.

Your speed seems too fast for a B card.

Reply to
Brian K

That's a little bit slower than what I would expect from an 11Mbit/sec

802.11b connection. |
formatting link
theoretical speed is 5.9Mbits/sec. I usually get about 4.0Mbits/sec. 2.7Mbits/sec means that you're probably connecting at 5.5Mbits/sec which implies that your client radio is not in the same room with the wireless router.

How fast does your mycinci.com speed test show with a directly connected (via Ethernet) connection? With 802.11b, you're limited by the speed of the 802.11b connection. This is not the case with a directly connected computah which can go to 100Mbits/sec. You should something close to 8Mbits/sec that way.

Watch your bits and Bytes. That's why I write them out fully and not abrev. 350KBytes/sec is 2.8Mbits/sec. Again, your speed is being limited by the 802.11b card.

With the equipment you currently have, yes. You need to replace the

802.11b hardware with an 802.11g client radio to go faster.

I don't know much about Mac's but there are 802.11g cards advertised that will work on a Mac.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Hi,

I'm in the same RR market as you. (Specifically 275-North area.)

I'm subscribed to RR's standard 5Mbits service and using the same online speed test (aroundcinci), it is usually pretty consistent at around 4.82 Mbs during off-peak hours. During peak hours, it may drop to upper 3 Mbs range, but very seldom has it been lower.

You definetly got something going on that you should t/s. Especially since your paying for 8 Mbs.

Have you taken out any variables by half-splitting yet? I'd probably start out by simply plugging one of your computers directly (with it's ethernet port) into the cable modem and doing a speed test. If it is still crawling, try another speed test but with the cable modem connected directly to your cable line coming in to bypass any splitters. If it is still crawling, then it is either your line or laptop. I know nothing about Macs, but that freezing of the laptop with the external card is suspicious. Could be something simple like all the network drivers are screwed up. Got another computer to do the speed test from there, one you know with certainty it is in good working order? If so, and you get the speed you are expecting, then the Mac laptop is the problem. If it is still crawling, get TWC to come out and check your line.

If the speed test looked good with the Mac plugged directly into the cable modem (even with any devices before the cable modem), then work forward. Plug the router into the cable modem and then plug the Mac into one of the router's LAN ports. Do another speed test. If that looks good, then its either your wireless hardware in the laptop (or a whole lot of RFI going on). If I'm reading your message right, it sounds like this Mac laptop has built-in wireless hardware, but you also have an external wireless card? Possibly the drivers for the two are conflicting? (Which would also explain that "freezing".) I'm not familiar with Macs, but is it possible to completetly remove the drivers for both pieces of hardware and then re-install just the drivers for the internal wireless? Check Apple's website to see if you can download specific drivers for specific components in specific laptops. If it works correctly after that, but you still prefer to use that external card, might have to either disable the internal wireless or do a bit of google/deja/manufacturer searching to find a resolution for the conflict between the two.

Hope that helps some.

Re: PSP. I just got myself one not too long also. Nintendo DS is a lot of fun, but the PSP is just plain sick! I can't put it down. Burnout Legends is getting most of my time now. :^)

Cheers, Eric

Reply to
Eric

Oh, wait a sec...

I just read Brian's reply and he brought up a very good point..

I was assuming that you were using 802.11g with the WRT54GS, but you are using 802.11b?

(My eyeballs didn't pick up the "b" when you described that external card.)

Is the internal wireless hardware 802.11b also? (The way I'm reading your post is that your laptop has internal wireless hardware, which you are seeing these low speeds with and that the external card simply won't work?)

If this internal wireless hardware is also 802.11b, then yeah, that definetly could give you these low speeds.

I have 802.11a, 802.11g, and 802.11b in the air. I'll do a few speed tests (aroundcinci) right now for some comparison:

802.11a: ~ 4.28 Mbs (This is also with DLink's proprietary "turbo". Speed is usually pretty consistent to what I see plugging directly into the cable modem.)

802.11g: ~ 4.07 Mbs (Also with DLink "turbo". Speed is also usually pretty close to being consistent with cable modem, but usually is slightly less than 802.11a. Probably RFI.)

802.11b: ~ 3.41 Mbs (No "turbo", straight 802.11b. This is a seperate SSID from the 802.11g, so to be fair I disabled the 802.11g and put the 802.11b on the same channel, 6, that the 802.11g was on.)

For all of them, signal strength "percentage" ranged from mid 60's to lower

80's, with the 802.11a in the low range and 802.11b in the top range. 802.11a and 802.11g were using WPA-PSK, 802.11b was WEP. I also disabled a couple repeaters I have as well before doing the speed tests. It would've been better to have turned off the "turbo" for the 802.11a and 802.11g before doing the speed tests, but it would've been to config/re-config everything. I don't think the "turbo" makes all that much of a difference for internet traffic though. For WLAN traffic, I see (as Brian also said) maybe a 10 to 20 percent improvent --- even though that DLink icon says "108 Mbs" versus "54 Mbs". Those numbers are just a marketing joke.)

Eric

Reply to
Eric

Since I'm already playing, just for S and G's, ran some online speed tests with the PSP.

Aroundcinci's applet wouldn't load on the PSP, nor would any of the java-based speed tests off Broadband Reports, but the "Mobile Speed Test" (Broadband Reports) works.

If your PSP's cache is set to default 512 Kbytes, you'll need set it higher. I just used a 2 Mbyte cache setting. Choose the 600KB download in the "Mobile Speed" test.

My PSP's results were: 837 kbit/sec, 0.21 Bs latency, 5.948s d/l time (for

600KB).

That was with 802.11g and WPA-PSK and everything re-configed to my normal setup. I'm too lazy to go pull plugs again just to see how much a difference it would make for the PSP.

800kbs coming into a handheld, from a who-knows-where web server, is pretty cool though!
Reply to
Eric

I'm confused now. I assumed you meant MBytes/sec but did you mean MBits/sec.

Reply to
Brian K

You'd get better help of you specified which model Mac and card you're using.

Reply to
Neill Massello

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