jimupnord Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 I have a home network on DSL and I don't think I am getting good performance out of the wireless portion. Configuration: D-Link DSL-302G DSL modem 256K Down/128K up with the local phone company up here in the boonies of northern Wisconsin. Cat5 from DSL-302G to WAN port on Linksys BEFSX41 VPN router. Cat5 from BEFSX41 to uplink port on Linksys BEFW11S4 802.11b wireless access point and router. Toshiba 1.8 GHz Celeron laptop with built in NIC and Linksys WPC11 v.4 PCMCIA wireless NIC.Some W98 and W95 computers also on the network, plus a 10Mbit hub connected to thinnet coax.(I have that BEFSX41 in there in hopes that I may someday take advantage of it's extra features, and it was set up and working fine when I added the wireless, and still is.)I have noticed a lot of delays loading different items on screens at www.nationalcar.com when using wireless in same room with the wireless router. But if I connect with cat5 connection directly to that router, things just zip along. Experiment was tried without WEP.Any ideas?Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsden11 Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 What is your wireless signal strength? Lower signal = slower speeds... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimupnord Posted July 14, 2003 Author Share Posted July 14, 2003 I think the signal is pretty strong as I tried this less than 6 feet from the wireless router.I would also think that if the rate fell back to 2MHZ, I probably would not see a significant change.I wonder if there is a MTU setting or something I need different for wireless? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 Remember, 802.11b has a maximum bandwidth of only 11 Mbps and this rate falls as distance from the access point increases. For average distances you'll probably average about 5.5 Mbps. Still it shouldn't feel that slow relative to wired... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 Have you been to dslreports.com or one of the other broadband speed testers on the Internet?What is the actual throughput on these tests?Without WEP should make a difference in speed somewhat, but is well worth the slight slowdown since WEP is needed for security.* Moved to Security and Networking for more input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimupnord Posted July 22, 2003 Author Share Posted July 22, 2003 Thanks for the info. Well, I tried measuring upload and download speeds at www.pcpitstop.com and found that I got download speeds of: 162, 158, 195, 168, 203, 151, 157 kbps using wireless. (this dsl is supposed to be 256 down / 128 up)Wired download I got 196, 198, 197, 196 kbps.Wired upload I got 108, 75, 108, 101 kbps.but... when I tried upload wireless, the test generally hung or gave me a very low figure.So I tried moving a few rooms away from the wireless access point/router. This gave much better results of 107, 106, 97, 108, 92, 91. I think I ended up with an effective deadspot right close to the access point. Could be that the access point does not have good automatic gain control up close, or it's algorithm for keeping the error rate down with that strong a signal has problems. Would be nice to know if there are any adjustments to help with that.Up close it seems like lots of delays.I had trouble using dslreports.com, but did reduce the receive buffer to 8192 (kb?) since my main network connection will be wireless with this computer. Come to think of it, they may have actually recommended an even lower number. The theory is less info to re-transmit if a notification that a re-transmit is needed occurs. Their free speed tests were not working with the Java on the IE6 included with the Windows XP home that came on this computer.Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsden11 Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 All wireless technologies are affected by several things. Especially in homes. Distance, wiring in walls and floors/ceilings, plumbling in walls and floors/ceilings, and heating and ventalation metal ducting in walls and floor/ceilings. Signal strength has a lot to do with the strength of your wireless access point antena. Some brands are stronger than others. Some brands sell boosters to increase signal strength.It really comes down to signal stength... either you have it or you don't. It then becomes trial and error on where the best placement of the wireless device is. There is not a whole lot you can tweak from a software standpoint.It is pretty much like a TV. Lousy antena == lousy picture. Better antena == better picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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