Router

MagicSean

I currently have 8mb broadband (in theory) but my wireless router can only handle 2mb. Is there a way I can set it up so that the broadband is connected directly to the pc and the router is connected from the pc. That way my pc gets the 8mb and the router can still be active for the rest of the house?

Alternatively, can someone suggest a good wireless router that would handle the 8mb?

FSL

Try running lots speed tests with your machine connected by cable to the router and then by wireless.

Speed tests vary considerably. In addition wireless is susceptible to RF interference and by obstructions, such as walls and ceilings as well as the quality of the wireless network card.

Unless you are within a metre of your router you will be very lucky if you get anywhere near the speed you get on a cable connection.

Firblog

Don't understand why your router can only handle 2mb.. most common wireless flavours b/g are at 12 & 54MB, and now up above 100MB with N.
Any cheapo wireless router available now should do 54Mb now..

syklops

IEEE 80.211G can manage 54Mbps, this is Megabits per second, That will only be between the PC and the router.

You line is most likely 8 Mb, or 8 Megabits per second. There are 8 bits in a byte so your download transport speed will be about 1 Mega Byte per second. There is no hardware you can buy that will change this.

Can you do a speed test and post your results?

Greyfoot

Seanbeag1 wrote: »

I currently have 8mb broadband (in theory) but my wireless router can only handle 2mb. Is there a way I can set it up so that the broadband is connected directly to the pc and the router is connected from the pc. That way my pc gets the 8mb and the router can still be active for the rest of the house?

Alternatively, can someone suggest a good wireless router that would handle the 8mb?

Try plugging in an ethernet cable into your pc from the router and run speedtest. Then unplug the cable and run the test again and compare the results.
802.11g routers theoratically have 54mb/s speed, in reality they barely able to transfer anything over 20mb/s. also the frequency that of a 802.11g router is 2.4Ghz which is the standard frequency of most modern appliances like bluetooth, wireless phone etc, so interference or collision can occur despite the built in avoidance in these appliances.

MagicSean

It's a very old wireless router.

Speed test through wireless (placed next to computer):
Ping 107ms
Upload 0.86 mbps
Download 2.07 mbps

Speed test through direct connection
Ping 44ms
Upload 0.84 mbps
Download 4.76 mbps

I only want the top speed on my main computer. I don't mind a reduced speed in the rest of the house. So i was hoping I could plug the ethernet into the computer for the full speed and then broadcast the wireless from the computer to the rest of the house. But I've realised that I will need to have the main computer on all the time for this to work. So a wirelss that can handle the 5mb is all i need and from the sounds of it most of them can broadcast this level these days.

FSL

Why would you need the computer on all the time? A typical router has four LAN ports and if it is wireless enabled it also has an antenna which broadcasts the wireless signal.

This means you can connect up to four devices by cable and any number by wireless. Obviously the devices connected by wireless share the wireless connection.

Also your broadband connection is shared amongst all the devices.

MagicSean

So any new router will pretty much do the job then?

FSL

MagicSean wrote: »

So any new router will pretty much do the job then?

Yes but a router not a DSL modem/router.

Before you go and spend money on a new router are you absolutely certain that the speed drop off is entirely down to a poor quality/defective router and not the usual issues of walls, ceilings, RF interference and multiple simultaneous downloads/uploads.

If you are downloading on a few machines and run a speed test on another you are not going to get anywhere near your rated value.

Finally a single speed test is useless you need to run at least six one immediately after the other as the test only runs over a small time frame and to gauge the quality of your connection you need to monitor it over a longer time frame.

humaxf1

To the OP, who is you BB provider? Do you get BB via phone line, "cable" tv, fixed wireless or other?

MagicSean

FSL wrote: »

Yes but a router not a DSL modem/router.

Before you go and spend money on a new router are you absolutely certain that the speed drop off is entirely down to a poor quality/defective router and not the usual issues of walls, ceilings, RF interference and multiple simultaneous downloads/uploads.

If you are downloading on a few machines and run a speed test on another you are not going to get anywhere near your rated value.

Finally a single speed test is useless you need to run at least six one immediately after the other as the test only runs over a small time frame and to gauge the quality of your connection you need to monitor it over a longer time frame.

I'm certain it's the router. I've run a number of speed tests over the past while. Always under 2mb on the router and around 5mb when connected direct. The router is close to the computer too so I can't imagine there's be much interference and there's nothing else downloading from it generally.

humaxf1 wrote: »

To the OP, who is you BB provider? Do you get BB via phone line, "cable" tv, fixed wireless or other?

Ripple. Comes in via a dish on the roof.

FSL

You need to make sure your router is operating on a different channel to the Ripplecom antenna ( preferably at least 5 away from the Ripplecom.)

I believe Ripplecom is fixed wireless. The Ripplecom antenna will be operating at a higher power than your router and could well be causing the interference.