wireless question

emmer · Post by **emmer** » July 6, 2004, 4:33 am

Ok so I've got a d-link wireless b setup at my place. Ever since I got broadband hooked up here last week, my connection has been slow as shit. Finally tonight I disabled the wireless and threw in some ethernet and I was downloading, streaming video, and pinging servers about 5x as fast as I did on my wireless connection.

Call me an idiot, but I was kind of operating under the idea that a cable connection is 1.5 megabits/sec connection, and wireless b transfers at a rate of 11ish megabits/sec... so if there were any bottleneck in my connection speed, it would be on my modem. What am I missing here?

Anyway, I'm thinking about going and getting a wireless g setup tomorrow. The thing is, I bought all my wireless stuff about a month before I moved in, just to be ready, so I can't return any of it and I don't want to waste another $150 if it's going to be slow.

So I guess my questions are:

Is it normal to be downloading at speeds of about 1-15k a second on a wireless b/cable connection when you download the same file in the range of 50kbps with ethernet?

Is wireless g much slower than ethernet in terms of connection to the internet?

Are those wireless g plus (potentially 100+mbps) setups worth it?

Karae · Post by **Karae** » July 6, 2004, 6:17 am

If your signal strength is below very good you could notice some slowness in downloading... much it doesn't get really noticeable until you get to poor/low signal strength.

Was your wireless connection secure? It's possible that people were piggybacking ing your wireless and eating up all your bandwidth.

If you're at very good/excellent signal and your network is secure you shouldn't have any drop in bandwidth between ethernet and wireless unless you have a 100 MB Ethernet card and the Internet connection to take advantage of it.

Personally, I download just as fast on wireless as I did on ethernet.

Sendarie · Post by **Sendarie** » July 6, 2004, 7:45 am

Yeah same here. I have the G setup at home and even when I get to yellow signal quality mine still stays pretty fast.

Try moving the wireless hub around, maybe your getting some interference from something. If your getting good signal then definately check into your security setting. When I set mine up I was impatient and just hooked it all up without security the first night to make sure it all worked. The next day (I live in an apartment complex) I dropped in my firewall and noticed others were trying to tap into my connection.

Phugg_Innay · Post by **Phugg_Innay** » July 6, 2004, 10:22 am

Use the security features please. When I had time at work I would plop out my laptop and surf off other peoples routers. All you have to do is park near a large apartment complex and look for the carriers. Most available ones are always called " Linksys, and Default" if you see thm ya know you have a way to surf

Adex_Xeda · Post by **Adex_Xeda** » July 6, 2004, 3:00 pm

Most 802.11b routers that I work with oscillate between 11Mbs 5Mbs and 1Mbs depending on signal strength.

9 times out of 10, slowdowns are due to service provider constipation.

Sometimes if another 802.11 device is operation on a nearby channel it will cause association problems between the router and clients. Try picking another channel number.

As far as security to keep other people off you can give yourself a moderate amount of security by turning on your WEP key features, turning off your SSID broadcast, and use the MAC filter option that comes with most routers. Hackers can still get in but they'll most likely move on to another access point that provides less of a hassle to get in.

Clatis · Post by **Clatis** » July 6, 2004, 4:34 pm

try to check online for the latest drivers, when I put my wireless in, the drivers that came in the box were out dated and my connection was slow, and just like the other people said, if your signal is below very good / excellent, it will slow down a bit

Siji · Post by **Siji** » July 8, 2004, 11:01 am

And to think that I thought this thread was about wireless sex toys..

Llaffer · Post by **Llaffer** » July 8, 2004, 6:28 pm

I've used a B router for about 3 years with one wireless device initially, and grown to having 5 devices on wireless or on my hub connected via wireless bridge. Now have a G router (1 G client, others all B)

I've never noticed any slowdown while surfing, gaming, streaming when wireless vs. ethernet except for doing intranet file transfers.

Both wireless devices fight over the 11Mbs and end up with an average of 5 each, and the transfer takes forever.

Other than that, I've had no problems.