Help! Wireless Speeds > Wired Speeds!

[Comp625]

I recently reformatted my Dell Latitude D800 laptop. If memory serves me correctly, my speeds after the reformat were normal (around 600kb/sec). I don't really know what happened but suddenly, my laptop can only achieve up to 300kb/sec max! My desktop across the house, downstairs that is equipped with a wireless USB adapter is averaging about 450kb/sec. Mind you, the signal strength for that computer is "Weak" because of its far distance.

At first, I thought it was Internet Explorer acting up but I downloaded Mozilla and I achieved the same speeds.

If I were to unplug the Cat5 cable from my laptop and use the built-in Wireless, I would STILL get the same speeds. It seems like something in my computer is maxing out at 300kb/sec.

Here are my DrTCP settings:
TCP Receive Window: 65535
Window Scaling: No
Time Stamping: No
Selective Acks: Yes
Path MTU Discovery: Yes
Black Hole Detection: No
Max. Duplicate Acks: 2
TTL: 32
Dialup RAS MTU: Blank
MTU: 1500 (set for both my built in NIC and the built in wireless)

Here's something that is odd. I already tried removing and re-installing my built in NIC and the built in Wireless ("Broadcom 570x Gigabit Intergrated Controller" and "Dell Truemobile 1300 WLAN Mini-PCI Card") and that didn't work. However, under "Adapter Settings" in DrTCP, it shows 2 instances of both adapters. Perhaps I improperly re-installed these 2 adapters?

Last but not least, here is my Tweak Test results:
http://ttester.broadbandreports.com/tweak/block:380558b?service=cable&speed=5000&os=winXP&via=normal

Thanks in advance!

 

[Comp625]

I was thinking...maybe one of the "tweaks" that I found on TweakXP caused my computer to cap its speeds at 200kb/sec. For you registry gurus out there, here are the 3 registry tweaks that I applied:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider]

"DnsPriority"=dword:00000001
"HostsPriority"=dword:00000001
"LocalPriority"=dword:00000001
"NetbtPriority"=dword:00000001

----

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]

"ForwardBufferMemory"=dword:00024a00
"NumForwardPackets"=dword:0000024a
"MaxForwardBufferMemory"=dword:00024a00
"MaxNumForwardPackets"=dword:0000024a

----

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]

"NegativeCacheTime"=dword:00000000
"NetFailureCacheTime"=dword:00000000
"NegativeSOACacheTime"=dword:00000000



Oh, and I DID remove the "QoS Packet Scheduler" as it no longer appears in my "This connection uses the following items:" box in the Local Area Connection properties.

 

[Lord Evermore]

You do realize that's kiloBYTES right? You're actually getting 2.4 megabits per second, which isn't terrible for an 802.11b wireless. Your ISP is only providing 5 megabits per second max - you may not be actually getting that speed all the time, and even if the Internet connection could provide it, wireless commonly gets such low speeds. The 600KBps speeds aren't impossible of course, that's only 4.8Mbps, but that's an uncommonly high speed.

If you have the Ethernet cable plugged in, you may not actually be USING the ethernet connection, traffic may still be passing over the wireless if you haven't disabled it. Make sure you disable the wireless before testing speeds over the Ethernet; that may be why the speeds don't change when you disconnect the Ethernet.

Why this might have suddenly changed, I can't tell you. There may suddenly be some interference, another access point nearby using the same channel, or maybe even your WAN getting hammered with traffic that's slowing down the processing on your router.

Try changing the channel on the access point, if it's at 2, go to 11, something a good bit away from the current channel. Try the wireless with the laptop sitting right next to the access point if you weren't already. Do test transfers from your laptop to desktop and back, so you remove any Internet speed issues (although only having wireless on the desktop isn't ideal for testing). Or set up a computer wired to the router/access point for a short time to test.

Try plugging in the USB wireless adapter and see what happens.

When you reinstalled the adapters, you probably did not remove the first installations, so that's why you have two. Or DrTCP may be seeing the "old" settings that Windows hides from you in Device Manager when you reinstall hardware. If you select the View/Show hidden devices option in Device Manager, you might see those ghost installations.

You might also download plans for a homemade signal booster, make it out of aluminum foil and cardboard. That might help at least the desktop get better speeds.

The QoS packet schedule in Windows also does not actually reduce any speeds, it's only "available" to programs that use it, otherwise it does nothing, and very very few programs use it, nothing you're likely to have.

Using "tweaks" for networking can often cause problems like this. You might want to reverse them.

 

[Comp625]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
You do realize that's kiloBYTES right? You're actually getting 2.4 megabits per second, which isn't terrible for an 802.11b wireless. Your ISP is only providing 5 megabits per second max - you may not be actually getting that speed all the time, and even if the Internet connection could provide it, wireless commonly gets such low speeds. The 600KBps speeds aren't impossible of course, that's only 4.8Mbps, but that's an uncommonly high speed.

If you have the Ethernet cable plugged in, you may not actually be USING the ethernet connection, traffic may still be passing over the wireless if you haven't disabled it. Make sure you disable the wireless before testing speeds over the Ethernet; that may be why the speeds don't change when you disconnect the Ethernet.

Why this might have suddenly changed, I can't tell you. There may suddenly be some interference, another access point nearby using the same channel, or maybe even your WAN getting hammered with traffic that's slowing down the processing on your router.

Try changing the channel on the access point, if it's at 2, go to 11, something a good bit away from the current channel. Try the wireless with the laptop sitting right next to the access point if you weren't already. Do test transfers from your laptop to desktop and back, so you remove any Internet speed issues (although only having wireless on the desktop isn't ideal for testing). Or set up a computer wired to the router/access point for a short time to test.

Try plugging in the USB wireless adapter and see what happens.

When you reinstalled the adapters, you probably did not remove the first installations, so that's why you have two. Or DrTCP may be seeing the "old" settings that Windows hides from you in Device Manager when you reinstall hardware. If you select the View/Show hidden devices option in Device Manager, you might see those ghost installations.

Actually, many Optonline users get almost 9Mbps. Unfortunately, my 3com cable modem can only achieve around 5Mbps. I used to ALWAYS get those 5Mbps speeds (which translates to around 600kb/sec). I ran multiple speed tests and even downloaded compressed files - all of which checked out. But for some reason, I am no longer achieving those speeds that I've always had for years of owning Optimum Online.

My downstairs computer which is connected through a Wireless USB adapter is getting double the speeds that I'm getting through an Ethernet cable. And the wireless router is sitting across the house inside my bedroom about 20 feet away from my wired laptop.

I have already disabled the intergrated wireless. That was the first thing that I did when I plugged in the Ethernet cable.

I know that most non-Optonline users don't even get near the "slow" speeds that I'm complaining about, but I'm just annoyed that something in my laptop is capping my speeds. Even after the reformat, I still retained my old ultra-lightning fast speeds but I don't know what happened, my speeds suddenly became really slow. Yet, my downstairs desktop is operating properly...achieving the correct speeds that OptOnline users are used to.

Thank you for replying!

 

[sharq]

And here I was happy at getting 1MBPS on my wireless LAN at home on a 384kilobits (yes, bits, you read that right) DSL connection. 🙂
I wouldn't know what to do with that speed even if I had it.

 

[Comp625]

Originally posted by: sharq
And here I was happy at getting 1MBPS on my wireless LAN at home on a 384kilobits (yes, bits, you read that right) DSL connection. 🙂
I wouldn't know what to do with that speed even if I had it.

Well, my situation is kinda analogous to a hypothetical situation where someone's 2.0ghz system can't run at 2.0ghz due to unknown instabilities so it has to be ran underclocked at 1.7ghz. I mean there's still a decent amount of speed available but you still want the most out of your item in question - especially if it was operating at peak efficiencfy until now.

 

[Comp625]

Help? 🙁

 

[Ninjazx]

maybe your ethernet cable is going out? If its possible, try another connection, thought it might require moving the computer to test. (closer to the modem for another cable, I mean)

 

[Comp625]

Originally posted by: Ninjazx
maybe your ethernet cable is going out? If its possible, try another connection, thought it might require moving the computer to test. (closer to the modem for another cable, I mean)

Did that too. I had a spare Cat5 cable and it still did not work. I was just downloading something via my intergrated Wireless and I got 400kb/sec while I was still capped if I were to download the same file via a direct Cat5 ethernet connection. 🙁

 

[spaceghost21]

I read about a little machine one could build cheap that would disrupt 802.11.b wireless. Don't remember right now where i read about it. Granted this isn't very likely but a possiblity no?

 

[Lord Evermore]

Wallpaper the house in aluminum foil. Or would that intensify any interference? It'd be neat either way.

Did you try the adapter from the desktop on the laptop?

 

[mboy]

I EASILY avg. well over 8mbps with OOL running at least 3 PC's @ once.
You slowdown could be several things.
Spyware on one of your PC's sucking up bandwidth, congested node (too many of your naeighbors signed up for OOL and they haven't split the node yet), problems with your signal levels to the cable modem.

Go to www.broadbandreports.com, then hit the OOL forum and look for OOL Engineer. If you get him your MAC addy of the modem, he can run some tests for you to see if their is a signal level problem or maybe a problem on your node.