Help with a Router/Modem combo...

[yodandy]

Alright, ill try to break it down.

10Mb connection, Cable
3 linksys wireless G pci cards, 54Mbps each...
1 SMC Router/Cable combo (free with this signup), 54Mbps...

Wired...were getting good speeds, around 9.4Mb speeds, fine.
Wireless...cant grab anything over 5-6Mb speeds...even with the router a foot away from the card.

Is it the crap router? The cards? Or is wireless doomed to never run as fast as wired, even when advertised to run anything up to 54Mbps?

I think I worded everything correct, the service is MediaComm, not sure if its global or not, were in Charleston, IL.

Just wondering if theres anyway to get our advertised speeds through wireless, as its not feasible for us to all be wired up to the router.

Thanks!

 

[nweaver]

it's wireless...5-6 is decent speed for G. You can get faster, but I doubt you want to coat the inside and outside of your house with copper mesh

 

[yodandy]

How is 5-6Mb out of 10Mb a decent speed for something that should be able to handle 54Mb?

So to actually get 10Mb speeds wirelessly, the line would actually have to be spittin out around 15Mb speeds? I mean what is that about...?

 

[spidey07]

yodandy, it's just the nature of wireless.

It is very dynamic in how it deals with the radio channel. 22 Mbs is the best possible throughput in a perfect world. Take away protocol overhead and you are probably looking at 16-18 megabits of payload. Add that you are probably running b/g compatibility and it drops even lower to about what you are seeing.

 

[yodandy]

hmm...well, as long as im here, one more question...

speakeasy's speedtest will be the reference for these speeds

but sometimes, not matter how i position the antenna back there, i cant get more than .4Mb speeds or so, i play around with it, find the PERFECT spot, and itll hop back up to the 5Mb or so speeds, but man, its SO erratic, tried a dif antenna, dif card, same problems, WMP54g linksys card...any reason for it to be so unreliable / erratic with speeds? I mean the routers only a room away

 

[Fardringle]

As Spidey said, that's just the way wireless works. Simply because of the fact that the signals are being broadcast through the air (and you have little to no control over what happens in the air around you unless you seal your house in an environmental bubble and coat the the building in copper mesh like nweaver said) so it will always be somewhat inconsistent even under the most ideal conditions you can get.

Think of it like a public radio station. Even with the best equipment you can get, the signal from the radio station is still not as good as you'll get playing a CD or DVD directly on your home system, simply because some of the signal is lost while being broadcast. In the same way, a wireless network will never be as fast or as consistent as a good wired connection.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: yodandy
hmm...well, as long as im here, one more question...

speakeasy's speedtest will be the reference for these speeds

but sometimes, not matter how i position the antenna back there, i cant get more than .4Mb speeds or so, i play around with it, find the PERFECT spot, and itll hop back up to the 5Mb or so speeds, but man, its SO erratic, tried a dif antenna, dif card, same problems, WMP54g linksys card...any reason for it to be so unreliable / erratic with speeds? I mean the routers only a room away

you can try changing the channel on your AP to 1, 6 or 11. That normally solves "wireless weirdness" problems.