How do I identify if my wireless router speed is being limited?

[mcase]

Hello,

I have a Microsoft MN-500 wireless router that I am using and I would appreciate some help identifying if I am getting appropriate speed levels from the device to my wireless pc. My ISP is Comcast cable.

The issue I am noticing is my wireless speed may be getting limited or throttled from the wireless router itself. The reason I say this is when I run a speed test at speedtest.net, my speed starts at 1 Mbps, then jumps up to 2.30 - 2.50 Mbps and stays at that exact level for the rest of the test duration. Then my upload speed is usually higher than my download speed, at around 2.7-2.8 Mbps. My roommate is connected to the router using a wired connection, and he is getting between 6 and 7 Mbps test speeds.

With the 802.11b standard I should still be able to achieve that 6 or 7 Mbps rate, correct? (assuming my signal is strong, I am using a channel that is not overused, etc)

Are there settings in the router's management that could possibly be set incorrectly so that the router does not allow the full speed to be utilized?

Thanks.

 

[FoxFifth]

Based on my very limited experience, I do not see the same speeds wireless as I do wired: wireless I get download speeds of 13 to 15 Mb/s and upload 6 Mb/s; connected via wifi I get download speeds of 8.5 to 9 Mb/s and upload speeds of 1.8 to 6 Mb/s. I was surprised to see such a speed penalty but have posted here before and was assured that my results appear normal.

 

[mcase]

I found an article on about.com that stated the best wireless bandwidth I could conceivably get through 802.11b is somewhere between 4-5 Mbps. So my issue is that the 802.11b router is my wireless bottleneck. I guess I will have to look into a new g or n router to fully utilize the bandwidth that I am paying for.

 

[spidey07]

That's totally normal for 802.11b

 

[FoxFifth]

... I guess I will have to look into a new g or n router to fully utilize the bandwidth that I am paying for.

The speeds I showed in my earlier post above are on 802.11g

I am not an expert on this and am trying to learn myself, but based on what I have been able to find their is no way that you can "fully utilize the bandwidth that I am paying for" if you complete the connection wireless rather than wired.

I have searched for numbers to see if what I experience is normal (or to see if one brand/model of wifi router has a measurable performance advantage) but have not found much -- possibly due to all of the variables that may be involved. One thing I found at http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/learningcenter/WirelessvsWired was "Connect wirelessly when you'd like to roam around your house with your laptop. A PC located close to the router can use a faster wired connection and connect through wired when the utmost speed is important to you." and also "Wired networks are best when you need to move large amounts of data at high speeds, such as for gaming or entertainment."

 

[MerlinRML]

I just replaced a MN-500 router with a newer Netgear 802.11b/g/n router last week. The MN-500 router was indeed slowing my connection speeds, but I really only test wired connections.

With the MN-500:
On wired connections, multiple gigabytes of files transfers during full backups could sometimes crash the router. http downloads never topped 500-600KBps. Wireless was stable, but I didn't particularly care about the speeds...it's wireless.

With the Netgear WNR1000:
Since upgrading to the new router while keeping all other parts of my network the same, I have seen http downloads of over 1MB/sec. My wireless "feels" faster, but that's probably due to everything running on 802.11g now more than anything. It's still wireless, so as long as it works at a decent clip that's good enough for me..