Slow Wireless downloads

[Pghpooh]

HI
I am curious about this.
I switched over to the Verizon FIOS fiber optic service for my home phone and internet service . I got the 15 megabit download and 2 megabit upload service. Before I was on DSL over the copper phone line.
My setup is a 7 year old home built desktop and a HP laptop. I have the desktop connected to the Actiontec wireless router/modem provided by Verizon through the hardwire rj45 cable and I use the laptop via the wireless G.
Put of curiosity I found the Verizon web site to do a speed test on the FIOS. When I run the seed test on the desktop I am getting downloads of 14 megabit plus and uploads of 2 megabit.
When I run the speed test using the laptop over the wireless I get downloads of around 6 megabit and uploads or 750 kb or so.
I thought the wireless was supposed to be faster. Do I have a problem??? When I did the speed tests I made sure no other software or browsers were running and this was at 3am on a Sunday morning.
Again,, are there problems with the wireless??

Thanks
Pghpooh

 

[spidey07]

yes, wireless is SLOW. You can try changing channels to 1, 6, or 11 to see what works best. Also force 802.1G mode only and try with the wireless client in the same room as the access point/router.

 

[Kakumba]

6 megabytes (54 megabit) per second is the maximum theoretical bandwidth of 802.11G, so no surprise. If speed is important, at least use 100Mbit ethernet, or look at wireless N. When transferring large amounts of data, then gigabit becomes very useful (provided you are transferring within your network).

 

[Pghpooh]

HI
Speed isn't that important as consistency (sp) is to me. If I am using a service I expect it to be reliable and consistent!!! When I use the VZ speed test I expect readings better then the ones I was getting on the laptop. Other people I know who have the FIOS and the same riuter that I have are getting 11 to 12 meg all the time

I think my modem/router is the problem. The first thing I did was check the settings on the router and found them to be ch option set to auto and the other option set to the b/g option.

I looked at the settings on the laptop and found the driver for the broadcom wifi was dated in early 2006. I updated the driver and my download speeds jumped to a consistant 9 plus megabit.
I was happy with that because I was streaming musin on my other pc at the time.

About 2 hours later while I was using the laptop it stopped working. I checked my wireless connection and it was gone. I can see the wireless connection of 3 of my neighbors and those signals were weak.
I sit about 10 feet from my modem/router and my laptop didn't see a signal. A few minutes later the laptop saw my router but couldn't connect.
I rolled back the driver to the older version on the Broadcom wireless on my laptp and that didn't help.
I got my old dsl router out and turned it on and the laptop saw that with9ut a problem.
checked to make sure nothing changed on the new router and the options say that it is on wireless and b/g mode, etc
I grabbed a cable and connected the wired port of the router to the wired port on the laptop and everything is fine. Download speeds of around 10 to 11 meg.

Finally I just turned the now modem off for 30 minutes and turned it back on.
It now works!

Last week the same thing happened but it lasted a few minutes.
Verizon is a !@#$% to work with on tech support. I'll call VZ in the morning and see what they say.
I'd love to be able to borrow a wireless router to make sure it?s not my laptop and when I think about it I never had problems when I used the dsl wireless router.
Thanks
Pghpooh

 

[Kakumba]

ok, 2 things here. Firstly, are you complaining that your laptop with wireless is getting lower speeds than your desktop on a wired network? Coz as I said, you have hit the limit of wireless bandwidth for that protocol. You need wireless N or ethernet cables to get any more.

second, I cant really help with the router thing, but I share your pain. My router drops out a lot, whenever I turn my computer off it drops everyone else's wireless connections. its odd.

 

[Pghpooh]

HI
Kakumba.... Thanks for the follow up. I sometimes get ahead of myself and frustrated. When that happens I forget to take things one at a time and I end up in trouble!!! At my age (61) I should know better!! LOLOL
First step is to call VZ and see if the router can be replaced. Since it is new like all new things it can go bad.
Once I take care of that I think I'll calm down because the more I think about it the more I think it is the possibility of a bad router that set me off.
Is there any info out there on the bits to bytes thing I can read to get a better understanding of what is going on?
Thanks
Pghpooh

 

[Kakumba]

Cant think of a particularly good reference off the top of my head, but try a search on your favourite search engine..

And getting all steamed up and missing things happens to a lot (all?) of us...

 

[spidey07]

This actually sound typical and wireless troubleshooting should be started.

1) change channels to 1, 6 or 11. Before anything is done this is the first step. Repeat.
2) Always leave Broadcast SSID enabled.
3) Ensure antennas are connected and pointing straight up.

It sounds like you're dealing with a noise problem (given your low throughput initially). Resetting the router made it select another channel. Also keep other sources of 2.4 Ghz away from the client and the AP - this includes bluetooth, microwaves, cordless phones, etc.

Troubleshooting wifi seems counter intuitive sometimes but you have to methodically follow a pattern, the first of which is to change channels. You can't control the airwaves and just because it worked once doesn't mean it will work again.