speedstream ss2624 wireless problems

[Oscar1613]

i bought this router a little while ago during the OD deal and i'm starting to have problems with it... first thing: i've got my desktop connected to it by CAT5 and my laptop connected over wireless with 100% signal (sitting less than 3 feet from the router... using a US robotics wireless card and WEP is disabled for the time being). when i try sending stuff between computers over AIM i only get about 30-50KB/s, and copying stuff via shared folders only gets me about 500KB/s... i thought 802.11b was supposed to be 11Mbps (which would be 1408KB/s)

secondly, is it possible to use the uplink AND have wireless clients access the uplinked DHCP server? whenever i use uplink mode, my desktop gets an IP just fine, but my laptop will just get a junk IP of 169.xxx.xxx.xxx when it should be 130.xxx.xxx.xxx

 

[Lord Evermore]

Well, no matter what, you'll never get nearly 11Mbps, that's theoretical bandwidth and just doesn't happen. Even without WEP, maybe 8Mbps could be expected, but you're not even getting that with the AIM transfers. Of course, a 500KBps transfer via shared folders is 4Mbps (unless you meant 500 kilobits per second). AIM may or may not simply cause a slower transfer due to the way it works. Have you tried connecting the laptop via a wired port and see what speeds you get?

If you connect the Speedstream to another device via the uplink and want the other device to be your DHCP server, then you need to disable the DHCP server in the Speedstream. (Note: it's not recommended to use anything but the 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x blocks for your internal network behind NAT.)

The "junk" IP is Windows default network configuration, it picks a random IP from a 169.150 block.

 

[Oscar1613]

Wired connection gives me upwards of 6000KB/s on shared folders(~45Mbps as oppossed to the theoretical 100Mbps(12800KB/s)), havent tested over AIM yet as i only have 2 CAT5 cables with me ATM (one for internet -> router, other is for router -> desktop) so connecting my laptop means no internet access.

as for the uplink, i'm pretty sure i had DHCP disabled at the time but i'll double check when i try it again in a bit.

 

[ktwebb]

You won't see 8 Mb either. 500 KB is a bit light but not completely out of the expected range either. Even the enterprise class AP's that cost upwards of 500 bucks only manage about 7 Mbps under perfect conditions. 4-6 Mb for a SOHO 802.11b router is about right. I have the same AP/Router as you. Never actually tested the bandwidth w/o WEP. With it (64 bit), through two walls, I get roughly 3 to 3.5 Mbps. 500KB, while perhaps not what you expected, is in line with what you should have expected had you done some research prior to buying the device. Make sure you have the latest firmware on the AP. If your running old firmware you might get a few more KB out of it after you flash it.

 

[kt]

As far as I know, most 11Mbps wireless out there are half-duplex. So, the 11Mbps is actually the combined speed of upstream and downstream.

 

[ktwebb]

Assuming your pass data in both directions from a client. say, if all your doing is uploading to an FTP via an AP, then your getting pretty much the entire pipe to yourself. Of course you'd need to be the only user using that AP since it is shared. That pipe is only 5 Mb give or take 1 Mb. So if you have upload and download going at the same time, you'd have 2.75 or so in both directions. It's not that exact but for the sake of the argument. Once others associate to the AP you split the effective bandwidth in half right off the top. The reason you only get 5+mb on a 802.11b AP is not because it's half duplex, it's because it uses CSMA/CA and has other protocol overhead similar to a hub that take large chunks of available bandwidth off right off the top. Certainly the device being half duplex hurts you, but it's not the reason the overal bandwidth is half the rated speed out of the box.

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: ktwebb
You won't see 8 Mb either. 500 KB is a bit light but not completely out of the expected range either. Even the enterprise class AP's that cost upwards of 500 bucks only manage about 7 Mbps under perfect conditions. 4-6 Mb for a SOHO 802.11b router is about right. I have the same AP/Router as you. Never actually tested the bandwidth w/o WEP. With it (64 bit), through two walls, I get roughly 3 to 3.5 Mbps. 500KB, while perhaps not what you expected, is in line with what you should have expected had you done some research prior to buying the device. Make sure you have the latest firmware on the AP. If your running old firmware you might get a few more KB out of it after you flash it.

i can live with 500KB/s, but i cant live with 30KB/s but i guess thats a problem with AIM and not my wireless.<edit>hmm...now that i have it in uplink mode, AIM is going around 400-500KB/s </edit>

oh and i got the uplink with wireless working correctly. probably a stupid question, but is there anyway to log in to the router's setup page or otherwise check to make sure no one is leeching my connection while in uplink mode?

thanks guys

 

[kt]

Originally posted by: ktwebb
Assuming your pass data in both directions from a client. say, if all your doing is uploading to an FTP via an AP, then your getting pretty much the entire pipe to yourself. Of course you'd need to be the only user using that AP since it is shared. That pipe is only 5 Mb give or take 1 Mb. So if you have upload and download going at the same time, you'd have 2.75 or so in both directions. It's not that exact but for the sake of the argument. Once others associate to the AP you split the effective bandwidth in half right off the top. The reason you only get 5+mb on a 802.11b AP is not because it's half duplex, it's because it uses CSMA/CA and has other protocol overhead similar to a hub that take large chunks of available bandwidth off right off the top. Certainly the device being half duplex hurts you, but it's not the reason the overal bandwidth is half the rated speed out of the box.

Actually, that's not true. The 11Mbps speed is a half-duplex speed. The 11Mbps full-duplex speed is being advertised as 22Mbps. You're not getting the full 11Mbps in one direction. That's the combined rate of upstream and downstream. It's all marketing. Sure CSMA/CA has some overhead.. but do you think that it will eat up over 5Mbps of bandwidth in such a small network environment? (ie, just his AP and his wireless card).

 

[ktwebb]

Duplex in communications, means simultaneous transmission. Usually referred to as full duplex. Half duplex is just that. Data in one direction. It does not mean half the rated speed. The half duplex nature of 802.11 simply means the AP can only transfer data in one direction at a time. It does not mean it will only use half the pipe. If I understand you correctly you are a bit confused. Using that logic, you would never see anything more than 5.5 Mbps for a client connection. That is pretty accurate for SOHO AP's, although some can eek out a bit more. It's not because they are half duplex however. Enterprise level 802.11b hardware, half duplex equipment, tops out at a little over 7 Mbps, approaching 8 with the right firmware, drivers and environment. The 22 Mbps hardware achieves their transfer speed with a modulation type, PBCC. Packet Binary Convolution Coding. CCK is used for standard 802.11b equipment. 802.11 gear is very inefficient, but it isn't half the rated speed because it only has one radio, which can only send or receive, not both. The radios signalling rate is pretty close to 11 Mb under perfect conditions. The biggest chunk is CSMA/CA, however there are other factors. Anway, a google search on half duplex and 802.11b bandwidth might be beneficial to your comprehension of the overall througput and what affects it.

 

[MaxDepth]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

oh and i got the uplink with wireless working correctly. probably a stupid question, but is there anyway to log in to the router's setup page or otherwise check to make sure no one is leeching my connection while in uplink mode?

thanks guys

I don't think so.

review link

The 2624 does have a basic logging capability, but only for internal clients accessing the Internet. It does not track external attempts to access the internal network, and it lacks any advanced features like the ability to e-mail logs or alerts when unauthorized access is attempted on either end of the router.