wireless internet slowdown

chorb

Golden Member
Oct 7, 2005
1,272
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I've set up a wireless LAN in my house but I seem to be getting some pretty bad slow downs when using wireless.

I have a netgear wgr614, and when I'm plugged in straight to the router I'm gettnig ~5mbit download from a speedtest, then when I switch over to wireless I'm getting 2.5mbit (sitting right next to the router, excellent signal strength).

is it normal to get that much slowdown? what can I do to improve my wireless speeds?

I've already downloaded netstumbler, found the least congested channel and switched to it, without much result. I've also googled my router and it was suggested to turn of SPI, which didnt do much either. I'm running out of ideas.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Wireless is pretty slow and if you're in a noisy environment there isn't much you can do to help. Try forcing the router to 802.11g mode only so that any 802.11b clients in the area won't slow you down.
 

bobdole369

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2004
4,504
2
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I have the displeasure of working with 2 WGR614's, both slow to less than 1/4 rated internet speed when using wireless. I'm convinced Netgear's implementation is flawed somehow. Seriously - had 12mbit down 2mbit up on comcast wired, on wireless was 15kbit down 8kbit up. Serious big freaking problem.

Normal wireless internet is indistinguishable from wired. Normal wireless ethernet is distinguishable only by file transfer speeds (cpu to cpu) where you'll get about 60% of the line speed in most cases. (i.e. 60% of 11mbit or 54mbit).

Wireless is not pretty slow (or shouldn't be)- even on 802.11b. Now if you are 500 feet from the AP - thats gonna be slow.
 

chorb

Golden Member
Oct 7, 2005
1,272
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After some more fiddling with all the components, I found that resetting the modem to be the most helpful. Speeds for both wired and wirless jumped up to ~6.5Mbit download. There is no manufacturer info on the modem so I cant even see if there is a firmware upgrade for it.