New router questions.

[JoshOohAh]

Well my internet speed is EXTREMELY slow. I'm on the other side of the house. It's a mid sized house with an average amount of walls but still the opposite side. I'm talking a max of 5mps download (speedtest.net). It doesn't even come close to that normally downloads are around 500kbps. And don't even get me started about when I'm gaming.

My room is also on the other side of the house and my mother insists on keeping the modem in her room so she can tell when I connect to the internet. Thus I'm stuck going wireless because I have literally nowhere to drill holes into the wall.

This leaves me with 2 options

1. N router. I have been looking at some routers but I'm not sure as to which router would be one of the better ones on the market. I have never set up a network before. The current one I have was set up by a family member so I was looking for one that is extremely easy to set up (software preferably). I'm not good with networking I'm more into the other hardware aspects of computers. Also what computer would I need to set up this router on? The one connected to the modem?

So basically I need a router that is
-VERY GOOD for gaming
-N or N+ or N++
-EASY set up

2. Set up my own network in my room. This one I'm not to sure about how this would even work and what I would need. Do I need to pay a separate bill every month? I would need a modem right? Could someone tell me what I would need to do if I wanted to go this route?


THANKS I APPRECIATE IT!

 

[thehacker010]

First of all, not too sure what your problem is with the download speeds. So your max download is 5Mbps but you only get 500kbps? (as in five-hundred, not five-thousand) Is 500kbps the speed when you download files from websites, or the speed from speedtest.net? Does your wireless adapter/Windows show you have a poor signal?

1) The D-Link DIR-615 is a pretty easy consumer wireless-N product. Keep in mind that if you go with wireless-N, you will need to update your wireless adapter as well. The modem plugs directly into the router, so whatever room that is in(your mother's).

2) That is a possibility, but it would first require you to pay another subscription fee for an additional line. They would give you another modem that would go in your room. Most residential companies that I know of do not want to have multiple lines for the same house, so you would have to check with your ISP about that.

There are tons of networking options that really make the second option a LAST resort type of thing. Other options include buying a wireless repeater that would boost the signal and re-transmit it further or running a cable through the attic. (I know you said no place for you to drill a hole)

 

[JoshOohAh]

First of all, not too sure what your problem is with the download speeds. So your max download is 5Mbps but you only get 500kbps? (as in five-hundred, not five-thousand) Is 500kbps the speed when you download files from websites, or the speed from speedtest.net? Does your wireless adapter/Windows show you have a poor signal?

1) The D-Link DIR-615 is a pretty easy consumer wireless-N product. Keep in mind that if you go with wireless-N, you will need to update your wireless adapter as well. The modem plugs directly into the router, so whatever room that is in(your mother's).

2) That is a possibility, but it would first require you to pay another subscription fee for an additional line. They would give you another modem that would go in your room. Most residential companies that I know of do not want to have multiple lines for the same house, so you would have to check with your ISP about that.

There are tons of networking options that really make the second option a LAST resort type of thing. Other options include buying a wireless repeater that would boost the signal and re-transmit it further or running a cable through the attic. (I know you said no place for you to drill a hole)

Sorry about the confusion in the beginning but speedtest.net says the fastest I can download on a local server. I'm saying on average around 500kbps when I'm downloading(steam games, music online software).

Also I have heard bad things about D-Link with compatibility. I was looking maybe a Linkysys or Belikin. Also I have a N network card. Thanks for the advice though.

Also I'm scratching the idea of having a new modem because I don't want to pay twice.

Also I have tried a booster, an external antenna and still haven't noticed much of an increase. A new router seems like the only option at this point


Thanks for your reply

 

[curtis1552]

I'll say I've used several pieces of D-link hardware and never had a problem with my computers.
But I'll put a plug in for my router, WRT610N it's dualband wireless N runs gigabit for local network, and has a USB plug to attach an external harddrive for fileshare and media streaming.
Now, detriments. No external antenna, it's built in, so not much chance of modding it for a range increase. Also not the best for DDWRT, can be done but it's not the best.

While you don't have the option of driling holes, you might be able to run a network cable under a door and around a corner or two, anything to get the router closer would help you.

Side note, you said a booster and external antenna, If you're not getting good reception, then there might e interference in the house, which another router may or may not help with. You clould look into an extender, it's basically a wireless repeater, you might be able to get permission to run it up ot the attic, because it attaches to the current router via standard ethernet cable. example (not saying this is a good one, i don't know)

 

[2fknbad]

Please keep the following in mind. Your Mom's ISP wether it be Cable or DSL bottlenecks on the modem. The RJ45 port on the back of the modem is limited to a base10(10mbs). So if your ISP is selling you 5mps you are only using 1/2 the "pipe"(10base port). Keep in mind that there are 2 #'s and as a gamer you need to be more concerned with the # you have not mentioned, the Up speed. I am not sure who or what your service is, but on a 5mbs line you should be getting 512kbs up. This is not bad but you may be causing a lag on your games with this speed. Ultimatley you would want 768kps or 1 mps up to solve that problem. Moving on to your Wireless issue. You may not need to replace the router as of yet or it may do you no good to. Are you in a 2story house? What is the line of sight like between your antenna vs your router? Think of a pyramid, this is how wireless works. the higher up in the air router is the further out from the base you can recieve. if the line of sight is || to the router then raise the router off the ground as high as you can get it, this will increase range and thus increasing speed. Another problem you face is what is in your walls? How old is the home? All of these thing need to be considered. I am not too familiar with N technology, but you should not need it when gaming over the internet it will do you no good. Now if you are gping to run games from a local network then the N would help, but in that circumstance nothing would beat a hard wire. To answer the question of another line of service, yes you would need another modem and a seperate Line. If your mom's only reason to have it in her room is because she is relying on the conectivity light she is crazy. That light will also reflect activity from the router making internet activity, her pc, and anyone who has hacked your wireless. Hope this helps.

 

[curtis1552]

Here's the thing, you are testing the 'best' connection available.
The server you connect to for a site may be across the country, and also may limit the speed st which you download something from it.
Here's an example of two speed tests:


The main discrepancy? ping.
This doesn't affect regualr browsing a ton, but it does affect gaming.

Here's another thing, speedtest and ISPs list speed in Megabits per second, not megabytes. The computer rates downlaod speeds in megabytes. This discrepancy isn't huge, only about 5% I think, but it does affect it.

What you need to be considering for gaming is Ping. If you have a bad wireless connection then you will have a bigger ping, and more latency, or lag.

The 500kb/s seems a little slow, but not horrible. On a good day I can get my packages or distro's downloaded at 1200mb/s but I'm usually sitting at 600-700kb/s.

If you want to test the differences in ping, then find a wired computer, and run speedtest on it, and then do it from your computer. (different times of dya have different loads on the ISP which can affect service.)

The only real reason to get a new router would be to use wireless N, which operates at 5Ghz, instead of the 2.4Ghz that G operates in. This can reduce interference from portable phones (or increase if it's a 5.4Ghz phone) but will also get through obstructions in the walls easier.

 

[JoshOohAh]

Please keep the following in mind. Your Mom's ISP wether it be Cable or DSL bottlenecks on the modem. The RJ45 port on the back of the modem is limited to a base10(10mbs). So if your ISP is selling you 5mps you are only using 1/2 the "pipe"(10base port). Keep in mind that there are 2 #'s and as a gamer you need to be more concerned with the # you have not mentioned, the Up speed. I am not sure who or what your service is, but on a 5mbs line you should be getting 512kbs up. This is not bad but you may be causing a lag on your games with this speed. Ultimatley you would want 768kps or 1 mps up to solve that problem. Moving on to your Wireless issue. You may not need to replace the router as of yet or it may do you no good to. Are you in a 2story house? What is the line of sight like between your antenna vs your router? Think of a pyramid, this is how wireless works. the higher up in the air router is the further out from the base you can recieve. if the line of sight is || to the router then raise the router off the ground as high as you can get it, this will increase range and thus increasing speed. Another problem you face is what is in your walls? How old is the home? All of these thing need to be considered. I am not too familiar with N technology, but you should not need it when gaming over the internet it will do you no good. Now if you are gping to run games from a local network then the N would help, but in that circumstance nothing would beat a hard wire. To answer the question of another line of service, yes you would need another modem and a seperate Line. If your mom's only reason to have it in her room is because she is relying on the conectivity light she is crazy. That light will also reflect activity from the router making internet activity, her pc, and anyone who has hacked your wireless. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your post. Sadly I am on the same floor as the router and I have them both antennas pointing towards my room. I also have a external antenna hooked up to my network card which boost my speed very slightly. I also have a fairly new home about 8-10 years old I'm not too sure the exact. I am considering getting the Linksys WRT400N and splitting the price with my brother.

The next issue was to check my up speed. I ran speedtest.net and it is locked at .5mb/s (512kb/s). I also tested on my brothers Macbook and he is getting the same numbers on his up speed. I will ask for the bills to see what our max up speed is a month I would assume a base5.

Once again thanks for helping me with my problem.

 

[JoshOohAh]

Here's the thing, you are testing the 'best' connection available.
The server you connect to for a site may be across the country, and also may limit the speed st which you download something from it.
Here's an example of two speed tests:


The main discrepancy? ping.
This doesn't affect regualr browsing a ton, but it does affect gaming.

Here's another thing, speedtest and ISPs list speed in Megabits per second, not megabytes. The computer rates downlaod speeds in megabytes. This discrepancy isn't huge, only about 5% I think, but it does affect it.

What you need to be considering for gaming is Ping. If you have a bad wireless connection then you will have a bigger ping, and more latency, or lag.

The 500kb/s seems a little slow, but not horrible. On a good day I can get my packages or distro's downloaded at 1200mb/s but I'm usually sitting at 600-700kb/s.

If you want to test the differences in ping, then find a wired computer, and run speedtest on it, and then do it from your computer. (different times of dya have different loads on the ISP which can affect service.)

The only real reason to get a new router would be to use wireless N, which operates at 5Ghz, instead of the 2.4Ghz that G operates in. This can reduce interference from portable phones (or increase if it's a 5.4Ghz phone) but will also get through obstructions in the walls easier.

Thanks for the post. I am never lucky to get more than 700 kb/s on my desktop. I am getting a new network card soon to help change it some what.

Alright so I did some speed tests

This is my network card from my room:






On the other hand I used my brothers Macbook to hook it up via ethernet to my router:

 

[2fknbad]

Curtis is 100% correct on the accuracy of those tests. You need to take into consideration the distance in which the data is traveling. For example I live in NC and I like to use speakeasy.net to do my tests. I have a choice of a few servers but the one in Washing DC is closest. Eventhough you are using "empty packets" to drive the test they still have to travel and the further they travel the longer it takes slowing down your time. There is also the DSL vs Cable argument. Here is the ONLY difference. DL/UL speeds on DSL decrease the further away you are from your local telco box. 5mi not too bad 10mi not so good. With cable Distance isnt an issue, but how many people in your neighboorhood or howmany people share a segment and their usage can affect your speed. Honestly I do not believe that that "poor" signal quality you are getting from the router will affect our WAN traffic as long as you have a 5mps connection on your signal. Where you will see a huge performance problem is if you and your brother are playing a game against each other on your LAN or sharing files. Getting a new network card wont help with ISP speeds either. Let me give you a crash course on home networking. Your ISP sells you a line a service that runs at 2 speeds, Your Download Speed(DL) and your Upload Speed(UL). Your DL will always be faster than your UL. The DL is how fast you can suck things into your home and the UL is how fast you can push them out. Unless you have a Brand New Cable Modem made in 2009, then more than likely your RJ45(Ethernet) port on the modem runs max @ 10mbs or Base10. To put this is a little bit of perspective the speed test from your desktop tells me you were runing @ approx 70% of the capacity of the WAN port on your modem, (Wide Area Network). At the time you ran the test I would bet you were the only person on the internet at your house. Now lets look at your brother MAC results. When that one was run the test took approx 30% of the cpacity of the WAN port, since the UL speed was very close to your desktop I am guessing someone else was doing something on the internet. Once you make it to your router from the cable modem you are connected still on a 10Base or 10mbs link, unless you have a newer router which may have a 100base (100mbs) connection. Again this port is on the bottleneck. Now lets look at the LAN side there are two parts to this side. Unlike the service you are getting from your ISP, which is throttled, is A-syncorous. This means it runs at the same speed. The two parts to consider is this, are you wired or wireless. Let start with wired, this is pretty straight forward. Your LAN side either runs at 10/100/1000mbs. Unless your router is from the early 00's which it isnt 10mbs isnt going to be it. More than likely it is 100mbs which 10x faster than you WAN ports thus the bottleneck. If your running 1000mbs on the router also known as 1gb then you are running 100x faster than the WAN. Now for the semi complicated part wireless. There are four bands possible for wireless ABG and N. Personally I am not that up to speed with N so I dont know the speeds, but as you will see it a mute point which gaguing WAN traffic. The A&B bands run at 11mbs which is just a touch faster than you WAN ports will handle. The only differnce between the two is B runs on 2.4ghz and A runs on 5ghz. A never made it to the private sector, but it has its benefits like N does in regards to range and interference. G which is more than likely what you have runs @ 54mbs which is roughly 5x faster than your WAN's. Now when it comes to wirless this principle applies the poorer the signal the slower the speed. If you have a "poor" G signal you should still be running around 10mbs again just at capacity for your WAN's. Wireless can get rather complicated in trouble shooting and speed testing but I hope you can see that it isnt really your problem unless you are speaking of slow LAN speeds. Now all of these numbers change based on how many devices are connected to the network, but we wont get into the principles of switching as I have probally already worte a novel when a short story was needed. I hope this helps you grasp where your problem may lie. Which is simply this, If you are expereicning slow gamming on the internet it is your line from your ISP causing the problem, more than likely you dont have a line of service that can support your need, more to the point your UL is too slow. Also if you and your brother are playing games and your mom is surfing, well again you are sharing a straw when maybe you need a pipe. Ultimately this is a problem for alot of families becuase in todays world of Streaming Video, Playing games, and other devices in the home using up bandwidth the ISP's need to catch up by offering more speed at a more affordable rate. Again I hope this helps, feel free to ask me to clarify anything I have said.

 

[JoshOohAh]

Curtis is 100% correct on the accuracy of those tests. You need to take into consideration the distance in which the data is traveling. For example I live in NC and I like to use speakeasy.net to do my tests. I have a choice of a few servers but the one in Washing DC is closest. Eventhough you are using "empty packets" to drive the test they still have to travel and the further they travel the longer it takes slowing down your time. There is also the DSL vs Cable argument. Here is the ONLY difference. DL/UL speeds on DSL decrease the further away you are from your local telco box. 5mi not too bad 10mi not so good. With cable Distance isnt an issue, but how many people in your neighboorhood or howmany people share a segment and their usage can affect your speed. Honestly I do not believe that that "poor" signal quality you are getting from the router will affect our WAN traffic as long as you have a 5mps connection on your signal. Where you will see a huge performance problem is if you and your brother are playing a game against each other on your LAN or sharing files. Getting a new network card wont help with ISP speeds either. Let me give you a crash course on home networking. Your ISP sells you a line a service that runs at 2 speeds, Your Download Speed(DL) and your Upload Speed(UL). Your DL will always be faster than your UL. The DL is how fast you can suck things into your home and the UL is how fast you can push them out. Unless you have a Brand New Cable Modem made in 2009, then more than likely your RJ45(Ethernet) port on the modem runs max @ 10mbs or Base10. To put this is a little bit of perspective the speed test from your desktop tells me you were runing @ approx 70% of the capacity of the WAN port on your modem, (Wide Area Network). At the time you ran the test I would bet you were the only person on the internet at your house. Now lets look at your brother MAC results. When that one was run the test took approx 30% of the cpacity of the WAN port, since the UL speed was very close to your desktop I am guessing someone else was doing something on the internet. Once you make it to your router from the cable modem you are connected still on a 10Base or 10mbs link, unless you have a newer router which may have a 100base (100mbs) connection. Again this port is on the bottleneck. Now lets look at the LAN side there are two parts to this side. Unlike the service you are getting from your ISP, which is throttled, is A-syncorous. This means it runs at the same speed. The two parts to consider is this, are you wired or wireless. Let start with wired, this is pretty straight forward. Your LAN side either runs at 10/100/1000mbs. Unless your router is from the early 00's which it isnt 10mbs isnt going to be it. More than likely it is 100mbs which 10x faster than you WAN ports thus the bottleneck. If your running 1000mbs on the router also known as 1gb then you are running 100x faster than the WAN. Now for the semi complicated part wireless. There are four bands possible for wireless ABG and N. Personally I am not that up to speed with N so I dont know the speeds, but as you will see it a mute point which gaguing WAN traffic. The A&B bands run at 11mbs which is just a touch faster than you WAN ports will handle. The only differnce between the two is B runs on 2.4ghz and A runs on 5ghz. A never made it to the private sector, but it has its benefits like N does in regards to range and interference. G which is more than likely what you have runs @ 54mbs which is roughly 5x faster than your WAN's. Now when it comes to wirless this principle applies the poorer the signal the slower the speed. If you have a "poor" G signal you should still be running around 10mbs again just at capacity for your WAN's. Wireless can get rather complicated in trouble shooting and speed testing but I hope you can see that it isnt really your problem unless you are speaking of slow LAN speeds. Now all of these numbers change based on how many devices are connected to the network, but we wont get into the principles of switching as I have probally already worte a novel when a short story was needed. I hope this helps you grasp where your problem may lie. Which is simply this, If you are expereicning slow gamming on the internet it is your line from your ISP causing the problem, more than likely you dont have a line of service that can support your need, more to the point your UL is too slow. Also if you and your brother are playing games and your mom is surfing, well again you are sharing a straw when maybe you need a pipe. Ultimately this is a problem for alot of families becuase in todays world of Streaming Video, Playing games, and other devices in the home using up bandwidth the ISP's need to catch up by offering more speed at a more affordable rate. Again I hope this helps, feel free to ask me to clarify anything I have said.

WOW! Thank you and Curtis so much for all this detailed information. I'm very glad you gave me a such a detailed answer where as most people just give yes/no answers. You guys really helped me learn a lot about my internet. Sadly I guess I'm stuck with my crappy Isp plan. I just went to their webpage and found the exact plan just by looking at the max upload of .5mbs and download of 10mbs without going to look at previous bills. The only thing would be to upgrade but that gets very costly especially trying to convince my mom to pay the extra when she nor my brother would even notice the difference. I guess I'll make due with what I have. Maybe try looking for more local servers when I'm gaming is the best solution.

Once again thanks! You just saved me $250 between a new router and a new network card which wouldn't benefit me because of my ISP. Instead I'm putting that money towards a SSD or something that will benefit my computer. I hope someday we won't need ISPs so we can run at the speeds our routers allow us to.

 

[xxjt2oxx]

I'm talking a max of 5mps download (speedtest.net). It doesn't even come close to that normally downloads are around 500kbps. And don't even get me started about when I'm gaming.

I don't know what internet you have, but I'm pretty sure all the ISPs rate their connections in MegaBits/sec, which is going to be significantly higher than if they rated it in the same unit of measure as when you download a file.

When you download something, I'd say 99% of the time you're looking at KBps, which is different from kbps. KB in caps is Kilo Bytes, kb lowercase is kilo bits. Same goes for MBps and Mbps.

Speedtest.net reports in Mbps. To convert Megabits to Kilobytes (speedtest measurement to your actual download speed)

Speed (from speedtest.net) * 128 = KB/sec download speed.

In your case;

5 * 128 = 640 KB/sec

Obviously the internet is going to vary in speed, so you'll hover above and below that