Wireless broadband speeds

What speed is your WiFi rated at, and how many other WiFi systems are there in your neighbourhood? The usual reason for slow WiFi is that there are several other networks operating in the same waveband.

Jim, can I suggest too:

(a) if the computer upstairs can be moved (a laptop?) - try it in the same room as the router - see if that's any better?

and

(b) download and run inSSIDer (free) which will show you the other WiFi broadcasters in your area, their relative strengths, and the channels they're using (so you can avoid those channels).
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PS: Cooo!!! An avatar, with the new board!!

What type of  WiFi adapter has your upstairs PC got in it?.B G or N. Speeds are highest with N - 300Mbs is possible B or G about 50Mbs or less

Your broadband speed is the speed between your router and the ISP.

You are only ever going to get the maximum it can manage , at best , and that will be on the hardwired cable to pc.

Wireless never manages to get the full speed ,

802.11b is rated at 10 Mbps , which may manage 5Mbps on average

802.11g is rated at 54 Mbps , which may manage 27Mbps on average

802.11n is rated at 300 Mbps , which may manage 150Mbps on average

Your cabled connection will manage 100Mbs . or if a gigabit port , up to 1000Mbs

As already said, main things that can affect wireless speeds are other networks in the same area on the same channel, but there are so many things operating in the 2.4GHz band that wireless networks use. Look out for interference from cordless phones, digi senders on Sky boxes, some lights, microwaves, they can all affect your wireless speed.

Rather than editing a computer-video editing magazine, my time is now spent sorting out problems such as described here.

My take is this:

My VERY strong suggestion is to avoid wireless if at all possible. That doesn't necessarily mean running an Ethernet cable to where you use the wireless-connecting PC (though would be the ideal). Instead, I'd recommend you use the the cabling that already exists - the mains cabling!

HomePlug is what you need. This uses the mains cabling to transmit the signal and, unless the two rooms are on different ring-mains circuits, you'll find that the speed is massively increased.

What is HomePlug?

It's techomagic - at least, that's the impression you get when you use if for the first time.

In your situation you need two HomePlug adaptors, one that connects into the mains (ideally directly into a wall socket) near the wireless router and connects to the router via an Ethernet cable (supplied). Up where the PC lives, a second HomePlug adaptor plugs into the mains near where the PC will be used (again, ideally, directly into a wall socket) and connects to the PC via an Ethernet cable.

The cost of HomePlug adaptors has plummeted of late. I recently bought, for testing purposes, a pair of 200Mbps (16.5MBytes/sec) from Amazon for the princely sum of £35! At the same time (also for testing purposes) I bought a pair of 500Mbps (62.5MBytes/sec) adaptors for £62.49.

I've not done any test so far but my expectation is that the speed from the 500Mbps models will be very lovely indeed - especially given the fact that most people see an enormous speed boost compared to wireless just by using 85Mbps (1.5GBytes/sec) models!

Oh, and just like all networking figures, those claimed by HomePlug are TOTAL bandwidth (two-way) and are not in any way an indication of the real speed that an individual PC will enjoy.

Nonetheless, even the cheapest, slowest, 85Mbps models can be expected to make a huge difference - and, if you don't like what you've bought, Amazon will give you your money back (and send you a post-paid label to return the items), assuming you alert them within (I think) seven days.

Oh, and if you want the most anal of all reviews of HomePlug, search HEXUS.net for my review of some devolo models. The review is very old now but the info there is still valid and there's lots and lots and lots of test result and details.

For the record, though, the advice about downloading and installing inSSIDer is sound - the program gives you a good idea of whether your wireless router is conflicting with one or more wireless routers that might be using the same wireless channel (between 1 and 11 usually). Though if you want a better view, you have to pay out about £150 for the hardware that the company makes to do this job.

Whatever you use, though, the trouble is, that even if you go into the web-based control panel of your wireless router (via a PC attached to the router by an Ethernet cable) and switch the router to an apparently unused (or less well used) wireless channel, you have to be aware that what you see with inSSIDer is a snapshot in time - it might be that three or four other wireless modems in the area are turned off when you check with inSSIDer. So you need to check the situation through the day and evening to be sure you are not moving out of the frying pan and into the fire.

What Gary says is key to the problem, too:

++++++

Your broadband speed is the speed between your router and the ISP.
You are only ever going to get the maximum it can manage , at best , and that will be on the hardwired cable to pc.
Wireless never manages to get the full speed ,
802.11b is rated at 10 Mbps , which may manage 5Mbps on average
802.11g is rated at 54 Mbps , which may manage 27Mbps on average
802.11n is rated at 300 Mbps , which may manage 150Mbps on average
Your cabled connection will manage 100Mbs . or if a gigabit port , up to 1000Mbs

+++++++

And Dave's comment about the causes of poor wireless reception being multivarious is also spot on.

Cheers

Bob C

Hmm, formatting in that posting not wonderful.

Let me see if I can find out why.

Yup, you need to put in TWO carriage returns if you want a space after a paragraph. Hmmm.

Bob

Hi Bob

Take a look a this report, is it wise to recommend these devices!.

http://Frequency Interference from In-Home PLT Devices

allso search YouTube for interference from PLT devices. Its allso open to debate if they are indeed legal in the UK.

Robert

Broken link, Robert. (If you can't edit your previous post, make a new post with a link, and I'll fix it.)

I Hope this link works

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/technology-research/pltreport.pdf

Robert

Hi, I have a similar problem and am unfortunately very ignorant of wifi issues, so I hope Jim B. doesnt mind me adding a related question. I would be very grateful for any advice.

I have a desktop and laptop, both connected via wifi. The laptop gets a decent signal, the desktop gets a very low, useless signal, although its nearer to the router/ modem. Could this still be a channel issue? Re. the desktop, I just did a clean Win XP instal., and reinstalled the internal wifi card; abit airpace). I am also Virgen broadband, (through telephone line).

Thanks.

I had a problem when changing my router from an old Netgear to a new BT Homehub3. My PC was ok, wireless worked OK, but my wife and daughter's PCs were using a BT Voyager USB wireless adaptor. I went to the BT Broadband forum, and it was suggested that some of the older USB adaptors don't work with anything later than WEP security very well. I changed both PCs to TP-Link USB adaptors that were recommended (about £9 from Amazon) which solved the problem.

Also, we were bought a Bird Box camera a couple of years ago, and I was testing it in the house before putting it up a tree, and it killed the wireless from the Netgear router. Changing the router channel sorted that one out.

Hi Dave, thanks for your comment, but I dont use an old USB style adaptor in my desktop PC, rather a new internal wifi card that cost me 20 pounds recently . It was working fine up to a point, but after a system overhall, the signal is useless. What I dont understand, is why my older laptop does fine, on supposedly (?)  the same channel, and further away from the router.

I've just bought a WD livewire kit for CAT5 over mains from Costco and can'ty get the dam thing to work - although I've not tried every permutation yet.

 I managed to get the modem connected to one box, then plugged the second box into the same double socket and fed the PC and it works. But trying to run the Mac (in another room) off the same set up failed with a long CAT5, as did trying to get the new Humax Fox- something wityh TV portal running by using a downstairs socket.

 I'll try a different "master" mains socket tonight as it's the only variant that I've not changed.

The house could do with a rewire but it's safe enough.

anybody tried the WD?

I might borrow another system from a mate to try incase it's a WD thing

As I said in post no.2 above: run inSSIDer - there's a link in that post. It will show you what's actually going on regarding wifi channels. Stops you having to guess or speculate!

BTW: as inSSIDer will show you: adjacent wifi channels overlap heavily. It is only worth making BIG changes (like channels 1, 6 or 11) if you want to avoid interference or make a substantial change in behaviour.