20Mb cable broadband - full speed possible via wireless?

[Twinfan]

Question for the techies on the forum please?  :)

I've just upgraded my Virgin Media cable broadband to 20Mb, as only costs me an extra fiver a month.  My setup is a new Dell Vista desktop, a Linksys USB wireless connection, a Linksys WRK54G router (using 8.11g) and an NTL 250 modem.

I'd been testing the connection out before the upgrade via www.speedtest.net and I was getting around 2-3Mb/s (on a good day) from 4Mb broadband.  Reasonable enough I guess.  Post upgrade at the weekend, I've had it up to 10Mb a couple of times, but most of the time I'll get between 4Mb to 6Mb.  Very, very poor.  Upload speed remains as it has always been at 700Kb/s.

I've tried connecting directly to my router via a long ethernet cable and straight away the speed jumps up to a consistent 19.5Mb.  I also get 19.5Mb direct from the modem when using a laptop.  So it looks like the problem is the router when I connect to it wirelessly.

Is it possible to get a 20Mb wireless connection?  Ideally I'd like the connection to use 8.11b/g rather than the new 'n' spec so I can use it with my work laptop.  If it is possible, what would I need to get it?  A new router?  New wireless connection on the PC? 

Any help much appreciated  :)

[Roobubba]

draft n devices are, as far as I'm aware, all backwards compatible with g/b etc. I would be very surprised if you'd get a functional 20 MBit connection wirelessly through any of the above, tbh. The downside of draft n at the minute appears to be that if any device is not draft n compatible, everything on the network slows down to g speeds. As long as you've got a proper wireless router with a good signal strength, and your laptop has a good wireless connection, you might get between 10 and 15 MBit on a good day wirelessly. That's just my ball-park guessing figure. I tend to find all wireless networks pretty flakey.

A great alternative is homeplug, provided that your wiring supports it (I've not found wiring that doesn't, yet). They're devices which can act as 4-port switches or single network devices which plug into a power socket in your house (one near the router, wired up, one where you connect your computer, and more if you desire). These are fantastic for putting static devices on the network, because you get full network speeds, and you don't need to worry about flakiness of wireless signal, or people trying to hack your network :)

Just a thought,

Roo

[Twinfan]

Cheers Roo.  The problem I have is that the modem is downstairs, the router is in one bedroom upstairs and the computer in another bedroom across the landing.  Wireless is the only option really.

Is there nothing I can do then?

[Twinfan]

Just looked up the Homeplug thing - wow, looks perfect!

I think I may have to give them a go.  Any recommendations for a source?  This place came up via Google:

www.homeplugs.co.uk

[Kilby]

Wireless can be a bit evil to say the least regarding expected vs actual thoughput.

Firstly Tx & Rx are on the same channel, therefore you have 54M shared between Xmit & Receive

Theres huge amounts of contention on wireless if you have more than one wireless device in use then they end up sharing the bandwidth (usually in a most unpredictable fashion)

If any neighbours have a wireless router then you need a separation of about 5 channels to stop their kit from causing you issues. i.e. if they are on channel 1 then you need to be on 5 to have some enough separation. (Thats how the old 22Mbit cards b cards worked)

If anybody in the area is using a Mimo routers then they use 2 (or more) channels (1 Tx 1 Rx) separated by 5 channels, therefore if they appear to be using channel one they are also (probably) using 5, therefore you really need to be up around 10.  (Thats how the 108Mbit G routers & cards work) I have seen whole streets be affected from a Mimo router being installed.

Microwave ovens, bluetooth and a load of other kit (Xbox360 controllers & video sendsers for example) also share the 2.4GHz spectrum, and can affect the quality of your connection.

Brick walls really hit your signal strength.

Therefore I'd suggest

1: checking the channels your neighbours are using (and move to another channel if nessicary)

2: move your router to give yourself the smallest number of walls for the signal to pass through.

3: If your transfer rates are still awful then I'd suggest moving to a faster router (or a more antisocial one (Mimo being very effective)


Hope this waffle helps

[Twinfan]

Cheers Kilby, all good stuff!

I'm thinking the Homeplug thing will work perfectly for what I want, so I'm going to give those a try....

[Roobubba]

You can get them from pretty much any source. I've used the Netgear 4 port ones to great effect, but if you only require one port in each position, that's certainly a cheaper option! The 85 MBit ones are fine if you want to save a bit of cash, because you can still stream video over that network speed quite happily :)

[Twinfan]

Thanks Roo.  I've future-proofed myself and gone for the 200Mb/s ones for £85 delivered (a pair).  Shoule be with me tomorrow to try out...

www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.asp?ProductID=5351

[shobet]

I've got the Solwise 85Mbs plugs dotted around the house. Seems to work fine, no idea how far I'm broadcasting the packets over the mains though...

[Kilby]

I remember seeing those plugs in about 1984 or 85, to me they make so much more sense than wireless
Oh the 'signal' can be picked up quite some way off by folks on the same phase, as the electric company use a similar method for pay as you go meters (basically back to the substation transformer)

[Twinfan]

Right, I guess I'll be using their security password then - just in case!

[Kilby]

Right, I guess I'll be using their security password then - just in case!

That goes without saying these days.

Oh yeah are you using WEP or WPA encryption on your wireless network as that can make a difference depending on your basestation and wireless card



Boring anicdote follows feel free to ignore.

My last employers had an IT director who wanted wireless connectivity within certain sites and declared that the Comms director was being obstruvtive in voicing safety concerns (amongst other technical issues some of which Twinfan is suffering from)

Anyway to settle the arguement the IT dept set up a wireless router and laptop with WEP and 128 bit encryption.

It took 7 minutes for me to break their network (I had to break it 5 more times (with new keys) before the director accepted that it wasn't becasue I knew the keys in advance).

WPA could have been used but too slow down too much with more than 3 or 4 clients are attached.

[Twinfan]

I was using 128bit WEP encryption.

Just fired up the HomePlugs and got my full 20Mb  :D

Cheers everyone, and HomePlugs rock!

[Roobubba]

 :drink:

[Kilby]

So what speed you getting now ?

It won't help me cos I'm only on 2Meg but it may be useful for a couple of workmates