Router as Wireless Access Point has Slow Download Speed

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eww34445

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Jun 4, 2013
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Hello, this is my first post. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I had 2 Linksys WRT160N v3 routers. One was configured as an access point for the other end of my house. The access point began getting very slow download speeds, so I decided it must be dying.

I replaced my router with a Linsys EA3500, and used the working WRT160N as my access point. But I am still getting slow download speeds (less than 1mbps), but my ping and upload speed seem fine. The slow download speed on the WAP is over wifi and also on the desktop I have wired to it.

They are both the same SSID, Security and Password.
They are on different IP addresses (the wap is on .2), DCHP is off on the WAP, and they are on different channels.
They are connected by a 150ft ethernet cable.

Thanks in advance!
 
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rodney_ws

rodney_ws

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When you say your "download speeds" are slow I'm going to assume you mean downloading from the Internet. If that's the case the problem likely is with your ISP and you may have purchased unnecessary hardware. OR... are you having slow download speeds from PC to PC on your home network?



 
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ubercake

ubercake

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Oct 28, 2009
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There should be no reason for the slow wired speed. You could be having an issue with the 150ft cable. You can test connections to the router directly by using just that cable connected to your PC at the other end of your house and bypassing the WAP/switch.

How are the speeds when you plug the 150ft cable directly into your PC at the other end of your house?
 
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eww34445

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When I test with speedtest.net, my router (EA3500) is fine. I'm getting ping=12, download=23mbps, upload=5mbps. That is normal.
When I test the access point (WRT160N), I'm getting ping=40, download=0.69mbps, upload=5mbps.
Does that help?


 
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eww34445

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Jun 4, 2013
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Good idea! I'll try it and get back to you.



 
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eww34445

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Will check the cable, but I have already checked the channels with Inssider and set the WAP channel accordingly.



 
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eww34445

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When I wire the other desktop directly to the EA3500 router through the 150ft cable, I get great speeds. (ping=18, download=19, upload=5)
So, I am assuming some settings are wrong on the WAP, since it was working fine as my main router until I got the EA3500?



 
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06yfz450ridr

06yfz450ridr

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try checking in the router for settings regarding multiple ssids. sometimes devices have problems when using the same ssid. id try changing that one wap to another name and see if it still has a problem, that and check for a firmware update as well as a channel confliction from a neighbor from where that wap is located

use netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid command in command promt it will tell you everything about their device and channels, had this problem when i placed another access point in my room, my neighbor had a strong signal on the same channel as mine
 
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eww34445

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When I reconnected the access point to try 06yfz450ridr's suggestions, My download speed went up to 9.5 wired and 2.5 wifi (from .069 before). This is without me changing any settings on it.


 
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eww34445

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Before I changed the SSID and channel on the access point, it seems to be holding steady at download speeds of 9.5 wired and 2.5 wifi (from .069 before).
I don't understand why the wired desktop gets 19mbps directly wired to my router, but when it passes through the access point, drops to 9.5. ???

I changed the access point to a different SSID from the router and that had no effect.

Then I decided to get on chat with Linksys. They had me change the routers both back to channel=auto ( "Changing the wireless Channels of your router is necessary only if you are experiencing network interference or intermittent wireless connections with your routers.")
They also had me change the SSIDs for the 2.4GHz to be the same, but pick a new one for the 5GHz on the EA3500. ("There is no problem if they (the router and access point) both have the same SSIDs. But for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz Networks, they should have different SSIDs." )

After doing this, everything is happy now. I am getting download speeds wired from the router and access point of about 23. And over wifi from both I am getting about 12+.

So, I'm still not confident it will stay fixed yet. I felt like the info from linksys was the exact opposite of everything I have read elsewhere. Maybe it is just weird science or voodoo magic at work here.........

 
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06yfz450ridr

06yfz450ridr

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ahh wait so all the ssids were the same including the 5 ghx channel? i didnt even know it was a dual channel when i read it. But no matter how fast your wifi is youll never get the same speed as if you were wired.

hopefully it stays pretty consistent tho.
 
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eww34445

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Yes, they were all (2x2.4 & 1x5 GHz) the same SSID. I had read that you should keep the 2.4 & 5 the same SSID and the device (if 5GHz was supported) would switch between them depending on which one was better. But according to Linksys, this is not so.

Everything seems to be looking good still today. I'm a little disappointed that the speeds on my new router seem slower than my router from 2008, but it's working.
I'm actually getting faster wifi speeds from my access point than the router it is hooked to. I'm telling you guys, it's voodoo magic...




 
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06yfz450ridr

06yfz450ridr

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thats some crazy stuff haha, 5ghz and 2.4 can be the same ssid with certian higher end deviced like the ruckus systems we use. As far as home grade i wouldnt since most likely it would be trying to hop back and forth between the two confusing it haha. Thats why most when you turn on the 5 ghz will automatically have it a similar ssid with 5ghz at the end to tell the difference
 
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eww34445

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Jun 4, 2013
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All of my speeds had dropped to pathetic levels today, so I was on chat with Linksys again.

They told me to (on the router) "set the 2.4GHz wireless channel to 11 and the channel width to 20MHz." and "Set the 5GHz channel width to 40MHz and the wireless channel to 36." and "turn off the WMM Support."

Then on the access point, I turned off WMM and also set it to channel 11.

Everything seems to be fixed now. I am getting wired speeds of 23 and wifi speeds of 13+.

I'm pretty content with that, so I guess we can mark this closed.
Thank you to everyone for your help.
 
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