Internet connection faster than Wi-Fi speeds

Morzan · Mar 20, 2015

Hi,
quite a noob question here. I have an internet connection with 240/40 Mbs speeds, but to connect to it, I use 2,4 Ghz b/g/n Wi-Fi router so the max speed I can achieve with a device is around 40 Mbs for download. Now, I want to know if I even need connection that is this fast. Say 6 devices are connected to the Wi-Fi router at the same time, do they benefit from the fact that the speed is not 40 Mbs but 240 Mbs? Do they get like 40 Mbs each adding up to the 240 Mbs?
Thanks

i7Baby · Mar 20, 2015

Faster is by ethernet cable. Or dual band router - 5GHz band. Or just move your laptop closer to the router.

Morzan · Mar 20, 2015

Yeah I know all of that. That's not what I'm asking about. What I wanna know is how routers distribute the available bandwidth between connected devices and if it's limited by max speed for 2,4 Ghz b/g/n or the actual max speed of my connection (240 Mb/s). At least I think that's the right terminology.

Solandri · Mar 20, 2015

Morzan :

The 6 devices will share the bandwidth, so in aggregate they'll be limited to 40 Mbps. (The precise breakdown is trickier, depending on if you're using b, g, n, or ac. The first two will drop speeds to match the slowest device, the latter two are spread spectrum and allow simultaneous connections at different speeds, though overall bandwidth is unchanged.)

You can eek out a bit more bandwidth with a simultaneous dual band router. Those have two radios - one for 2.4 GHz, one for 5 GHz, and both can be used simultaneously. So half your wifi devices can connect at 5 GHz, half at 2.4 GHz, and (assuming your 5 GHz bandwidth was also 40 Mbps) you'd have 80 Mbps aggregate bandwidth.

5 GHz n and especially ac can hit real transfer speeds of 150-400 Mbps at a reasonable distance from the router (i.e. further than sitting right next to it). If some of your devices support 5 GHz n or ac, you really should consider upgrading your router.

Aside from that, the only way to take full advantage of your Internet download speed via wifi would be to have separate wifi access points on different channels, and have each device connect to its own access point. Note that there are only three 2.4 GHz channels - "channel 1" covers bands 1-5, "channel 6" covers bands 6-10, "channel 11" covers bands 11-15. So you'd have to include 5 GHz for 6 devices. So for 6 devices you'd need half of them to be on 5 GHz.

Morzan · Mar 20, 2015

I have a router/modem combo that is rented by the provider company and that can either go 5 or 2,4 not both at the same time. When I'm running it on 5 Ghz the speeds I get are around 120 Mbs. But I cannot have it like this 'cause not all devices support 5 Ghz. But if I understand it correctly, if I were to let's say take another router and connect it to the one I already have via ethernet cable, I can be running the 5 Ghz one with 120 Mb/s and then 2,4 Ghz one with 40 Mb/s resulting in 160 Mb/s usage?

Actually, I guess I can go even further I were to set the 2,4 Ghz one to n with 40 Mhz bandwidth, instead of b/g/n mixed with 20 Mhz.

Solandri · Mar 20, 2015

Morzan :

That would work. You have three options:

If you don't need your devices to transfer files to each other, the simplest option is to just plug a cable from the ISP router's LAN port to the new router's WAN port. Port forwarding is a bit more complicated for devices connecting to the new router (need to forward from the ISP router to new router, then on the new router forward to your device), but that's really the only complication.

If you need the devices to be able to transfer files to each other, you can set it up as you say. Disable DHCP on the new router, then plug a cable from the ISP router's LAN port to the new router's LAN port (not WAN port). The ISP's router then handles network management. The new router is simply acting as an access point. (Buying an access point would be simpler, but for some reason routers are cheaper even though they are an access point + switch.)

If you think your ISP's router sucks, then get a nice, shiny simultaneous dual band router. Plug a cable from the ISP router's LAN port to the new router's WAN port. On the ISP router's settings, disable wifi, and set the new router's IP address as DMZ. That will automatically forward all traffic to the new router, like it was directly connected to the Internet. Then you can ignore the ISP router and connect all your devices to the new router's wifi.

Morzan · Mar 20, 2015

Ok, so I'm going to do that. I already have two 2,4 Ghz routers here that I'm not using, so I wouldn't exactly be buying them. I have no need for the devices to be able to transfer files between each other but when I went a connected the ISP's router via LAN port to the other router's WAN port, I couldn't get Internet access on the device. There was some problem with DNS server, but I guess that's something that can be fixed in the settings. Or I guess plugging it from LAN port to LAN port would be the easier solution.

Solandri · Mar 20, 2015

Morzan :

Try manually setting DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (those are Google's DNS servers).

The LAN to LAN port is a better solution, but having to disable DHCP one of the routers can be frustrating. If you get it wrong, you can no longer access the router's config page, and have to reset it. Ideally you want to give that router a static IP in the LAN, so you can access its config page after it's plugged in.

Morzan · Mar 20, 2015

Ok so I set the ISP's router to 5 Ghz a/g. And then I connected another router LAN to LAN port, set a static IP to 192.168.0.250, Gateway to 192.168.0.1 (that's the ISP's router IP, I assume that's what's supposed to be here) with submask 255.255.255.0 and 192.168.0.1 primary DNS server. According to some online guide that's how it's supposed to be done. So once I do this, I lose the internet connection on everything...

Edit. Never mind stupid mistake on my part, I forgot to change the routers own IP.

g90814 · Mar 20, 2015

Just as an FYI, one device can't be using 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz at the same time.

Wireless speeds are rarely maxed out, it all depends on obstacles, etc.

Also, all devices are not going to be using full bandwidth all the time, unless you're doing some freaky full time huge file transfers between all devices.

Setting your 2.4Ghz router to 40Mhz channel width will probably give you better connections. You have to set the mode to pure wireless N for this also, so any old devices that may only support wireless g will be out of luck.

Most of the time you're never using your full bandwidth anyway, so if you are getting 40Mbps on average, thats pretty good.

Search

Internet connection faster than Wi-Fi speeds

Morzan

Reputable

i7Baby

Titan

Morzan

Reputable

Solandri

Illustrious

Morzan

Reputable

Solandri

Illustrious

Morzan

Reputable

Solandri

Illustrious

Morzan

Reputable

g90814

Honorable

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page