How to increase connectivity from PC end

rabinzx

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I rent a room in a house, and share internet with the owner. We AT&T 3MB DSL service which is slow(considering switch service). There is another guy sharing the interent. So three of us all playing online games and download big files. The owner has a Xbox. Three of us have ipod or iphone(meaning sometimes it need to be connected to the internet). I understand the internet is slow may due to the 3MB limit. But I ping 192.168.0.1(Modem) and have a avarger of 5 ms which is normal. Then I ping 192.168.200.1(the gateway or wifi router) which have 50(good days) or 800~1200(bad days). Good days meaning just me using the internet. Bad days meaning all 3 of us are using internet.

I only have 2 bars out of 5 on the wifi single icon. The router does not have antenna. So is there anyway I can improve the single from my PC end?

I just built a new pc with wifi card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=wirless_adapter-_-33-320-048-_-Product
The ADSL Modem is Speedstream 5100. The router is a basic verion router
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/accessory?action=accessoryDetails&accessoryId=44031

If there is no way to do so, then I will go talk to him see if we can buy a new router. and increase internet speed to 8mb or 16mb.

Now I have some question about new router specs: Does 5Ghz have wider range and stonger single than 2.5Ghz?
If the router is set as 5Ghz, and my PCIe is 2.5Ghz, does that work? Is wireless N Draft necessary for 16mb service?

Could anyone give me some suggestion on choosing router, newegg or other website will be fine?
 
Solution
G
There's a couple of things you can do but quite a lot that you can help the router's owner do:

Try to optimise your reception and avoid interference.

1) raise the router above furniture level
2) Experiment with channels (some will work better or worse depending on your environment)
3) If you can detect strong neighbouring wifi, use a channel 5 stops away from strongest.
4) Relocate cordless phone base or video sender etc.
5) Be prepared to move the computer (or at least turn it so your body is not between the router signal and the wireless adapter's antenna.
G

Guest

Guest
There's a couple of things you can do but quite a lot that you can help the router's owner do:

Try to optimise your reception and avoid interference.

1) raise the router above furniture level
2) Experiment with channels (some will work better or worse depending on your environment)
3) If you can detect strong neighbouring wifi, use a channel 5 stops away from strongest.
4) Relocate cordless phone base or video sender etc.
5) Be prepared to move the computer (or at least turn it so your body is not between the router signal and the wireless adapter's antenna.
 
Solution
Sharing the net will always have slowdown issues, especially when someone is downloading a file, or moving a file between computers. Those processes usually just eat up whatever bandwidth is available.

To combat this a bit, get a router that has QOS features, meaning you can set limits and block off certain bandwidth for certain things. For example, you can set it so a certain connection will never take more than 100k of the pipe.

For wireless, the card and the router both need to work on the same frequency. I would suggest a 5ghz one as there is less interference in that range.

If you upgrade your whole setup to N, will help gong from G. You need to remember that wireless bandwidth is not shared like in a regular ethernet switch, each device that connects effectively halves the available bandwidth to the other devices.
 

rabinzx

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Thanks guys, question: I don't find any 5 GHz card in the market which is a bit wired based on "the card and the router both need to work on the same frequency" .

According to ADs, those wireless N router transfer rate could be up to 300mb/s (which in real is about 130mb/s). One theory said we don't need wireless N router because the cable rate for me is 16mb (<56,108,150,300). Another one says we do need it because wireless N has better range and connectivity (which I doubt it). I believe range and connectivity has something to do with Frequency (like 5 GHz has better range and going through more walls) not the "N". I believe "N" stands for internal transfer speed in a router. Also I believe an "N" router will definitively make the network smoother(less drop off the line which I experiencing a lot).


So if I upgrade to wireless N router, will that be the same range (connectivity, 2 out of 5 bars)? I just order two "9dBi SMA OMNI-Directional High-Gain Antenna" (the link: http://www.amazon.com/OMNI-Directional-High-Gain-Screw--Antenna-Linksys/dp/B003RV4AYQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1286506175&sr=1-4) on Amazon. Not sure if it will increase connectivity.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Your link to Verizon doesn't work so I can't verify that the router is wireless 802.11n. If it is, in fact, wireless g you will gain nothing by adding an n adapter -- and, annoyingly, even if the router is n, an n adapter of a different brand may not be 100% compatible.

Don't bother with a so-called hi-gain antenna. Better (if necessary) to pay your landlord to buy an n router of the same brand as the adapter you choose.

5ghz wireless has a shorter range than regular 2.4ghz -- the main advantage is that no-one using 5ghz is likely to be in range of you, so less interference.
 

rabinzx

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Your link to Verizon doesn't work so I can't verify that the router is wireless 802.11n. If it is, in fact, wireless g you will gain nothing by adding an n adapter -- and, annoyingly, even if the router is n, an n adapter of a different brand may not be 100% compatible.

Don't bother with a so-called hi-gain antenna. Better (if necessary) to pay your landlord to buy an n router of the same brand as the adapter you choose.

5ghz wireless has a shorter range than regular 2.4ghz -- the main advantage is that no-one using 5ghz is likely to be in range of you, so less interference.

The router link is http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/accessory?action=accessoryDetails&accessoryId=44031
it will ask your zip code, just type in 91755. It should be fine.

Thanks for sloving the 5Ghz and 2.5Ghz question, that one has been bothering me for long time. I have been working on to buy a wireless N router with landlord during the whole afternoon. Could you help me choosing a network router? Do I need 150mb rate or 300 mb rate? The wireless N router price varier from 23 to 90. I am looking for a router that can is relativelly decent.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Existing Verizon is a G router. Your link to newegg doesn't work so check what adapter you have bought and wireless type -- if it's a brand which makes routers like Netgear, Linksys, D-Link I would try to match the brand of the adapter with any new router.

There remains the issue of the landlord's Xbox -- you need to check that is n because because I suspect it is not and you might be stuck with g.

All of this is information you can find out and once you have it I suspect you'll just have to make do with what you have. See my original post about optimising reception.
 

rabinzx

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Existing Verizon is a G router. Your link to newegg doesn't work so check what adapter you have bought and wireless type -- if it's a brand which makes routers like Netgear, Linksys, D-Link I would try to match the brand of the adapter with any new router.

There remains the issue of the landlord's Xbox -- you need to check that is n because because I suspect it is not and you might be stuck with g.

All of this is information you can find out and once you have it I suspect you'll just have to make do with what you have. See my original post about optimising reception.

Thanks, the newegg link is : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320048&cm_re=wirless_adapter-_-33-320-048-_-Product

or just go to newegg.com search N82E16833320048

you mentioned about landlord's xbox, I was wondering if all of us have to use wireless N adapter. Let's say, the router is N, everyone else is using N adapter except one guy is using wireless g adapter, So he will not get any single , right ?

another example will be , the landlord has a ipod touch 2G(which only support wireless G), so his ipod will not be able use the wifi, that is gona piss him off.
 
G

Guest

Guest
If you put an n router on mixed mode it will accept connections from g devices -- but I suspect that will slow everything to the lower (g) speed -- that was certainly the case if you used b devices with g routers.
 

rabinzx

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If you put an n router on mixed mode it will accept connections from g devices -- but I suspect that will slow everything to the lower (g) speed -- that was certainly the case if you used b devices with g routers.

Tomorrow I am gona buy one from BestBuy, see how it works out.
 

rabinzx

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Bought a Netgear WNDR3300, and a BELKIN Surf N300, did not help to extend the range at all, it even gets worse sometimes. I order a pair of directional antenna couples days ago, it should arrive by tomorrow, hope those will work. If that did not work, I am going to buy a repeater(I have a router with repeating funtion, but I have spend hours and hours trying to figure it out, finally give up). And if all of that does not work, then I will buy a 100 ft ethernet cable and drag it from landlord's bedroom, damn. By the way, the speed on the router says 300mb/s(I know it does not mean internet speed; it means internal data transfer rate in router, right ? ) Is there a way I can test it? The picture shows that the speed is 54.0mb(sometimes 48, 36, 12, 1) while I am using 802.11n radio. Does this speed have any thing to do with 300mb/s.
 

rabinzx

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I have tried every possible way, and end up nothing. I got tired of this annoying problem. So I went on Ebay, bought a 100ft ethernet cable(cat5) for total $7(ship from LA, with tracking number, got it in one and half days since I live around LA) . Problem sloved, now I get 100.0mb/s solid speed. HELL YEAH!