I am getting a very slow wireless connection.

[costcosaurus]

It is not my ISP causing the problem, because I checked the connection with just the modem only and I am getting the speed I am paying for, 12MB/s download.

The problem must exist with the router I am using, an ASUS WL-500gP V2.

When I run a speed test under my wireless connection, I get this:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2210922131.png

0.45 MB/s download as opposed to 12 MB/s? What could possibly be the problem for the router to bottleneck the wireless connection like this?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

You are confusing bits with bytes. You are paying for 12 megaBITS per second (Mb/s) not 12 megaBYTES (MB/s). Your wireless is coming in at 450 megabits per second which is ~45 kilobytes per second. This may or may not be right for your connection as you didn't tell us anything about your wireless connection:

What wireless adapter?
How is the router configured (wireless a,b,g,n)?
How far away from the router are you when you run the test?
What kind of connection speed does Windows report when you check the connection properties?

Without details we're only guessing.

 

[costcosaurus]

You are confusing bits with bytes. You are paying for 12 megaBITS per second (Mb/s) not 12 megaBYTES (MB/s). Your wireless is coming in at 450 megabits per second which is ~45 kilobytes per second. This may or may not be right for your connection as you didn't tell us anything about your wireless connection:

What wireless adapter?
How is the router configured (wireless a,b,g,n)?
How far away from the router are you when you run the test?
What kind of connection speed does Windows report when you check the connection properties?

Without details we're only guessing.

I apologize for the confusion, yes it is Mega bits.

The wireless adapter doesn't matter because it works like it's supposed to, and the way I can assure that is that I tested the wireless connection from a laptop and it is getting the same slow speed.

I believe it is either Wireless G or N, not entirely sure.

My computer is upstairs and the router is downstairs, but previously I did not have a problem with wireless internet speed until only a couple weeks ago.

Not sure what you mean by this, but I am getting a stable 5 bars.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

If you are going to come here, ask for help, and then start declaring that requested information doesn't matter I have to assume that you know enough to fix it yourself.

However, the adapter and what level of connection is absolutely important. If only 802.11b then you are looking at a good result. If G or N that's another story. Please determine this and get back.

 

[john-b691]

Lets assume you have recently done your testing and you get good speeds directly plugged into the modem and directly plugged into the router.

This leaves the wireless. 5 bars means nothing really. Let say you took a radio and played it and you could hear it well...call it 5 bars... now you take a second radio and play it just as loud on a different station. You would still hear the first radio just as loudly but now it would garbled with the second.

Someone else may have started to use the same radio channel as you. Best bet is to try another and see if the problem goes away.

If you are not using WPA encryption on your wireless you could also have a neighbor stealing your bandwidth.

If it still does not work you are left with some software/hardware issue with either the router or the PC. If you can borrow a router and/or another PC to test. Although not real common these devices do fail

 

[costcosaurus]

If you are going to come here, ask for help, and then start declaring that requested information doesn't matter I have to assume that you know enough to fix it yourself.

However, the adapter and what level of connection is absolutely important. If only 802.11b then you are looking at a good result. If G or N that's another story. Please determine this and get back.

For the radio type, I am getting 802.11g.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

If you're getting a wireless g connection then you've got a theoretical max of 54Mb/s, of which you will rarely see more than 1/2. Since you are seeing considerably less than that we now start looking for sources of interference:

Microwave ovens
2Ghz cordless phones
Another wireless adapter connecting at wireless b speed (will slow everyone to b speed)
One or more neighbors that may have put up access points on the same channel (it's amazing how many people never change the channel from the default 6)

The simplest of these to troubleshoot is the channel. Of the 11 available channels only 3 do not overlap the others. Those channels are 1, 6, & 11. Virtually every device ships defaulted to channel 6 and few ever change it. Log on to your router and change to either 1 or 11 and test again.

 

[costcosaurus]

If you're getting a wireless g connection then you've got a theoretical max of 54Mb/s, of which you will rarely see more than 1/2. Since you are seeing considerably less than that we now start looking for sources of interference:

Microwave ovens
2Ghz cordless phones
Another wireless adapter connecting at wireless b speed (will slow everyone to b speed)
One or more neighbors that may have put up access points on the same channel (it's amazing how many people never change the channel from the default 6)

The simplest of these to troubleshoot is the channel. Of the 11 available channels only 3 do not overlap the others. Those channels are 1, 6, & 11. Virtually every device ships defaulted to channel 6 and few ever change it. Log on to your router and change to either 1 or 11 and test again.

I have changed it to 1 and it netted me with this result:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2211239633.png

I also tried 11 but I got a much slower speed which was quite unbearable. At least this proves that it's a router problem now.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Don't be so fast to jump on the hardware. You still haven't eliminated outside interference. To see if there are others on the same channel as you a site survey needs to be done. Download one of either Vistumbler or Inssider (http://wlanbook.com/netstumbler-windows-vista/) and look at the list of detected networks. If there are several on each of channels 1, 6, & 11 then you will have to live with limited speeds and just choose the least crowded channel.

 

[costcosaurus]

Don't be so fast to jump on the hardware. You still haven't eliminated outside interference. To see if there are others on the same channel as you a site survey needs to be done. Download one of either Vistumbler or Inssider (http://wlanbook.com/netstumbler-windows-vista/) and look at the list of detected networks. If there are several on each of channels 1, 6, & 11 then you will have to live with limited speeds and just choose the least crowded channel.

I only see one other network and it is on channel 1 + 5, but I'm not sure what that means.

If this is the case, then channel 11 would have benefited me but it has not. I really don't understand the problem.

 

[john-b691]

That is because the router can only see a very limited view of whats on the radio. You would actually need a spectrum analyzer to see for sure.

Cordless phones are the most common cause, but you have baby monitors, wireless security cameras and even the new power meters.

Then your router only can see other routers that want to be seen and it can only see routers it supports. For example if someone is using mimo or wide channels or a combination of those feature you cannot see them unless your router also supports those.

The other issue you will find is that your house may just block certain channels more than others.

If you put your computer next to the router and see if the speed improves. If you get poor results with them very close it is most likely something other than interference.

 

[costcosaurus]

That is because the router can only see a very limited view of whats on the radio. You would actually need a spectrum analyzer to see for sure.

Cordless phones are the most common cause, but you have baby monitors, wireless security cameras and even the new power meters.

Then your router only can see other routers that want to be seen and it can only see routers it supports. For example if someone is using mimo or wide channels or a combination of those feature you cannot see them unless your router also supports those.

The other issue you will find is that your house may just block certain channels more than others.

If you put your computer next to the router and see if the speed improves. If you get poor results with them very close it is most likely something other than interference.

I tried the laptop next to the router and it still gets the slow speeds.

 

[john-b691]

That would imply something is broken. If you can borrow a laptop or a phone with wifi would be first thing to try. If you can't then cheapest thing to try is a $10 usb wireless card...if that doesn't work you are stuck replacing the router.

 

[costcosaurus]

That would imply something is broken. If you can borrow a laptop or a phone with wifi would be first thing to try. If you can't then cheapest thing to try is a $10 usb wireless card...if that doesn't work you are stuck replacing the router.

There has to be something that can be done, because there is no reason I should be getting these kinds of speeds when about a couple weeks ago the wireless internet had normal speeds. Something from the environment must have triggered into the wireless connection scene and is completely bottlenecking it.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2212946810.png

 

[john-b691]

It is much better if it is a broken equipment. What are you going to do if your neighbor installed a new system that is jamming you or someone put up some new security cams. Maybe someone hates you and is spoofing deauthentication messages 24x7.

You have said you have tested using a wired connection though the router and it works. That eliminates virus and most software issue on your PC and eliminates the ISP and most stuff in your router. You are pretty much left with a radio problem in your router or your PC. With a test in the same room with no improvement it makes it more unlikely it is interference.

 

[costcosaurus]

It is much better if it is a broken equipment. What are you going to do if your neighbor installed a new system that is jamming you or someone put up some new security cams. Maybe someone hates you and is spoofing deauthentication messages 24x7.

You have said you have tested using a wired connection though the router and it works. That eliminates virus and most software issue on your PC and eliminates the ISP and most stuff in your router. You are pretty much left with a radio problem in your router or your PC. With a test in the same room with no improvement it makes it more unlikely it is interference.

You obviously don't know a thing about networking and routers. If I was getting normal speeds a couple weeks ago, why would broken equipment be the cause of a problem of abysmal speeds? If the router works in the first place, don't you think it only limits down to interference?

 

[sk1939]

You obviously don't know a thing about networking and routers. If I was getting normal speeds a couple weeks ago, why would broken equipment be the cause of a problem of abysmal speeds? If the router works in the first place, don't you think it only limits down to interference?

The easy question to ask is what has changed between then and now? Obviously something has changed, otherwise your speeds wouldn't normally be this slow. I'm assuming that Windstream is a DSL provider, in which case it could be an issue with your phone line, but that's unlikely unless something on your line has changed recently. The other possible issue is that there is a device nearby causing interference, but again unless something has changed it's relatively unlikely. It could also be a problem with Windstream, as accessing their website is painfully slow (seems somewhat likely). Finally, it could be that you have some kind of malware on your computer (check for that as well) that is tying up your bandwidth.

 

[costcosaurus]

The easy question to ask is what has changed between then and now? Obviously something has changed, otherwise your speeds wouldn't normally be this slow. I'm assuming that Windstream is a DSL provider, in which case it could be an issue with your phone line, but that's unlikely unless something on your line has changed recently. The other possible issue is that there is a device nearby causing interference, but again unless something has changed it's relatively unlikely. It could also be a problem with Windstream, as accessing their website is painfully slow (seems somewhat likely). Finally, it could be that you have some kind of malware on your computer (check for that as well) that is tying up your bandwidth.

I ran a scan on my computer and there is no malware. This is a mystery I can be sure that we can get to the bottom of. I just need more clues.

 

[sk1939]

Have you tried connecting with a wired connection? Do that and see what the speed test result is.

 

[costcosaurus]

Have you tried connecting with a wired connection? Do that and see what the speed test result is.

Unfortunately, my PC is located on a different floor from the modem/router but with a wired connection to the PC from where the modem/router is, I get a full 12 Mbps download speed test.

I thought it was explained that I tried a wired connection already.

 

[sk1939]

How many bars of signal strength do you have where your PC is located?

I probably missed it.

 

[costcosaurus]

How many bars of signal strength do you have where your PC is located?

I probably missed it.

It's stable at 5 full bars. I have now come to the realization that it may be my ISP. I have had bad experiences with Windstream in the past.

 

[sk1939]

That's my suspicion, especially with 5 bars of signal strength.

 

[costcosaurus]

Update to my wireless internet problem:

After not figuring out the solution a week ago, I still have the same problem. I called my ISP a few days ago and they kept insisting that it is not them causing the problem and they refuse to send a technician when I told them that I get my normal speeds when connected directly to the modem. I have 2 different routers in the house and I have tried both of them, and they both give me terrible speeds.

There has to be some wireless interference that I'm not aware of. Does anyone have any suggestions to take care of that?