Help! - Wireless router settings...

[Joe_Lorenzini]

I just got a new wireless router. I hadn't had much luck with wireless but this new router (with extended range antenna) works extremely well.

Here's the problem - I got the router set up and working with everything. Range and signal are best ever, fast throughput.

So I configure the security as WPA (passphrase), restart and BOOM, major slowdown....

So I...
- Restart cable modem, wireless router and computer
- Reconfigure security using WEP
- Google search (still working with this one)
- RTFM

No good. System is crawling. Can't figure it out.

Anyone have any ideas to try?

Joe

[srwatters]

What brand and model WiFi router?

Understand the there could be some slowdown due to the packets all have to be encrypted when you enable WPA. If your router is compatible, try WPA2. Don't go overboard on the passphrase length either. Something complex with numbers, letters, and mixed case between 8 and 12 characters should be strong enough.

Have fun!

[ldelacruz]

Also try other computers on your network to make sure it is actually the wireless router. When it slows down check the signal strength on the connection and see what it is connected as. If it is still full strength do a speed test from one of your wired machines and check your internet speed not your wireless connection speed.

www.speakeasy.net has a cool speed test for internet.

[Zylone]

Another tip is to force it to something other than "channel" 6 or 11 (the most commonly used from the manufacturer). The more people using a "channel" the more noise there is and hence the less quality signal you will have.

Again, like mentioned above, with encryption comes extra overhead because of the encryption. I would also try WPA2 if available on your setup!

[CSebesta]

I am not a wireless guru by any means, had a similar problem with my nerw DLink N.

There was a setting that needed to be 40 if you are using 'N' or 20 if using a 'G' network as I recall.

Once I got that right it jumped upto 130 Mbps from around 11 Mbps.

Good luck,

Charles

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Thanks for the replies, I truly appreciate the suggestions!

So far, here is where I am...

B/G/N
The router handles all of them but due to the mixed generational hardware in the house, I can go "G" but not "N" (yet). The router was configured for B/G/N and this was the main cause of the slowdown. When I configure it for "B" only, the speed jumps significantly. When I configure for "G" only, it drops back down to prior levels. At "B" it's usable (ie. web pages render completely) but I still want more.

Security:
It comes with WEP, WPA and WPA Radius. Radius is out as it needs a server to ID the computer and provide a certificate. WPA does have options to configure it as WPA2 AES or WPA2 Mixed. I selected WPA2 Mixed and it did provide a small performance increase so thanks everyone for that! The pass phrase is a 9 character combo so at least I did something right.

So at this point what I'm doing is going through all the advanced settings and googling what I don't understand in hopes to get it tweaked even faster.

Here are my Speakeasy (Thanks Lonnie!) results as of 11am 1/25/09:
Dallas Server - DOWN: 3443 UP: 588
LA Server - DOWN: 2363 UP: 505
NY Server - DOWN: 3341 UP: 481

Any other suggestions are welcome!!! Will keep you posted.

Joe

[srwatters]

What brand and model? Some are definitely better than others. I personally recommend LinkSys or NetGear. I tend to avoid the other 'off' brands although D-Link isn't bad IMHO.

[srwatters]

How do these wireless numbers compare with your 'wired' numbers? It looks like you have DSL, right? If your maximum Internet bandwidth is 5 Mb/sec, then there is little need to go to 'G' or 'N'. Now if you want to xfer files between machines on the local WLAN, then of course, speed thrills.

Of course I have two Apple Airports in my home network and the work rather well connected to my 15/15 Mbps FIOS WAN. The main connection is handled by an Extreme and I use an Express to extend the network to parts of the house not covered by the main device. I pretty much have 5 bars throughout the place. I also take advantage of airtunes to play my iTunes library on the audio system in the family room. Apple rocks

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Yeah, I live in the boondocks so no FIOS (ever, they tell me) and cable was Time-Warner (suuuuuuuuuucked) so yeah, it's DSL which has been very stable.

As for hardwire, I'll have to hook it back up and try it out.

Router is a Rosewill RNX-N4PS which was recommended by a friend (I trust) and got some good ratings on Newegg. Used to have Linksys but their signal strength was pathetic. The Rosewill seems to blow it away. I've never had such complete coverage, ever.

There's just so many tweaks and settings to consider, I've been going through them one by one, trying to understand but so far, no improvement. Channel bandwidths, beacon intervals, preambles, CTS.... ack.

Going to try hardwire now.

Joe

[mathia]

One consideration is to get all of your devices on the same spec. If, for instance, you have 1 B device, the best speed you are going to get is B speed, I believe. The devices will switch to compatibility mode so that the least of all of them can operate properly. If you have all G devices, turn off the other specs/protocols and all devices SHOULD operate at G speed.

[srwatters]

There's an old saying in the IT business... "Nobody ever got fired for buying Cisco". Although the wireless coverage may be better with your new router, the actual code for handling the routing and packet forwarding may not be the best... I've done better with adding a booster antenna to the router than trying other brands. You shouldn't have to tweak around with settings. Most of those won't get you any better performance.

Keep us updated. I'd like to hear how it works out...

[mathia]

Good point, Scott. Cisco owns Linksys, but I wonder if any improvements have come down the pike yet. I have wireless in my house, but only use it for one machine. I prefer wired over wireless when it's workable. I like full speed communications. I am amazed by all the people who tell me about their new routers and how fast G and N are as I tell them it's almost impossible to move that much data over their home network, plus, they are gonna be hamstrung by their internet pipe. Guess the marketing guys have to eat, too.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

I used to live within bike riding distance of Linksys and used them almost exclusively for hubs, cable modems, routers and wireless. I have their pocket sized travel router which I love! But in this case, they just couldn't produce something that worked (and yeah, I got the extended range antenna).

I even tried the Netgear Powerline series (ethernet through electrical outlets) and that worked well but was inconsistent (and a bit expensive).

This has been a 4 year experiment that I would love to conclude and never think about again (grin).

I tried the hardwire and there wasn't much of a performance boost so my focus now is on latency. Wired, the response from request to respond is faster than wireless and maybe I'm perceiving it to be slower since it takes pages longer to render.

Onward...

Thanks for the help!

Joe

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Originally Posted by mathia

One consideration is to get all of your devices on the same spec. If, for instance, you have 1 B device, the best speed you are going to get is B speed, I believe. The devices will switch to compatibility mode so that the least of all of them can operate properly. If you have all G devices, turn off the other specs/protocols and all devices SHOULD operate at G speed.

Can you turn off "B" mode (or specifiy just "G" mode) on B/G devices?

[ggeen]

Okay, IF the slow down is due to the WEP or WPA encryption, using WPA2 won't help. It is a stronger encryption and will take more CPU cycles.

Try a different channel. As mentioned here already 6 and 11 are use as factory defaults by most manufacturers. Channel 1 is the only other usable channel due to frequency overlapping.

I also like the idea of trying a different computer if you have one available. Also try switching back to no encryption to see if your speed improves.

Try using a different pass phrase, as mentioned above. Don't go overboard.

Check to see if you have TKIP enabled and if so how often the key changes. You can safely slow down to rotate keys up to five minutes. Every time TKIP rotates keys, the router much generate new keys and that requires CPU cycles.

Finally, unless you are running a business through this router you DO NOT need anything stronger than WEP. For added security you may change your WEP key from time-to-time, say once per quarter.

As a safety precaution turn off your router when not in use for long periods of time. There are people like me out there that can find any WAP (Wireless Access Point) turned on. Not all people have the same ethics I do and some will initiate an attack on your WAP. On average, we only need 50,000 packets to break your encryption key. We can do that from a 1/2 mile away but it takes time. Decreasing on-air time lowers your attack vector.