I have been a FIOS customer for years. At the time coming off of DSL the speed improvement was dramatic. But now with multiple laptops, smart phones, gaming systems and a smart TV that all connect to the internet wirelessy our speeds have slowed down tremondously. We do not have FIOS TV as we are on satellite. I have only the wired connection to our router which connects directly to the Xbox, all other connections in the house are wireless.
I spoke to FIOS tech after we had upgraded about 3 weeks ago from 5/20 to 35/35 plan which I thought would help only to find out that wireless speeds would not improve to that level only those who were wired would. Of course I was agitated since the sales rep never indicated that this would be an issue so after fuming for a day I called back to tech and got a technician who was much better and suggested that I could improve the speed issue for the wireless items by upgrading the router. He said just make sure it is one with a ethernet connection otherwise it won't work. Next I go to Best Buy to look at their routers and the rep there tells me that what I am trying to do won't work because Verizon has a very specific router that you need to use.
So my question to anyone who can help is how can I improve my FIOS wireless speeds in my home? Should I replace the Actiontec router or piggy back a N router off of it? Does a dual band router make sense? I am so confused by all of this and trying to stream movies on our tv has become near impossible if too many uses are online but its no different now than before I upgraded the speed-in fact you would have no idea that I had done that.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Before we start toying around with another router, let's at least be sure the bandwidth is coming in. As you've found out you're bumping up against the limits of Wireless G, which maxes out at around 20Mbps typically, 25Mbps if you've got a solid signal. Having a ton of devices on the Wireless doesn't help this at all, can lead to further performance problems. First step is to connect a PC to one of the free Ethernet ports on the Verizon router, or to use the Xbox's Ethernet connection to a PC temporarilly. From there, verify that you are receiving 35Mbps/35Mbps by running a Speed Test at http://speedtest.verizon.net and http://myspeed.visualware.com .
If Ethernet receives the expected results (35Mbps/35Mbps or higher), you can piggyback off of the Verizon router's Ethernet port by connecting a Wireless N router to it, and setting up the N router as an access point. Just keep in mind, any Wireless G devices will slow down your Wireless N router back to G speeds, so you will be right back where you started. In addition, in order for Wireless N to achieve the speeds it's rated for, it MUST be using WPA2-AES Security; no exceptions. Mixed WPA/WPA2 security will not work and will cap you at 65Mbps. So to put it, N devices go on the N router, G devices connect to the Verizon router. But for sure, try to connect whatever you can to Ethernet; best way to do it for FiOS connections due to the nature of wireless.
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