Forgot to specify on my last post. On my modem tests, there are two sets of numbers for each parameter. The first number is for uploads, and the second number is for downloads. My modem (Westell WireSpeed B90/2100) doesn't report any values for the upload fields, or output power for download. Other modems do, so your fields might look very different from mine.
dslr595148,
I was not able to take my router out of the loop. As I stated before, I needed to clone my original PC's MAC address onto my router, and that's what Verizon is looking for. My modem is set up in bridge mode (which I don't think I can change), and my router is set up as DHCP. Is there a way of setting things up so that I can forego the MAC requirement?
I connected my laptop directly to the modem with a spare CAT5 cable, and turned off the wireless on my laptop (I didn't turn it off on the router), but I didn't see any performance difference. I'm looking to see if there are issues with the router that might be slowing things down, since I can't get around it, but I haven't found anything yet. Also, do you (or anyone else) have any experience with any combined DSL modem/router units? Could I expect any different performace with one of those?
Thanks,
Joseph
All,
I think I found my problem. After reading elsewhere on modem/router issues, I started taking a closer look at my own router (Cisco/Linksys E2000). On the Advanced Wireless Settings page, there is a setting for Transmission Rate. It was set to 5.5mbps, which should have been fine, since the fastest I had seen was just over 4mbps. I changed this to 54mbps, and instantly saw download speeds of over 5mbps. I also read a suggestion to change my Beacon Interval to 75 (default on my Linksys was 100), and the RTS Threshold to 2304 (default was 2347). After these changes, I'm seeing download speeds of ~6.5mbps.
This all happened at about 10:45PM on a Sunday night. I'll have to monitor my speeds over the next week, to see the overall effects, but even at the quietest moments, I never saw over ~4.2mbps until tonight, so this is very promising. Also, even though I made the changes on the Advanced Wireless Settings page of my router, I had the same improvements with a CAT5 direct connection to my router. Since many of us have had similar stink-o download rates, I hope others get a chance to check their router settings, and see if it's the router that is causing the bottleneck, and not Verizon. If you do see changes, please post them.
I'll post back in a few days, after I get some more testing done.
Thanks,
Joseph
Okay, all, I think I'm calling this one done. I'm still not seeing the download speeds that I should be, but this problem is limited to the primetime hours in the evenings. I expect I'm seeing the same thing that everyone else is: people are coming home, and spending their eveings with Netflix downloads until bedtime. As soon as everyone goes to bed (11:00-ish), my speeds go back up. I am off to dslreports.com to complain, and hopefully get put on a different edge router that isn't maxed out. If successful, I will let you know. By the way, see my points about tuning your router in my post above; hope they help someone.
Thanks, everyone, for your advise and help.
Joseph
Figured I would point it out, but when you set a speed of a Wireless connection on a Wi-Fi router, take the speed you're assigining it and cut it in half, since a Wireless link is considered a Half Duplex connection (can only transmit OR receive at any given time, unless you have two radios on either end for a two-way link). Keeping the rates as high as possible and letting the wireless cards/router determine the correct speeds is generally the ideal way to do it in a home setup.
Good to know. I hadn't thought about the full-duplex vs half-duplex, but it makes sense. Now, here's a question for you. Why did the wireless settings affect my speeds when I plugged directly into my router? If it is supposed to impact ALL traffic going through the router, no matter what, I would think (and hope) that Likysys would put this on the more general tabs, and not on the wireless tab.
Thanks
@c0lnag0 wrote:Now, here's a question for you. Why did the wireless settings affect my speeds when I plugged directly into my router? If it is supposed to impact ALL traffic going through the router, no matter what, I would think (and hope) that Likysys would put this on the more general tabs, and not on the wireless tab.
Thanks
Now that is an interesting question...
If you have at least two computers behind your router and one of them only uses the wired connection, please perform the following test.
#1 On both computers go to https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
#2 On there, there are some IP Address(es).
#3 Ignore the IP Address address range, that it tells you there - since you are not checking your ports.
#4 Both computers are coming from the same External IP Address?
--
If you do not have at least two computers..
#1 Try the test wired.
#2 Record what the External IP Address is.
#3 Try the test again, but this time wireless.
#4 Both times, your computer is coming from the same External IP Address?
That does sound rather interesting. Unless there was something running on the Wireless that shouldn't have been, or another PC was constantly eating away at the bandwidth I could imagine a firmware bug on the Linksys being the issue. That's easy to be solved by upgrading the firmware if any are available, though it does sound rather odd still.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
