Wireless Router question

#1
CanadianVol

CanadianVol

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#1
I plug into my modem through the Ethernet cable and get ~30mbps per speedtest.net. I plug the same cord into my wireless router and get ~5-7mpbs. Does it make sense that my router could have that much of an effect on my speeds? It's an old router, but my understanding was that the router didn't impact the speed.
 
#2
#2
CanadianVol said:
I plug into my modem through the Ethernet cable and get ~30mbps per speedtest.net. I plug the same cord into my wireless router and get ~5-7mpbs. Does it make sense that my router could have that much of an effect on my speeds? It's an old router, but my understanding was that the router didn't impact the speed.
Click to expand...

Mine came with a disc I never used. It did however have a website in the booklet that when you connected to your router allowed you to set password, speeds, etc
 
#3
#3
Routers can slow down speeds if they have all sorts of internal routing checks and services running to manage traffic within themselves, and the length of a patch cord, the quality of a patch cord, and the settings on a particular port and its connected device can cause issues.

It's recommended that any time you do a speed test that you actually do it directly from the modem and remove the router from the equation. Removing the router eliminates many potential points of failure and bottle-necking. That said I'm not sure what model of modem or router you are using but it might be time to update your router.
 
#4
#4
CanadianVol said:
I plug into my modem through the Ethernet cable and get ~30mbps per speedtest.net. I plug the same cord into my wireless router and get ~5-7mpbs. Does it make sense that my router could have that much of an effect on my speeds? It's an old router, but my understanding was that the router didn't impact the speed.
Click to expand...

So many variables involved. Does it actually seem that different? How far away are you from the wireless router and how many walls/obstructions are you going through? How many devices are using wireless when you test it? How old is your router and your modem? What speed are you paying for?
 
#5
#5
volfanbill said:
So many variables involved. Does it actually seem that different? How far away are you from the wireless router and how many walls/obstructions are you going through? How many devices are using wireless when you test it? How old is your router and your modem? What speed are you paying for?
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At times when my speed drops real low, it's bad, which started my research last night. All of the numbers above are from sitting right beside the router. No other devices were using it when I was running the tests. Modem is only a couple years old, but the router is 5+ years old. I'm paying for the 30mbps
 
#6
#6
So, you have a modem that plugs into another router, correct? Are there any other devices accessing the network on the router when you did the test? Does your modem and router do DHCP? If that's the case, that could be part of the problem of the bad downstream numbers. You only need one DHCP server on your network, so you need to turn one off. Also, did you test all ports, or just one? Could be that the port you tested from has issues. Another thing to check is the overhead on the router, like the processing and RAM numbers. If you have a lot of devices on the router competing for speed, a cheap consumer router will choke down when they all ask for access at the same time.
 
#7
#7
CanadianVol said:
At times when my speed drops real low, it's bad, which started my research last night. All of the numbers above are from sitting right beside the router. No other devices were using it when I was running the tests. Modem is only a couple years old, but the router is 5+ years old. I'm paying for the 30mbps
Click to expand...

What model number is your router?
 
#8
#8
CanadianVol said:
At times when my speed drops real low, it's bad, which started my research last night. All of the numbers above are from sitting right beside the router. No other devices were using it when I was running the tests. Modem is only a couple years old, but the router is 5+ years old. I'm paying for the 30mbps
Click to expand...

Not to belittle you, but is that when you got the modem or how old of a model it is? Your provider might have given you an old modem. Do you have pw on your router so that you know no neighbors/etc are using it? Also worth checking how many neighbors are using a similar setup with their own routers. You might all be on one channel/frequency causing the speed to be severely throttled.
 
#9
#9
volfanbill said:
Not to belittle you, but is that when you got the modem or how old of a model it is? Your provider might have given you an old modem. Do you have pw on your router so that you know no neighbors/etc are using it? Also worth checking how many neighbors are using a similar setup with their own routers. You might all be on one channel/frequency causing the speed to be severely throttled.
Click to expand...

You're not belittling me, I have no idea what I'm doing :)

I bought the router and the modem myself, so it's nothing the provider gave me. The Router is a belkin F7D3302 v1, and I know it's pretty old (that's the ~5 years I referenced earlier). The Model is a Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem which I bought a year ago (September 2013). I have password protected the router, and nobody has the password. Any idea how to check if anyone is using the same frequency?
 
#10
#10
g8terh8ter_eric said:
So, you have a modem that plugs into another router, correct? Are there any other devices accessing the network on the router when you did the test? Does your modem and router do DHCP? If that's the case, that could be part of the problem of the bad downstream numbers. You only need one DHCP server on your network, so you need to turn one off. Also, did you test all ports, or just one? Could be that the port you tested from has issues. Another thing to check is the overhead on the router, like the processing and RAM numbers. If you have a lot of devices on the router competing for speed, a cheap consumer router will choke down when they all ask for access at the same time.
Click to expand...

Correct, I have a modem that I bought because it worked with Comcast. I have a router that plugs into the modem separately. The only thing that could have been accessing it was my Roku, and it wasn't running when I was doing the tests. Everything else that typically runs on the wireless, outside of my computer was off. The rest of your questions, I have no idea how to answer haha.
 
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#11
#11
CanadianVol said:
You're not belittling me, I have no idea what I'm doing :)

I bought the router and the modem myself, so it's nothing the provider gave me. The Router is a belkin F7D3302 v1, and I know it's pretty old (that's the ~5 years I referenced earlier). The Model is a Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem which I bought a year ago (September 2013). I have password protected the router, and nobody has the password. Any idea how to check if anyone is using the same frequency?
Click to expand...

Buy a new router
 
#14
#14
That's a quick rapid answer to something that could easily be much cheaper and basic than new hardware.

Every router and especially brand of routers have different ways to change the channel due to different IP addresses, settings, etc. There are some free utilities to download that will tell you what your neighbors are on. Are you in an apartment or close quarters with a lot of other houses? Google your specific router and it will walk you through changing the channel.
 
#15
#15
volfanbill said:
That's a quick rapid answer to something that could easily be much cheaper and basic than new hardware.

Every router and especially brand of routers have different ways to change the channel due to different IP addresses, settings, etc. There are some free utilities to download that will tell you what your neighbors are on. Are you in an apartment or close quarters with a lot of other houses? Google your specific router and it will walk you through changing the channel.
Click to expand...

I want to try anything I can to not use the new router, so I'll definitely try this. I'm going out of town this weekend, so want to make sure it works for my wife this week.

Edit: Bill, Any particular channel to try, or just try any of the other ones? I have no idea what I'm doing
 
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#16
#16
CanadianVol said:
I want to try anything I can to not use the new router, so I'll definitely try this. I'm going out of town this weekend, so want to make sure it works for my wife this week.

Edit: Bill, Any particular channel to try, or just try any of the other ones? I have no idea what I'm doing
Click to expand...

When you do the wifi scan it will show what channels are open. You'll see peaks on channels that are getting high use.
 
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#17
#17
volfanbill said:
When you do the wife scan it will show what channels are open
Click to expand...

How do I do that? I looked up how to change the channel on my router, but it didn't say anything about doing a scan....

NM, I found one. I'll try this tonight
 
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#19
#19
CanadianVol said:
I plug into my modem through the Ethernet cable and get ~30mbps per speedtest.net. I plug the same cord into my wireless router and get ~5-7mpbs. Does it make sense that my router could have that much of an effect on my speeds? It's an old router, but my understanding was that the router didn't impact the speed.
Click to expand...

Get a new router for sure. Not sure what kind of computer you are using or even your cable provider. Installed memory you have, the processor, keeping your computer scanned for virus', delete temporary folders,deleting some system files, check your search engines,etc there is so much crap, even start up. Sometime it's better to save your personal stuff to a disk,clip and reset computer to factory conditions. Good luck.
 
#20
#20
utfantilidie said:
Get a new router for sure. Not sure what kind of computer you are using or even your cable provider. Installed memory you have, the processor, keeping your computer scanned for virus', delete temporary folders,deleting some system files, check your search engines,etc there is so much crap, even start up. Sometime it's better to save your personal stuff to a disk,clip and reset computer to factory conditions. Good luck.
Click to expand...

None of that applies here. Not one ounce of it
 
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#21
#21
volfanbill said:
None of that applies here. Not one ounce of it
Click to expand...

Yeah that didn't make much sense to me. The computer was the exact same for both speed tests

I'll try the channels tonight. If that doesn't work I'll try the new router and see if it helps
 
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#22
#22
CanadianVol said:
Yeah that didn't make much sense to me. The computer was the exact same for both speed tests

I'll try the channels tonight. If that doesn't work I'll try the new router and see if it helps
Click to expand...

All of his information was for a slow computer. None of it affects actual internet speed.
 
#23
#23
While you're on the subject of wireless routers, I have a question for you who have more knowledge in this area

I recently received a new modem from Comcast and it has wifi. Ok but I still have my Cisco wireless router that does well. I couldnt decide what to do (just use the Comcast wife or use both) so asked a friend and he said just use both. So now I have cable into the modem then ethernet out to the Cisco router. I see both networks on my computer and can log into both. Question is - is there any advantage/disadvantage to doing it this way? I checked speedofme and looks like both are running similar speeds.

If I had two seperate routers I could see that there could be a difference since. I could log into one network while the kids watch youtube, play on line, etc.... and neither would have a slower speed. Since the Cisco is going into the Comcast modem I cant see where the advantage would be.
 
#24
#24
GreveHaller said:
While you're on the subject of wireless routers, I have a question for you who have more knowledge in this area

I recently received a new modem from Comcast and it has wifi. Ok but I still have my Cisco wireless router that does well. I couldnt decide what to do (just use the Comcast wife or use both) so asked a friend and he said just use both. So now I have cable into the modem then ethernet out to the Cisco router. I see both networks on my computer and can log into both. Question is - is there any advantage/disadvantage to doing it this way? I checked speedofme and looks like both are running similar speeds.

If I had two seperate routers I could see that there could be a difference since. I could log into one network while the kids watch youtube, play on line, etc.... and neither would have a slower speed. Since the Cisco is going into the Comcast modem I cant see where the advantage would be.
Click to expand...

I could very well be missing something, but your only possible advantage from using both would be to set up your Cisco router away from the modem, basically making it act as an repeater. I don't know of any advantage in running them both other than creating a wired daisy chain.
 
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#25
#25
volfanbill said:
I could very well be missing something, but you're only possible advantage from using both would be to set up your Cisco router away from the modem, basically making it act as an repeater. I don't know of any advantage in running them both other than creating a wired daisy chain.
Click to expand...

no, you're not missing anything. Your answer sounds logical. Thanks for the help.
 
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