Download speed query - wireless link

Hi

I've recently set up broadband for my mother, and I'm a bit unsure about the download
speed she's getting.

She's with Newnet, on their 1gig a month for a tenner option - fine for her and no
throttling afaik.

Her router, a Netgear Rangemax 108mbps wireless, is syncing at 2816kbps, so I'd have
expected a d/l speed of around 1800 kbps. She's only getting around 950 kbps
according to the Thinkbroadband speed checker, which I'd have thought was a bit slow.

Her computer is connected wirelessly to the router using a Rangemax USB adapter, and
is a couple of rooms away from the router (2 or 3 walls in between I think depending
on which route the wireless signal is taking!).

Before I raise this with Newnet I'm wondering is the limited speed will be due to the
wireless link - the signal strength seems to be very strong though.

Can anyone shed any light on this for me?

Line stats (from the router) are:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 2816 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 59.0 db 30.0 db
Noise Margin 5.6 db 20.0 db

I hope this layout is preserved in the post

tia


--

Andrew Sayers

"Andrew Sayers" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi
>
> I've recently set up broadband for my mother, and I'm a bit unsure about
> the download
> speed she's getting.
>
> She's with Newnet, on their 1gig a month for a tenner option - fine for
> her and no
> throttling afaik.
>
> Her router, a Netgear Rangemax 108mbps wireless, is syncing at 2816kbps,
> so I'd have
> expected a d/l speed of around 1800 kbps. She's only getting around 950
> kbps
> according to the Thinkbroadband speed checker, which I'd have thought was
> a bit slow.
>
> Her computer is connected wirelessly to the router using a Rangemax USB
> adapter, and
> is a couple of rooms away from the router (2 or 3 walls in between I think
> depending
> on which route the wireless signal is taking!).
>
> Before I raise this with Newnet I'm wondering is the limited speed will be
> due to the
> wireless link - the signal strength seems to be very strong though.
>
> Can anyone shed any light on this for me?
>
> Line stats (from the router) are:
>
> ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
> Connection Speed 2816 kbps 448 kbps
> Line Attenuation 59.0 db 30.0 db
> Noise Margin 5.6 db 20.0 db
>
> I hope this layout is preserved in the post

The attenuation is quite high and the noise margin is quite low - which
presumable explains why on an ADSL service that could support up to 8 Mbps
you're getting 2.8 Mbps. But as you say you'd expect a maximum of a little
less than this - 1.8 Mbps is probably a reasonable average.

It will vary with time of day, according to the amount of traffic that other
people are sending (contention), but 0.95 (34% of maximum) does seem a bit
low.

There's also the fact that you are connecting wirelessly. However even if
the signal is very weak, I'd be surprised if it was as low as 2 Mbps. I
*think* (and I may be wrong) that as long as the wireless rate is greater
than the ADSL rate, you should get the same results whether you are
connected over wireless (even if it's as low as 5 Mbps) or Ethernet at 100
Mbps.

I've just done a thinkbroadband.co.uk speed test from my laptop which is
connected by wireless that's reporting a speed of 54 Mbps. My line is
nominally 8128/448 and the test is reporting 5349/378 or 65/84% of maximum.

On my Ethernet-connected PC I'm getting 5007/338 - evidently there was a bit
more contention when I ran that test a few minutes after the laptop one.


Try repeating the test at different times of day (8AM should give higher
results). Also try doing the test with the laptop close to the router to
eliminate poor wireless signal. See what speed the wireless is reporting by
letting the mouse linger over the computer-and-arcs icon for the wireless
adaptor.

"Mortimer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:46699a1d$0$8756$(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Andrew Sayers" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...

> There's also the fact that you are connecting wirelessly. However even if
> the signal is very weak, I'd be surprised if it was as low as 2 Mbps. I
> *think* (and I may be wrong) that as long as the wireless rate is greater
> than the ADSL rate, you should get the same results whether you are
> connected over wireless (even if it's as low as 5 Mbps) or Ethernet at 100
> Mbps.

Ah, I may be wrong in thinking that the effect of the wireless connection
can be ignored. I took my laptop to the bottom of my garden where it
reporting 1 bar out of 5 (although still 54 Mbps!) and the speed test was
only 0.6 Mbps downstream. Tested about 30 seconds later in hte room next to
the router (5 out of 5 bars) I got 5 Mbps again. It's a shame that my PC's
adaptor doesn't report the true wireless speed.

> Before I raise this with Newnet I'm wondering is the limited speed will be due to the
> wireless link - the signal strength seems to be very strong though.

The signal between the wireless adaptor and the router might be
strong, but the actual adsl connection stats aren't terribly strong.

The low signal to noise ratio might mean a number of packets are
having to be re-transmitted, dragging down the overall speed (my Sky
rebranded Netgear starts to drop out badly at around 5.5dB).

One thing that might be worth trying (if you haven't already) - remove
the faceplate off the master socket, and plug the router direct into
the test socket - I found my speed doubled, which meant I had a
problem with my internal wiring (later found to be a second master it
was passing through) - that way, you'll have a good idea if the speed
you're seeing is a true reflection of what the line is capable of.

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>
at 18:17:24 on Fri, 8 Jun 2007, Andrew Sayers <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote
>Her router, a Netgear Rangemax 108mbps wireless, is syncing at 2816kbps, so I'd have
>expected a d/l speed of around 1800 kbps. She's only getting around 950 kbps
>according to the Thinkbroadband speed checker, which I'd have thought was a bit slow.
>
Try www.speedtest.net if you like. I find my results are faster on
there
--
Mike News

Mike <turnpike_user@turnpike_REMOVEuser.THIScomANDTHI S> wrote:

>In message <(E-Mail Removed)>
>at 18:17:24 on Fri, 8 Jun 2007, Andrew Sayers <(E-Mail Removed)>
>wrote
>>Her router, a Netgear Rangemax 108mbps wireless, is syncing at 2816kbps, so I'd have
>>expected a d/l speed of around 1800 kbps. She's only getting around 950 kbps
>>according to the Thinkbroadband speed checker, which I'd have thought was a bit slow.
> >
>Try www.speedtest.net if you like. I find my results are faster on
>there

Thanks for the replies guys.

--

Andrew Sayers

Andrew Sayers wrote:
> Hi
>
> I've recently set up broadband for my mother, and I'm a bit unsure about the download
> speed she's getting.
>
> She's with Newnet, on their 1gig a month for a tenner option - fine for her and no
> throttling afaik.
>
> Her router, a Netgear Rangemax 108mbps wireless, is syncing at 2816kbps, so I'd have
> expected a d/l speed of around 1800 kbps. She's only getting around 950 kbps
> according to the Thinkbroadband speed checker, which I'd have thought was a bit slow.
>
> Her computer is connected wirelessly to the router using a Rangemax USB adapter, and
> is a couple of rooms away from the router (2 or 3 walls in between I think depending
> on which route the wireless signal is taking!).
>
> Before I raise this with Newnet I'm wondering is the limited speed will be due to the
> wireless link - the signal strength seems to be very strong though.
>
> Can anyone shed any light on this for me?
>
> Line stats (from the router) are:
>
> ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
> Connection Speed 2816 kbps 448 kbps
> Line Attenuation 59.0 db 30.0 db
> Noise Margin 5.6 db 20.0 db
>
> I hope this layout is preserved in the post
>
> tia
>
>

It could be that the profile for the line is stuck at 1
Mbps, a common issue at initial connection. If it doesn't
change, report it to your ISP.