WRT54GSV4

I have a WRT54GSv4 using an 802.11Bcard and have WPA turned on. The
best speed i seem to get is from mycinci.com which turns out to be
around 2.7MB per sec. I am on RR with an 8MB down plan. From speed test
site speak easy using the NY test, i get 349.9 KB per sec download
rate. My question is given all these factors is the speed i am getting
the best i can hope for. I should also note that my Laptop which is
wireless is a Mac running OS X 10.4. I tried using the external card
that goes with the WRT54GS and it freezes my mac as soon as its
inserted and returns it to normal when i remove the card. Intially i
had a DLINK 712P+ and only got this one because of not being able to
use WPA with my PSP. So any help would be appreciated.

If you aren't using the Linksys card then you don't have the Speedbooster
component. Not that you are missing out. My speed is around 10% faster
without Speedbooster. WPA made no difference to the speed with G and GS
cards.

My best speed, computer to router to another computer (wireless file
transfer) is around 2 MB/sec. I think I did achieve 3 to 4 MB/sec with one
of the computer connections being wired.

Your speed seems too fast for a B card.


"b117sat" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>I have a WRT54GSv4 using an 802.11Bcard and have WPA turned on. The
> best speed i seem to get is from mycinci.com which turns out to be
> around 2.7MB per sec. I am on RR with an 8MB down plan. From speed test
> site speak easy using the NY test, i get 349.9 KB per sec download
> rate. My question is given all these factors is the speed i am getting
> the best i can hope for. I should also note that my Laptop which is
> wireless is a Mac running OS X 10.4. I tried using the external card
> that goes with the WRT54GS and it freezes my mac as soon as its
> inserted and returns it to normal when i remove the card. Intially i
> had a DLINK 712P+ and only got this one because of not being able to
> use WPA with my PSP. So any help would be appreciated.
>

"b117sat" wrote in message ...
> I have a WRT54GSv4 using an 802.11Bcard and have WPA turned on. The
> best speed i seem to get is from mycinci.com which turns out to be
> around 2.7MB per sec. I am on RR with an 8MB down plan. From speed test
> site speak easy using the NY test, i get 349.9 KB per sec download
> rate. My question is given all these factors is the speed i am getting
> the best i can hope for. I should also note that my Laptop which is
> wireless is a Mac running OS X 10.4. I tried using the external card
> that goes with the WRT54GS and it freezes my mac as soon as its
> inserted and returns it to normal when i remove the card. Intially i
> had a DLINK 712P+ and only got this one because of not being able to
> use WPA with my PSP. So any help would be appreciated.

Hi,

I'm in the same RR market as you. (Specifically 275-North area.)

I'm subscribed to RR's standard 5Mbits service and using the same online
speed test (aroundcinci), it is usually pretty consistent at around 4.82 Mbs
during off-peak hours. During peak hours, it may drop to upper 3 Mbs range,
but very seldom has it been lower.

You definetly got something going on that you should t/s. Especially since
your paying for 8 Mbs.

Have you taken out any variables by half-splitting yet? I'd probably start
out by simply plugging one of your computers directly (with it's ethernet
port) into the cable modem and doing a speed test. If it is still crawling,
try another speed test but with the cable modem connected directly to your
cable line coming in to bypass any splitters. If it is still crawling, then
it is either your line or laptop. I know nothing about Macs, but that
freezing of the laptop with the external card is suspicious. Could be
something simple like all the network drivers are screwed up. Got another
computer to do the speed test from there, one you know with certainty it is
in good working order? If so, and you get the speed you are expecting, then
the Mac laptop is the problem. If it is still crawling, get TWC to come out
and check your line.

If the speed test looked good with the Mac plugged directly into the cable
modem (even with any devices before the cable modem), then work forward.
Plug the router into the cable modem and then plug the Mac into one of the
router's LAN ports. Do another speed test. If that looks good, then its
either your wireless hardware in the laptop (or a whole lot of RFI going
on). If I'm reading your message right, it sounds like this Mac laptop has
built-in wireless hardware, but you also have an external wireless card?
Possibly the drivers for the two are conflicting? (Which would also explain
that "freezing".) I'm not familiar with Macs, but is it possible to
completetly remove the drivers for both pieces of hardware and then
re-install just the drivers for the internal wireless? Check Apple's
website to see if you can download specific drivers for specific components
in specific laptops. If it works correctly after that, but you still prefer
to use that external card, might have to either disable the internal
wireless or do a bit of google/deja/manufacturer searching to find a
resolution for the conflict between the two.

Hope that helps some.

Re: PSP. I just got myself one not too long also. Nintendo DS is a lot of
fun, but the PSP is just plain sick! I can't put it down. Burnout Legends
is getting most of my time now. :^)

Cheers,
Eric

On 11 Dec 2005 09:14:05 -0800, "b117sat" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I have a WRT54GSv4 using an 802.11Bcard and have WPA turned on. The
>best speed i seem to get is from mycinci.com which turns out to be
>around 2.7MB per sec.

That's a little bit slower than what I would expect from an 11Mbit/sec
802.11b connection.
| http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FAQ_for...ance_and_Speed
Maximum theoretical speed is 5.9Mbits/sec. I usually get about
4.0Mbits/sec. 2.7Mbits/sec means that you're probably connecting at
5.5Mbits/sec which implies that your client radio is not in the same
room with the wireless router.

>I am on RR with an 8MB down plan.

How fast does your mycinci.com speed test show with a directly
connected (via Ethernet) connection? With 802.11b, you're limited by
the speed of the 802.11b connection. This is not the case with a
directly connected computah which can go to 100Mbits/sec. You should
something close to 8Mbits/sec that way.

>From speed test
>site speak easy using the NY test, i get 349.9 KB per sec download
>rate.

Watch your bits and Bytes. That's why I write them out fully and not
abrev. 350KBytes/sec is 2.8Mbits/sec. Again, your speed is being
limited by the 802.11b card.

>My question is given all these factors is the speed i am getting
>the best i can hope for.

With the equipment you currently have, yes. You need to replace the
802.11b hardware with an 802.11g client radio to go faster.

>I should also note that my Laptop which is
>wireless is a Mac running OS X 10.4. I tried using the external card
>that goes with the WRT54GS and it freezes my mac as soon as its
>inserted and returns it to normal when i remove the card. Intially i
>had a DLINK 712P+ and only got this one because of not being able to
>use WPA with my PSP. So any help would be appreciated.

I don't know much about Mac's but there are 802.11g cards advertised
that will work on a Mac.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Oh, wait a sec...

I just read Brian's reply and he brought up a very good point..

I was assuming that you were using 802.11g with the WRT54GS, but you are
using 802.11b?

(My eyeballs didn't pick up the "b" when you described that external card.)

Is the internal wireless hardware 802.11b also? (The way I'm reading your
post is that your laptop has internal wireless hardware, which you are
seeing these low speeds with and that the external card simply won't work?)

If this internal wireless hardware is also 802.11b, then yeah, that
definetly could give you these low speeds.

I have 802.11a, 802.11g, and 802.11b in the air. I'll do a few speed tests
(aroundcinci) right now for some comparison:

802.11a: ~ 4.28 Mbs
(This is also with DLink's proprietary "turbo". Speed is usually pretty
consistent to what I see plugging directly into the cable modem.)

802.11g: ~ 4.07 Mbs
(Also with DLink "turbo". Speed is also usually pretty close to being
consistent with cable modem, but usually is slightly less than 802.11a.
Probably RFI.)

802.11b: ~ 3.41 Mbs
(No "turbo", straight 802.11b. This is a seperate SSID from the 802.11g, so
to be fair I disabled the 802.11g and put the 802.11b on the same channel,
6, that the 802.11g was on.)

For all of them, signal strength "percentage" ranged from mid 60's to lower
80's, with the 802.11a in the low range and 802.11b in the top range.
802.11a and 802.11g were using WPA-PSK, 802.11b was WEP. I also disabled a
couple repeaters I have as well before doing the speed tests. It would've
been better to have turned off the "turbo" for the 802.11a and 802.11g
before doing the speed tests, but it would've been to config/re-config
everything. I don't think the "turbo" makes all that much of a difference
for internet traffic though. For WLAN traffic, I see (as Brian also said)
maybe a 10 to 20 percent improvent --- even though that DLink icon says "108
Mbs" versus "54 Mbs". Those numbers are just a marketing joke.)

Eric

Since I'm already playing, just for S and G's, ran some online speed tests
with the PSP.

Aroundcinci's applet wouldn't load on the PSP, nor would any of the
java-based speed tests off Broadband Reports, but the "Mobile Speed Test"
(Broadband Reports) works.

If your PSP's cache is set to default 512 Kbytes, you'll need set it higher.
I just used a 2 Mbyte cache setting. Choose the 600KB download in the
"Mobile Speed" test.

My PSP's results were: 837 kbit/sec, 0.21 Bs latency, 5.948s d/l time (for
600KB).

That was with 802.11g and WPA-PSK and everything re-configed to my normal
setup. I'm too lazy to go pull plugs again just to see how much a
difference it would make for the PSP.

800kbs coming into a handheld, from a who-knows-where web server, is pretty
cool though!

I'm confused now. I assumed you meant MBytes/sec but did you mean MBits/sec.




"b117sat" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>I have a WRT54GSv4 using an 802.11Bcard and have WPA turned on. The
> best speed i seem to get is from mycinci.com which turns out to be
> around 2.7MB per sec. I am on RR with an 8MB down plan. From speed test
> site speak easy using the NY test, i get 349.9 KB per sec download
> rate. My question is given all these factors is the speed i am getting
> the best i can hope for. I should also note that my Laptop which is
> wireless is a Mac running OS X 10.4. I tried using the external card
> that goes with the WRT54GS and it freezes my mac as soon as its
> inserted and returns it to normal when i remove the card. Intially i
> had a DLINK 712P+ and only got this one because of not being able to
> use WPA with my PSP. So any help would be appreciated.
>

b117sat <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I have a WRT54GSv4 using an 802.11Bcard and have WPA turned on. The
> best speed i seem to get is from mycinci.com which turns out to be
> around 2.7MB per sec. I am on RR with an 8MB down plan. From speed test
> site speak easy using the NY test, i get 349.9 KB per sec download
> rate. My question is given all these factors is the speed i am getting
> the best i can hope for. I should also note that my Laptop which is
> wireless is a Mac running OS X 10.4. I tried using the external card
> that goes with the WRT54GS and it freezes my mac as soon as its
> inserted and returns it to normal when i remove the card. Intially i
> had a DLINK 712P+ and only got this one because of not being able to
> use WPA with my PSP. So any help would be appreciated.

You'd get better help of you specified which model Mac and card you're
using.