Router/Modem Help

[starwars_fan]

I'm looking for a way to improve the internet quality in my house. Right now, we have one modem (the one Comcast gives us) connected to one Belkin N+ router, and my internet connection leaves much to be desired. I get semi-frequent (enough to be annoying) lag spikes while playing swtor, and according to the Network and Sharing Center on my computer, my bandwidth now is only 52.0 Mbps. The modem and wireless router are both downstairs in the study, while a lot of the computers are upstairs, so all computers except my Dad's (which is in the study) have to use Wifi. It is not possible to run cables upstairs for wired access and my Dad does not want to move the location of the modem and router from its place by his computer in the study. Neither does he want to pay an additional monthly fee to Comcast for another modem and router upstairs.

What I'm asking is, just by upgrading the modem and/or router alone, what I could do to improve the internet quality in the house? Is it possible to get much better performance just by changing one or both of those devices? Is the only way to get decent performance to add another modem/router? Is the low performance caused by too many devices splitting the bandwidth and do we need to find a way to get more? Could the distance from the router or the wireless home phone system we use throughout the house be a problem? I appreciate any information you can provide that will give me insight on how to best go about improving the internet quality.

starwars_fan

[hankaaron57]

Walls, microwaves, antenna, cellphones, wireless home phones, iron/steel support beams, etc. will all coincide with the wireless radio waves. Distance is going to cause a linearly poor reception and thus lessened bandwidth.

I don't know much about your modem or router or its known issues/firmware. You should try to isolate what is causing the lag spikes. What is connected to the network? Do you hard reset the router frequently? What all is connected to the network, what kind of encryption [if any] do you have? What channel does the signal run on? It doesn't sound like it's running on 802.11N protocol if you're at 52 Mbps.

If you can adjust the antennae on the router, point them in direction of your computer through the walls. You might want to open up your router config page (192.168.2.1) and look at the reset/refresh time for DNS and make sure it's 12 hours to 24 hours at the least. I know some routers cause big hangups in lag when they're set to refresh in a couple hours.

[starwars_fan]

Thanks, I'll be sure to check the settings sometime soon and report back to see if it helps.

[baiii]

11mb g is prefectly enough to have smooth connection. The connection speed doesn't mean much as it is just a theoretical transfer rate.

What I learned here.free diagnostics.
1. Grab inSSIDer
2. look if their is heavy interference.
3. switch channel

A cheap solution for poor connection (assume no other problem) probably is just grab a router and config it as a AP or bridge. A reliable router cost mere 20-30bulks.

Edit: by adding a router, you don't necessarily have to get another modem and ISP service.

[starwars_fan]

I am intrigued with the possibility of using another router as a bridge. Would it be conceivable to have another router upstairs that takes the wireless signal from downstairs and the boosts it and allows the computer upstairs to connect to it? How would I go about doing this? What kind of router would I need to buy?

Also, I checked some of the settings on the router. I didn't find the DNS refresh rate, but it is an N+ router and I set it so that it only uses the 802.11 N protocol (while before it could use several different ones, including N). I do hard reset the router when there's a problem, but usually less than once a day. I haven't used inSSIDer to check for interference yet but I might do that tomorrow.

[Feral1]

Have you run speedtest.net on your connection. Try it at the router and at your remote location. Try plugging the modem directly into your game machine and play for some time, do you still get lag spikes? Work from your best copnnection, directly plugged into the modem then plug in your router and cable into your machine then stay close and go wireless and the go to your distant location. Find out where the problem kicks in. I suspect your router but test it out. No one can fix the problem until you detect what is causing it. Unless you want to buy all new eauipment and take a chance that will fix the problem.

Another method to fix the problem without repalcing the router is to get a Netgear Powerline adapter. Plug it into the port on the router and into the house wiring then the other module into an outlet anywhere in your house. Now you have a dedicated high speed connection. I am using it on a home entertainment setup (TV, Amp and BlueRay player) very remote from my router and it works great.

[starwars_fan]

I did some more tests. First, I tried inSSIDer and only saw one other Wifi network, so interference from other wireless networks is probably not the problem. Next, I did some speed tests with speedtest.net. My Dad's computer is plugged directly into the router and it gets 19.75 Mbps download speed, which is close to the 20 Mbps we pay for. Upstairs, I get around the 4-7 Mbps range, but next to the router I got 26.77 Mbps.

Because of this discrepancy, I'm concluding that it's most likely that interference from phones, walls, and/or distance is causing the problem and am going to proceed with finding a way to link the computers upstairs to the router without using Wifi. The Netgear adapter looks promising. I was wondering if trying to transfer from Ethernet to coaxial cable and back again would be viable, as well, and if there are any other possible solutions.

[blue68f100]

I have never liked Belkin routers. They all seam to have some kind of issues. Most of the ones I have tried to use/install never worked more than a couple of days. I current have mostly Netgear hardware. The Netgear WNDR3700 would be a good option for you, v2 if you can fine one. Another option would be to look at use powerline adapters to your room. Then setup your own network or setup another router as a AP to expand the current system.

[starwars_fan]

Interesting. This router has worked alright as far as the computer plugged directly into it, though, and so I don't see a huge need for replacing it. I'm thinking of using adapters for ethernet over coax. Do you think that would be a good solution?

EDIT:

I talked to my Dad about possible solutions and we got a Wifi range extender to receive and re-broadcast the signal upstairs. So far I've seen increased speeds on speedtest.net from before and it seems like things have improved. Thanks for all the help, everyone. I did remember to give out +rep.

starwars_fan

[hankaaron57]

One thing I noticed that's amazing about the 802.11n protocol is that it really makes a difference in getting the signal out there. I have my laptop wired through ethernet on the first floor but my desktop downstairs picking up a wireless connection with a USB 802.11g antenna for the router and the speed difference between the two is negligible. Not more than 500 kb/s difference between the two connections either down or up, and since n is backwards compatible with g it works perfectly without the need for a 75 foot ethernet cable, and it's going through a THICK floor with iron support beams and other metal obstructions possibly interfering with the connection.

So, make sure you try using N first.