Wifi - I want more speed!

[Bubba]

Well I now have my new super fast fibre but am disappointed with my wifi speed. If I run a wired connection I get close to 70mb which isn't far off the 78mb limit. However on wifi on various devices (win 7 laptop, win Xp laptop, MacBook Pro with Lion, MacBook Pro with leopard, iPads and iPhones I get a max of 31mb. Tried changing the channel on the sky router after checking for co channel interference and also used a mac time machine with a 5ghz wifi and still no improvement.

All I want is a decent wifi connection I am an ex techie but wifi isn't my bag so any suggestions?

[XTR2Turbo]

As a test, disable the security encryption settings.  Without this overhead you will probably see close to your target speed but not recommended.

 

Also don't get too hung up on download speed. Upload and response time can be just as important.  Also you will find lot's of sides will be hosted at speeds below what you are already seeing.

[SootySport]

If you have teenagers in the house all using the connection at the same time, then 78meg will be what you need. if its just you on the

Connection 31meg is plenty, you ll not notice the speed of the pages appearing on your PC. As said before higher downloads speeds are not the be all and end all. even streaming HD films will work down to 5meg.

[Terry Everall]

I have less than 3mb/sec!!!!!!!!

[Doug Dastardly]

I can't believe you're not delighted with 31!

 

I get up to 0.33 meg, but it's normally 0.25 meg.....and no, the decimal points are not in the wrong place  

 

Now that's something to complain about, and it's not even cheap

[XTR2Turbo]

Terry - are you saying you are slow  

[XTR2Turbo]

Just checked and I am only getting 31M on a 50M service via wifi.  I suspect that this is the max wifi can support with security overhead.

[Terry Everall]

I used to be slow when I had 0.95Mb/sec !

[Blatman]

Do you have wireless G or wireless N access point(s) / router?

Do ALL hosts have wireless N capability, and do ALL of them have it enabled? Remember if you have a single wireless G device on the network the access point will be forced to run wireless G for every other device even though they may have N capability. A single wireless B device will drag the whole thing down to 11Mb/s,and that's before we account for the overhead of security etc.Turning off security may help, but unless you're planning on not using security, leave it in place so you know what you're actually getting when in normal use.

 

Are the other devices silent when you run the speed test? You'd be surprised at how many "apps" hold an open connection that soaks up bandwidth.

 

Are you getting interference from a neighbour, or possibly another wireless device or home appliance using the same frequency? Cordless phones, baby monitors, wireless alarm systems and just about anything else that has "wireless" in it's name may cause interference. No doubt someone will shout "microwave oven" some time soon. Yes I know, but unless you're actually using it, it's not an issue. Normal mobile phones shouldn't affect the result, but don't use them for testing either. Use a PC / Mac, and use more than one browser 'cos they all handle flash / Java slightly differently and this can also affect the results in some cases.

.

Check the actual throughput of your wireless router. Full wireless N is rated for 300Mb/s. Early wireless N was rated at 108Mb/s, but remember it's half duplex so you'll "see" a max of 150Mb/s (full N) or 54Mb/s (early N) *before* network overhead is accounted for.

And remember, the further away from the source signal the slower it will be, and it's a non linear relationship.

 

I have found that speeds on a ping test can be very erratic on a laptop when it's on battery power. Plug it in to the mains and they speed up and even out massively. I have repeated this test many times and it has held true every time. I suspect the same thing might skew the speed test results too. I believe it has to do with how battery powered devices manage their power usage.

 

Do you have the name and model number of the wireless router or access point you are using?

 

Wireless is the bane of my life...

[peterg]

"Microwave oven!"      sorry son, couldn't resist   :laugh:  

 

good to see all the time spent staring at all those boxes with the bling bling flashing lights is paying off

[Blatman]

Evenin dad. Yes, microwave ovens heat the food at a frequency of 2.4Ghz. Good shout

Been staring at some lovely boxes of late, most recently in Monaco

[peterg]

Been staring at some lovely boxes of late, most recently in Monaco

 

hahaha you tart

[Blatman]

I could tell you some stories... like almost getting arrested at the RasCas at 04.30. Not good, especially when we were supposed to be at work at 08.00

[peterg]

We'll have to meet up for a beer sometime and you can fill me in on the gory details.... when you're not jetsetting around the world of course

[Blatman]

Definitely. Hopefully not too much more jet-setting this year. Just one more on the horizon then, unless something else goes bad it'll be a three month project in central London, so this autumn / winter should be a good opportunity...