Problem with using AES cypher

I am in Canada with Rogers Cable Extreme Plus package.

This is FYI:

Setup:

- Dell Studio XPS 1640, OS: Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)

- Wireless Adapter: Dell Wireless 1515-N Adapter (802.11 b/g/n) a.k.a. Atheros AR5009/928X. (The drivers are up to date I am using V8.0.0.239)

- Modem/Router: SMCD3GN-RRR Wireless N Gateway (This is a modem-router as in it serves two functions). The drivers seem to be up to date and same applies to firmware as I could not find any updates on SMC Networks website.

- Channel width: 20/40
- Frequency: 2.4 Ghz.
- Security: WPA2-PSK
- Mode: Mixed (B/G/N)
- Channel: 5

Problem: Inability to establish and maintain a stable connection under AES.

I have played around with the router settings but all to no success. Here is what I have observed. As you know in order to achieve N speeds and enjoy N-mode benefits one must use the WPA2-AES encryption. However when I do the connection to internet is unstable and limited at best with a lot of variance. The connection drops quite often. It takes some time for the internet pages to start to load. I have always noticed that in status window the sent packets always exceed the received packets just after the connection is established (not sure if this is important) but eventually that reverses. The signal strength under this setting is always Excellent somewhere in the range of 90-100% (-45 to -50 Db). When in this mode my my laptop reports a connection at 300 Mbps. Third party wireless monitoring utility software confirm the same.

I should let you know I live in a house with one level (ground floor+first floor). I am on the first floor. The router is on the ground floor.

Interestingly, when I use the same settings and change the encryption to TKIP. My speeds drop to 54 Mbps (no noticeable changes in surfing or downloading or even when I take the speed test I usually average around 22 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up). The connection is far more stable and the pages appear to load quite fast, as fast as under N mode when it works. The only thing is that signal strength goes down to around 50% and usually varies between 30% and 60% with odd 90%. It goes up and down like insane.

I wanted to know if there is something I can do that might fix this problem in AES mode. Perhaps there is something I have missed in my configuration. I do want to be able to take avail of N benefits given my setup.

Any suggestions will be welcomed and appreciated.

 

I really hate that they've started to push these on people - if they worked well then sure, it's a good idea. The reality is that these all-in-one boxes are pretty terrible at both functions, and that is the root of your problem. The best thing to do (and unfortunately the most expensive) is to either go back to rogers and demand an actual DOCSIS 3 modem (like a motorola sb5101 or 610), or get one on your own and have it activated with rogers (this has the added bonus of no more modem rental fees, at the upfront cost of modem purchase). Then get a decent router.

In the meantime... make sure you don't have wireless interference (channels full on 2.4 band?) from other devices. If you have no legacy hardware set it to N mode only. Make sure there is no power saving stuff going on in the router, that might account for signal fluctuation.

 

Hey Hakira thanks for the prompt reply. I wasn't aware of this problem concerning modem/router setups. I know there is way to disable all commercial gateway functions and convert this to a modem only. I guess I can then buy a router and see if that fixes the problem. If not I might have to do that what you suggested, which is a lot of work, but worth trying.

I am using inSSider 2.0 and have determined channel 5 to be the best. I have clients on the network that are only capable of B and G mode. Thus the mix mode. Although I have tried using N only and that hasn't worked either. I haven't checked for power saving measures that the router might be set on. I'll look into that. Also the power saving mode in the adapter settings is disabled.

 

One other though. On your AES are you using all printable chr ? If so some of them may not agree with your router. I ran into this early on when things were in draft. Try using Alpha (upper and lower) and number only, 20 chr long and see it it improves. Some do not like /,: .