need wireless network help...!

I've been having several issues and I've finally had enough...

Okay, so when I moved into my brother's condo, he had an older Linksys/Cisco wireless G router and everything seemed fine. However, I noticed the wireless connection dropping after a few minutes of having utorrent running. After resetting the modem and router, all was well. I thought there might be issues with the router, so I upgraded to a Linksys WRT310N V2. I didn't notice any appreciable increase in speed or range and the issue when running torrents persisted. In the past week, my connection has been fluctuating from 2mbps to 144mbps.

Yesterday, I received an Asus RT-N16 based on the many positive reviews and owners talking about how incredible the range is. Also, I wanted to see what all the hype was about with Tomato, so I flashed it to that firmware. Again... I didn't notice any increase in range or speed, at least not on my laptops and the speed still fluctuates wildly. Also, the signal on my DroidX can no longer be picked up from my room and Xbox360 has been reduced from 80% to 50% signal. However, my desktop now gets a consistent 100% signal and 200-300mbps whereas it couldn't get higher than 144mbps before. Shouldn't my HP 8540w (Intel 6300) and Lenovo X200t (Intel 5300) be capable of those speeds?

Today, my brother called me and said the internet is no longer working. He reset the modem and plugged his laptop directly into the cable modem with no positive results. Any ideas or suggestions on what is going on here? From the sound of it, the modem needs to be replaced and I'm thinking that was the problem all along? And maybe that's why the speed has been fluctuating so much lately? And I'm confused why this Asus RT-N16 has given me such poor results to what should be an inferior Linksys WRT310N router?

 

The price of the router has not much to do with its range I'm afraid- furthermore WRT310N is known for its good range so that's why it's not easy to outperform it in this respect.

As for your brother's problem- at this point modem seems to be the cause indeed however it had nothing to do with fluctuating speeds.

The speed at which you are connected to your Wi-Fi router/AP is determined mostly by signal quality- how far are you from the AP, are there any other networks around or other wireless devices working in the same radio range etc.
If the modem was too weak to handle multiple connections download speed in torrent app would be reduced but that wouldn't affect the radio connection in any way.
To put it simple- radio connection is the pipe, data is water. Your speed depends on how much data can be pumped by your modem or router (whichever is the weaker one) but that doesn't affect the pipe in any way.

Download inSSIDer and look for a free wireless channel, use it and monitor the signal quality (it may get worse even if the channel is seemingly free- i.e. cordless phones work on 2.4GHz and are not detected by inSSIDer)

You may also increase transmit power on the router- just don't overdo it. And the same story again- monitor signal quality- it's possible that it may get worse after you've increased transmit power if the router's PSU is too weak to handle it.

 

I didn't expect better performance from the Asus RT-N16 because of the price (it was about the same price I paid for the Linksys anyway), I expected better performance based on the reviews I read.
A couple hours after my brother said the modem/router was down, he said it was up and running again.

Trying to understand your metaphor, but I still don't understand why my desktop is able to reach 300mbps while the laptops can't hit over 144mbps. If the "pipe" and "water" allows my desktop (about 25 feet and 3 walls away) to reach 300mbps, why can't my laptop do the same (inches away w/ no walls) with Intel 5300 and 6300?

Using the Tomato setup page, I checked the traffic on the various channels. There wasn't much noticeable differences, but I'll look a little more into it since I didn't account for the possibility of cordless phones.

Here are my settings if it helps:
- channel width = 40mhz
- security = WPA2 + AES
- wireless mode = access point
- wireless network mode = auto
- Tomato 1.28

I'm still fairly new to networking stuff, I appreciate the help.

 

144mbps with two spatial streams is only possible when channel width is 20MHz- when channel width gets doubled speed goes up to 300mbps.
Since the router is set to 40MHz there has to be some kind of setting in advanced driver settings of both your Intel adapters that makes it work at 20MHz. Try to update drivers and fiddle with those Intel settings a bit.

 

I'm having a similar problem with an Intel 6200 and a D-Link DIR-655.

Can't seem to get above 150mpbs, at least diagnosed by Windows. I have my router with WPA2-AES cipher, 40MHz enabled, G+N only, max transmit power, channels set to 6+10 (empty channels in my area as seen by InSSIDer), WWM, and no Extra Wireless Protection.

My wifi card is set to max power, 40MHz enabled on both 2.4 and 5 bands, N-Mode enabled, and set to 802.11a/b/g (the "highest" allowed). Drivers are the newest 13.4.0.9. InSSIDer is giving roughly -50[DB]

Back with my old Asus G51vx with an Intel 5100, I was able to hit 300mbps, so I'm not sure what's wrong here. Hmm.



EDIT: Weird. I replaced the 6200 with my stock Intel 1000 B/G/N, and apparently I'm hitting 270 mbps according to Windows and the D-Link tracking utility thingy. Bad card?

 

AH HA...!
That's what I forgot to change on my laptops
and you're right, this Linksys WRT310N is good... much better than I gave it credit for. It definitely puts out a stronger signal than the Asus RT-N16. Really surprised because I figured those giant 3 external antennas would be more effective than the internal antenna of the Linksys. If I'm in the living room (where the router is located), I get a consistent 300mbps and 180-270mbps from my room.

Strange... when I switched back to the Linksys, the internet went dead, even when plugged directly to the modem. Tried resetting a number of times but no success. Left it unplugged for about 15 minutes and everything seems to be perfect and speeds are MUCH more consistent. I guess what the modem needed all along was a good, long reset? I haven't tried downloading (torrents) yet, but all seems to be well for now.

I tried a number of different channels on the Asus, but the difference was marginal. Maybe the Asus was capable of better range, but I didn't feel comfortable increasing transmit power (and I don't know how to).

Anyhow, thank you VERY much for all the help!

 

@ terrible lie Glad it worked

@ Forge Are you sure the card is genuine?

 

It was from one of NBR's authorized retailers, so I would think so.