Advice Needed: Router kills my download speed

[Cyrus the Great]

Hi all,

When I connect to the Internet using my router the dl speed drops down by 1.5 to 2 Mb :mad:

But when connected directly to the Internet I get speeds of of about 9 Mb, while placing a router in between, results in speeds of about 7Mb. I have tried three different routers and they all act the same way.

I have also tried different settings (and speed configurations) on my Ethernet adaptor and the router itself but no luck. :confused:

The routers I tried out:

Trendnet TEW-432BRP (A)
http://www.trendnet.com/products/TEW-432BRP_v1.htm

Blanc (Rebranded Gigafast WF719-CAPR)
http://www.gigafast.com/products/product_detail/WF719-CAPR.htm

D-link DI-624

I really appreciate your comments.:)

[kimro]

I can't even remember if consumer level routers have the ability to change speed settings on physical ports but assuming that you are using wired connections, following are the things that comes to my mind:
- Check router & computer ports are configured to auto/auto: you can also play around by lowering the settings one step at a time
- Make sure port forwarding on the router is configured properly if you are using any torrents of sort: I know of the programs make great use of standard nat(ing) on routers but some may not
- Check the cables: I know this is pretty random but I have seen cables causing problems in the past
- Make sure the router is not overheated: routers these days are tiny computers and overheating can also cause trouble
- Attempt to update to latest firmware
- Try using Linksys routers: they cost more but by far the most reliable consumer level brand out there IMHO :cheesygri

[rabbit]

What if you put your computer on the DMZ?

[Cyrus the Great]

I can't even remember if consumer level routers have the ability to change speed settings on physical ports

By changing speed settings, I meant trying different config. on the ports auto/auto ...
It does get better a bit, but never gets to to what it's supposed to.

Router's not overheat, and I have already the lateset FW on it.
Tried out diff. cables, no luck.

For trobleshooting purposes, all features like port forwarding ,... are disabled. However, having them set correctly, didn't help.

What if you put your computer on the DMZ?

How do you put the comp on DMZ?

[Cyrus the Great]

Is it sth. related to the router's specs?

Can someone tell me if this chart's saying that some routers are not able to let high speeds through?

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/lans_routers/charts/index.html?chart=119

[rabbit]

> How do you put the comp on DMZ?

Depends on the router. It allows all traffic (eg. firewall disabled for the computer in DMZ). Maybe you can just disable the router's firewall and see if it makes a difference. My reasoning is that with firewall disabled or if the computer is in the DMZ, the router doesn't have to monitor all the data packets, which is what I think slows down your connection.

If that works, you can try enabling the firewall and again and adjusting the settings so that it is less sensitive. Don't really know if that would make a difference.

[tanmanwayne]

Just quick thoughts:

1) Verify if you have QOS activated on the router AND your pc...could potentially cause problems. Would recommend only having one activated...test with router only or OS only.

2) Try different cables (Cat5 or Cat5e) as your current ones could be bad

3) Could it be power related (crazy thought), but depending on the drain (do you have everything connected to the one outlet?) it could be a possibility.

Just some random quick thoughts.

Cheers,
Tano

[Taiphun]

try turning off uPnP too.

[gman]

Is it sth. related to the router's specs?

Can someone tell me if this chart's saying that some routers are not able to let high speeds through?

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/lans_routers/charts/index.html?chart=119

Yes. Some can't handle high throughtput. If the processor within is not fast enough to process packat, it slows that down.

[chuck_himself]

That's very strange. Theres no reason why that should be happening with three different routers. Perhaps your Ethernet cables are somehow defective and making your connection go down to 10base.

[tanmanwayne]

Another possibility is that you may have old cables...non-shielded?

Are they close to electrical devices? Possible interference.

Just more thoughts...
Cheers!
Tano!

[Daijoubu]

Another possibility is that you may have old cables...non-shielded?

Are they close to electrical devices? Possible interference.

Just more thoughts...
Cheers!
Tano!

CAT5/100Mbps doesn't need to be shielded

[kingsley]

It could very well be that the routers don't have the speed to keep up. You might be able to overclock the Linksys WRT54GS routers. I know they downclocked their NAS devices but not sure about their routers.

[gman]

It could very well be that the routers don't have the speed to keep up. You might be able to overclock the Linksys WRT54GS routers. I know they downclocked their NAS devices but not sure about their routers.

OP does not have a Linksys router. If he does, a Linksys should be able to handle 9M.
The problem is not the LAN speed which should be 100Mbps.
The problem is the packet is filtered (because of firewall, port forwarding, QOS, etc) between the WAN to LAN. If the processor is not fast enough, it can't keep up with the incoming packets.

[Cyrus the Great]

Thanks for your feedback guys.

Tano:
The routers I have do not have a QoS feature on them, unless it's under some other "name". Also, I don't know how to enable/disable QoS on my comp??
And everything's connected to the outlet.


chuck_himself:
I have already tried three different cables. I doubt any cable problem as I can get 9.12 Mb download speeds with the same cable connected directly to the wall socket.


kingsley, gman:
Yes, router's processor speed seems to be the number 1 factor in my case. That's what I suspect the most.

I'm gonna disable all speed related features to see if it makes any different. I'll post the result.

Other than that, which one of these Linksys routers do you guys recommend?

WRT54G or GL or GS?

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/lans_r...html?chart=119

[Cyrus the Great]

:arrowu:

[Deal]

Other than that, which one of these Linksys routers do you guys recommend?

WRT54G or GL or GS?

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/lans_r...html?chart=119


Hmm, on Tom's Networking site the WRT54G (V5) sits in the middle of the pack on its Performance chart but yet, there's a seperate article titled:
Yes, the Linksys WRT54G V5 Really Is a Lousy Router (http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/06/08/linksys_wrt54g_v5_really_is_a_lousy_router/).
You'd think they'd target the dogs at the bottom of the chart first. Must be because the WRT54G is just everwhere.

Seems to me you need to shop for the best brains in a box to speed up the packet filtering.

Going purely by Tom's site, the best choice seems to be the D-Link DGL-4300 802.11g Gaming Router (or the wired counterpart D-Link DGL-4100), or the Netgear WPNT834 RangeMax 240 Wireless Router which tops all the charts, routing at wire speed. Mind you all wireless routers come with wired ports too far as I know.

[gman]

Hmm, on Tom's Networking site the WRT54G (V5) sits in the middle of the pack on its Performance chart but yet, there's a seperate article titled:
Yes, the Linksys WRT54G V5 Really Is a Lousy Router (http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/06/08/linksys_wrt54g_v5_really_is_a_lousy_router/).
You'd think they'd target the dogs at the bottom of the chart first. Must be because the WRT54G is just everwhere.

Seems to me you need to shop for the best brains in a box to speed up the packet filtering.

Going purely by Tom's site, the best choice seems to be the D-Link DGL-4300 802.11g Gaming Router (or the wired counterpart D-Link DGL-4100), or the Netgear WPNT834 RangeMax 240 Wireless Router which tops all the charts, routing at wire speed. Mind you all wireless routers come with wired ports too far as I know.

You don't need 90M capable when his WAN speed is only 9M. Linksys can handle 20M. That is good enough for him.