OT PC networking question

[Mark L.]

Sorry about the OT post, but this group has a lot of smarts as a whole. I have a Linksys wireless router and my home network seems to have slowed down rather dramatically. Does anyone know how to test the speed of a network? Even my dsl is damn slow now. I'm actually contemplating trying The Geek Squad to assist if I can't get this figured out. Many thanks to anyone who can help. Mark L.

[S R]

I had a situation where I was getting terrible, inconsistent performance with my DSL service. I don't have a wireless network, I have a two pc wired network with a linksys router. I am not sure which component caused my problems, but after I cleanly routed the wires away from all power sources and the computers, my performance went right back to normal. I had inadvertently kicked some wires around and really did not pay much attention to how they were run. I was almost to the point of dropping DSL for cable.

Of course, tech support never mentioned to check how the wires from the router and modem were run. They just ask if they are plugged in.

Hope this helps.

Stephen R.

[Thomas Kendrick]

To compare internet access speed:

Other items to check - put the wireless PC right next to the wireless router. There is some speed degradation with wireless distance.

The drop in performance is accessing the public internet as opposed to transferring data on your local network between PC's in your house, right?

[Upscale]

Before you do anything else, at least confirm the problem has something to do with the router or is even at your end. Bypass the router and hook you system directly to the internet. If you've still got a slowdown, then you know the problem likely has nothing to do with your network.

[dteckie]

Go here to test your broadband speed

assume you are using your pc over the air connection (wireless). If you are using encryption option to communicate especially 128 bit encryption it slows connection down considerably. (router has to do lots of encryption/ decryption both ways). Turn off the encryption if on, and see if it makes a difference. DSL is not that reliable you will get lots of fluctuations in speed. Other possibility could be the Linksys router. You can try connect directly to the DSL modem ( bypassing the router)to check if the linksys router is the culprit. PC 's and equipment is the most unregulated manufacturing industry in the world, very poor quality control, get it on the market first to get the $$$$ and fix problems later mentality. To make it worse retailers instead of getting rid of and not selling inferior or products that don't work punish the consumer by charging 10 - 15% restocking fees when you return a product that does not function. Compusa is the bigest culprit. My modis opperendi is if doesn't work properly or I spend more than 20 minutes waiting for tech support on the phone it goes back for refund period.

[AJS]

As well as the other suggestions, you should check that no one else is hijacking your bandwidth. You wireless router is probably able to talk to any wireless network cards within 200yds so someone else may be hitching a free ride on your network. When I added wireless at home, I was able to connect to my neighbours wireless router and then get onto the internet through his adsl line. If this is happening, most routers allow you to restrict access to only accept known MAC addresses

[Eric Johnson]

Start with the basics.

1) Look at the wireless admin interface and see if anyone is pirating a signal if you have more wireless connection than PC's in the house.... 2) Virus scan, worm scan trojan scan.. Every machine on the network 3) p2p networks like kazaa and the like?

My money is on some viral infestation...

[Swingman]

Or the last few versions of AIM. Took 6 hours to clean the adware/crap off one of my home network boxes after letting my teenage daughter use it for the summer, and before getting her a new laptop ... and I don't even want to see/know what that looks like by now.

[Rob]

Try to cut the problem in half. Test how long it takes to transfer a file from one PC to another. This takes the internet out of the equation but still uses the router somewhat. I used this to determine that my slowdown was somewhere upstream of the router. My problem turned out to be a surge suppressor I was using on the coax cable line coming into the modem. I unplugged it and things work fine. I used Qcheck from

to test my transfer speed across the network, it is free and seems to do a pretty good job.

[Dave Hinz]

Open up your favorite browser, point it to your Linksys's IP address. Go into the "advanced" tab, take a look at succsesful vs. dropped packets, wired and wireless both. Depending on what you see there, well, take a look at which one has problems. Depending on your firmware, you either have a "restart counters" button there, or you can unplug power from it & plug it back in to reset them. If you're dropping packets, that would be the first suspect. If you're dropping wireless packets, change to a different channel (er, on both devices) and see if it changes.

Just a start, but I see there are other responses and I bet we all aer saying pretty much the same thing. That or I'm completely wrong, which has happened before as well.

Dave Hinz

[AArDvarK]

heh... just yesterday 7-29-04 I set up a linksys router in my apt... cable to modem to router to eMac by wire, then wireless to win-xp computer. I am thrilled by how well it works, having invested $110, no slow-downs on the xp box. Too often there is a cut-off and the connection (wireless) must be "refreshed" but that is still easy. you might try the repair button in your linksys software as well as a refresh. But I do have cable internet, not dsl... cable is faster (gloat).

Alex

[Jeff]

Not necessarily, depends how many people share the cable segment, time of day etc. and some DSL services are faster than others.

Mike,

(DSL, 7.1mbps, that's a seven)

[Mark L.]

[AArDvarK]

You get that much, or sometimes? When I had dsl my fastest was around

80-90kbps and usually slower, no sharing through a 'net, but that is "verizon" I suppose... therefore we went to cable.

Alex

[Mark L.]

[Jeff]

"AArDvarK" wrote in news:8xiOc.4246$Xn.2252@fed1read05:

I apologise for the flip comment, but with DSL I'm contracted for a minimum of 80%. of 7.1mbps down / 768mpbs Up. Actual speed depends upon the path to the target server athe what speed that server can serve, and not my connection to ISP. Speeds vary between 80kbs - 7mbps depending upon target server. I regularly pull stuff from a private UK server at

7mbps.

[Mark L.]

[Mark L.]

[Mark L.]

[Elwood Dowd]

Not to ask a stupid question, BUT... have you tried turning everything off, including the router, and then turning it all back on? Sometimes a reboot works wonders.