wireless speeds

[matt172]

Wonder if anyone can though any light on this.
We have a wireless network at home, and normally the network speed is around 54Mps, but over the last few days, its dropped down to anything between 1 and 32Mps.
Any ideas what we can do to stop this, or is it a ISP problem? We're using a BT voyager 2100

[Fidgits]

It has nothing to do with your ISP - since that is completley seperate to your wireless network.

54Mb/s is a maximum throughput, its very unlikely you'll ever get to that rate.

other things that effect performance/throughput are distance from the wireless point, interference and other Wireless points.

Check the location of the wireless point, and the distance your trying to work and through what walls etc, if you can't improve it try a different channel.

[GreenV8S]

If you're talking about the wireless speed that's nothing to do with your ISP and probably just means you've got a weak signal or interference - maybe one of your neighbours has just installed their own network or something else that uses the same frequency. Try changing wireless channels and see if that helps, also make sure you have full signal strength.

[matt172]

cheers for the info, I didn't think that it was the ISP, but worth a check.
We used to always get in the 50's for speed, but only recently noticed the internet becoming very slow.
Will try changing the cancel again and see what happens.

[ThePassenger]

Any halogen lights, microwaves, xmas lights in the way? What's the weather been like (I have seen this affect my wireless lan)? To be honest, anthing above 16Mbps and your faster than the net can go (assuming minimal packet loss between you and the router).

[nail_it]

Always manage to run the wireless connection speed @ 54.0Mbps but that is by having the wireless router well positioned.
But drops have temporarily occured over the past year when a new broadband is installed nearby which may require a channel change.
Never happened until the past year, since when nearly every man & his dog has decided to get wireless broadband!

Check using your "Wireless Connection Manager" who is wireless around you & if they are new. Bet have of them aren't encrypted either

[matt172]

nail_it said:

Bet have of them aren't encrypted either

a stupid question, but how do you tell?

[nail_it]

Open up the Wireless Connection Manager which will display all the wireless connections within range of your computer.
They will have the hub/router number or in some cases a name if the owner has changed the number to a personalised name.
It will indicate the wireless strength to each and alongside will be a brown padlock.
If the padlock displays open, it is not encrypted.
If displays locked postion, it is encrypted.
You should see your own as well...so check... and make sure no-one is "stealing" your bandwidth or worse!

[landy_girl]

matt172 said:

Wonder if anyone can though any light on this.
We have a wireless network at home, and normally the network speed is around 54Mps, but over the last few days, its dropped down to anything between 1 and 32Mps.
Any ideas what we can do to stop this, or is it a ISP problem? We're using a BT voyager 2100

I had the same problem at the weekend mine went down to 18mps i thought

[scorp]

matt172 said:

nail_it said:

Bet have of them aren't encrypted either

a stupid question, but how do you tell?

You will have WEP enabled normally, although you'll take another hit in the bandwidth department.

Not sure why you have mysteriously lost wireless bandwidth, have you bought any new wireless toys recently, like cordless phones, video senders, etc?

[matt172]

scorp said:

matt172 said:

nail_it said:

Bet have of them aren't encrypted either

a stupid question, but how do you tell?

You will have WEP enabled normally, although you'll take another hit in the bandwidth department.

Not sure why you have mysteriously lost wireless bandwidth, have you bought any new wireless toys recently, like cordless phones, video senders, etc?

well we've got the padlock to show a secure connection as per nail_it's post, but as far as WEP, there is a box to put a code in, but I've yet to be able to find the code anywhere in the instructions (we've had the wireless router for a couple of years now)
Only new wireless toy I can think of is the xbox360, I put on the wireless adaptor thingy over Christmas

[scorp]

matt172 said:

scorp said:

matt172 said:

nail_it said:

Bet have of them aren't encrypted either

a stupid question, but how do you tell?

You will have WEP enabled normally, although you'll take another hit in the bandwidth department.

Not sure why you have mysteriously lost wireless bandwidth, have you bought any new wireless toys recently, like cordless phones, video senders, etc?

well we've got the padlock to show a secure connection as per nail_it's post, but as far as WEP, there is a box to put a code in, but I've yet to be able to find the code anywhere in the instructions (we've had the wireless router for a couple of years now)
Only new wireless toy I can think of is the xbox360, I put on the wireless adaptor thingy over Christmas

One thing you could try is changing the radio channel, i had a problem a year ago when a neighbour installed a wifi router which conflicted with mine, changing the 'channel' fixed it.

You should be able to log into you router using a wired network connection and change the wep key to anything you want if you are unsure what its settings are.

[GregE240]

Its amazing the number of people these days who still insist on leaving their router wide open.

I'm staying in Hull at the moment and the guy opposite the hotel has left his router wide open, so free broadband for anyone who wants it...I do wonder if these people know about it, or better still, conscietiously think "Well, if people want to use my broadband..."

Although Free Broadband Guy in Hull only has 512Kbps, so my 3G card is still quicker....

[ThePassenger]

GregE240 said:

Its amazing the number of people these days who still insist on leaving their router wide open.

I'm staying in Hull at the moment and the guy opposite the hotel has left his router wide open, so free broadband for anyone who wants it...I do wonder if these people know about it, or better still, conscietiously think "Well, if people want to use my broadband..."

Although Free Broadband Guy in Hull only has 512Kbps, so my 3G card is still quicker....

Often people can't be bothered. They follow the quick start instructions and off they go. Which inevitably don't cover things like WEP, WPA, MAC address locking and the like.

[nail_it]

matt172 said:

scorp said:

matt172 said:

nail_it said:

Bet have of them aren't encrypted either

a stupid question, but how do you tell?

You will have WEP enabled normally, although you'll take another hit in the bandwidth department.

Not sure why you have mysteriously lost wireless bandwidth, have you bought any new wireless toys recently, like cordless phones, video senders, etc?

well we've got the padlock to show a secure connection as per nail_it's post, but as far as WEP, there is a box to put a code in, but I've yet to be able to find the code anywhere in the instructions (we've had the wireless router for a couple of years now)
Only new wireless toy I can think of is the xbox360, I put on the wireless adaptor thingy over Christmas

Wireless settings should be found physically on the Voyager. Label will give the SSID & Wireless key.
Launch Wireless Connection Manager. Click on "available connection" that matches your SSID label. Click edit & open up the profile.
Use the drop-down boxes to input the appropriate information. Tick box "make this 1st connection" and "save"
HTH's

[matt172]

nail_it said:

matt172 said:

scorp said:

matt172 said:

nail_it said:

Bet have of them aren't encrypted either

a stupid question, but how do you tell?

You will have WEP enabled normally, although you'll take another hit in the bandwidth department.

Not sure why you have mysteriously lost wireless bandwidth, have you bought any new wireless toys recently, like cordless phones, video senders, etc?

well we've got the padlock to show a secure connection as per nail_it's post, but as far as WEP, there is a box to put a code in, but I've yet to be able to find the code anywhere in the instructions (we've had the wireless router for a couple of years now)
Only new wireless toy I can think of is the xbox360, I put on the wireless adaptor thingy over Christmas

Wireless settings should be found physically on the Voyager. Label will give the SSID & Wireless key.
Launch Wireless Connection Manager. Click on "available connection" that matches your SSID label. Click edit & open up the profile.
Use the drop-down boxes to input the appropriate information. Tick box "make this 1st connection" and "save"
HTH's

Cheers for that, I'll try it tonight and let you know

[nail_it]

Coolio
Line of attack for these probs is first:-

As The Passenger said: check for interference

Then check as I described, in case you have "dropped" your wireless connection & unknowingly using someone else's unencrypted which would produce the Mbps speed drop.

So check the entries as I just described. If it is this & reoccurs frequently you may require a new hub. Blag one from BT FOC as part of your contract

[vex]

Hold on a minute,

Are you complaining that your internet is slow or your wireless network?

How fast is your actual internet connection, I am guessing somewhere arround 2-8mbps. If that is the case then that is the fastest connection you will ever get to the outside world, regardless of you internal connection speeds.

[matt172]

vex said:

Hold on a minute,

Are you complaining that your internet is slow or your wireless network?

How fast is your actual internet connection, I am guessing somewhere arround 2-8mbps. If that is the case then that is the fastest connection you will ever get to the outside world, regardless of you internal connection speeds.

both
our internet speed is 2Mps, and router speed is normally 54Mps, but that had dropped off quite dramatically in the last few days, which seems to have slowed the internet down too