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More speed/bandwidth from an 802.11n laptop<-->WiFi Router/Modem connection?
4wd:
I hadn't known it was a Broadcom chip in the TP-Link TD-8950ND.-IainB (February 20, 2013, 07:32 PM)
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Oops! I only got half, it's Broadcom, (for the wired), and Atheros, (for the wireless) - I'll see if I can narrow it down a bit.
The laptop's WiFi is a Broadcom device also, and I have triple-checked that the drivers for that are up-to-date. Shouldn't they work in harmony? ;)
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Apart from the obvious that the laptops device is pre-802.11n spec :)
Another reasonably cost effective thing to try would be replacing the antenna on the router with a higher gain omni-directional.
Or try a beer can.
[NOTE: There are some semi-naked ads on the page.]
kyrathaba:
I sometimes get green with envy when I hear about the performance improvements with Tomato or DD-WRT, but I'm afraid to mess with my currently working setup. I have a Linksys RangePlus WRT110 router, and I can watch its properties and see speed fluctuate between 18 Mbps and 54 Mbps within sixty seconds:
lanux128:
i use a TP-LINK device as well, and i find it helpful to set the bandwidth mode to "11n-only", instead of the default "mixed b/g/n mode". of course this is assuming that you don't have any old devices that are still using 802.11 a/b/g.
IainB:
...Apart from the obvious that the laptops device is pre-802.11n spec...
-4wd (February 20, 2013, 08:42 PM)
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Yes, this had already been covered (draft-n), but there was a suggestion that - had they both been Broadcom - then they might have been able to play together nicely.
...and see speed fluctuate between 18 Mbps and 54 Mbps within sixty seconds...
-kyrathaba (February 20, 2013, 08:52 PM)
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I've hunted around for a little Systray WiFi monitor app that can bring up a floating window and show just the collected basic status details about the current WiFi AP connection - per the image in the OP - such as SSID, standard (e.g., IEEE 802.11n), the value for mbps (say) every ½-second or so, and the bars for signal quality/strength(?). However, the closest that I could find was an app that only worked in Win XP. There were other apps (Nirsoft has some good ones) that monitor all the WiFi APs within range, but nothing else quite like what I have described above.
...Another reasonably cost effective thing to try would be replacing the antenna on the router with a higher gain omni-directional.
Or try a beer can.
-4wd (February 20, 2013, 08:42 PM)
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Yes, I already have a design in mind using some cardboard and ally foil. It will certainly affect the signal quality/strength and probably therefore the mbps value too. The beer can idea looked dead simple, but I'm not sure it will fit nicely on the wall-mounted router I am using here. I shall try it anyway. :Thmbsup:
...i use a TP-LINK device as well, and i find it helpful to set the bandwidth mode to "11n-only", instead of the default "mixed b/g/n mode". of course this is assuming that you don't have any old devices that are still using 802.11 a/b/g...
-lanux128 (February 20, 2013, 09:32 PM)
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Yes, I have set it to "11n only", and the router stats show that it can see the MACs for all the devices it needs to support - including a Kindle (I hadn't known the Kindle supported the 802.11n standard). All the devices (including the Kindle) seem to work just fine.
Oh, and I also tried changing the Wireless Country/Region (which is a bit naughty), in case the transmission strength might vary, but that didn't seem to make any significant difference, so I restored it to my region.
40hz:
I sometimes get green with envy when I hear about the performance improvements with Tomato or DD-WRT, but I'm afraid to mess with my currently working setup. I
-kyrathaba (February 20, 2013, 08:52 PM)
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@K - If it's working for you, and you're happy with the performance you're getting, I'd skip ever doing a firmware swapout. The only time I'll use Tomato or DD-WRT is if I'm either working with a throwaway - or I if bought a specific box (like a WRT-54GL) to put it on. Same goes for the manufacturer's firmware upgrades. If your box is working - don't. Only upgrade to attempt to fix a problem you're actually experiencing. (Especially if it's Linksys firmware.)
FWIW, most out of the box gains are modest once you switch over. You really do need to tweak things up to get the level of performance many claim to be getting out of DD-WRT. (I also suspect that many of these claims - other than for stability and up time - are just a tiny bit exaggerated. YMMV)
8)
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