What can I do to improve the performance of my wireless network?

Question

I have a Linksys WRT110 wireless router. However, my friend was just over and said that my network was awfully slow. I'll try to get some numbers later tonight or tomorrow, but for now I'm interested in different options and configuration settings that I can use to improve performance, for not only myself but for people who come over my place to visit.

The only thing that I can't do is use Wireless-N only, as I don't have an N card in my laptop, which I might want to take wireless sometimes.

Answer 1

Can you define "awfully slow"? In what sort of conditions? How man active clients?

The first thing I always check with a wireless AP, especially the 2.4GHz models, is channel contention. Grab something like netstumbler and take a look at what other APs are active in your area. If you other APs with strong signals are on or near your channel, that will really slow things down. You want to choose the center of the quietest section of the spectrum, remembering that 802.11b/g/n channels overlap.

Answer 2

Most consumer routers cannot handle multiple data rates simultaneously, and they drop to the lowest common denominator. As soon as an 802.11b device hops onto a wireless G or N network, the data rate will drop to wireless B speeds of 11 Mbps, with an actual throughput of maybe somewhere around 5 Mbps.

I'm afraid you might have to get a newer network adapter for your laptop. Fortunately, if you watch techbargains.com or slickdeals.net (or any other deal site of your choice), you can sometimes find a cheap USB wireless N adapter for $20 or less.

Or, if you don't have any money, just disable your laptop's wireless adapter when you have company, and plug directly into the router with an Ethernet cable. The transfer speeds should jump back to 802.11n if everyone else connected has wireless N adapters, or 802.11g (54Mbps) if everyone connected has at least wireless G.

Answer 3

Um...what was the definition of slow? I mean, there are people talking about channel contention, etc...but what if it was just the site your friend was visiting?

Are you testing this by seeing what your throughput is between two machines on the same network? It might not be your wireless at all. Kind of odd that your friend noticed this on his system but you haven't noticed anything unusual, no?

Answer 4

This site has very effective and cheap ways to improve your wireless signal by directing it where it needs to go.

Answer 5

I take it that the direct ethernet connection isn't slow, or you would have noticed it already.

Slowness in a wireless network might be caused by interference, maybe by your neighbor's router. Try and change the router's channel to number 11, which is also the strongest, and check for an improvement.

Having an unbiased speed-test is important in such cases, such as using speedtest.net.