New Wireless Router

[Rossco]

Current 3com router I bought about 18 months ago is truly messed up I think, limits the connetion to around 4Mb when I actually have 20, and it drops it alot, and doesnt allow me to ICS to my 360 for Live anymore, where as the internet works perfect when plugged straight through the modem itself.

So I want a good wireless router than will last and has good technical support etc if it breaks as 3Com weren't that helpful, just sent me a new router last time and this one does exactly the same!

Any ideas?

[CMcK]

Why are you using ICS for the 360?

I assume from your post that you have a cable modem and a 3COM router. How many ports does the router have? 4?

Is the 360 connected to the router via wireless or via cat5 cable?

[Rossco]

Cable modem and router downstairs, which has 4 ports yes. PC wirelessly connected which is upstairs, which is connected through ICS to the 360.

I cant have the wire running from the router to the 360 upstairs, hence using ICS, which has worked a treat for the last year but out of the blue now it just wont work so need a fix!

[C']

I can't really help with your issue, but I do seem to have similar troubles as yourself with a different wireless router.

Anything connected to the router with a cable (my 360 and brother's PC) gets the full download speeds (I'm either on 10Mb or 20Mb, not sure any more XD) whereas the wireless connections (my PC, PS3 etc) seem to cap at around 4Mb.

EDIT - for what's it worth, this has happened with 2 different routers too.

[Hohum]

Anything connected to the router with a cable (my 360 and brother's PC) gets the full download speeds (I'm either on 10Mb or 20Mb, not sure any more XD) whereas the wireless connections (my PC, PS3 etc) seem to cap at around 4Mb.

What encryption are you using? Only AES encryption doesn't have an overhead on throughput, TKIP and WEP both affect maximum speed. Signal strength also has an affect too, of course.

[ChrisF]

Rossco, so is your cable modem just a standard one, then thats plugged into a wireless router?

How come your 360 isnt connected straight to the wireless router? Likewise, the PC should connect straight to the router too?

I think I'm probably wondering the same as CMcK and that is why you're needing to use ICS at all?

[Rossco]

Because they are in different rooms dude! Thats the whole point, modem and router downstairs, PC upstairs wirelessly connected to router, and 360 next to PC connected via ICS.

Theres no other way to do it without having cables running through the house.

The modem is just the standard one I got when we went with NTL like 7/8 years ago or whenever it was.

[ChrisF]

Right - gotcha! Sorry I had it in my head that you had your 360 connected wirelessly (probably because I have!). Thought about getting a wireless adapter for your 360?

Anyway, back on track... I've not used their standard router (mine's an ADSL one) but I can really recommend Linksys stuff. They're owned (or are one and the same) by Cisco, so they have good pedigree.

I did use a Netgear router previously, when I did have a cable modem, but I found the wireless connectivity a bit flakey at times.

[Rossco]

I could get the wireless dongle for 360 but I still need a solution for my PC which is going a quarter of the speed it should be!

I'll have a look at Linksys routers then maybe.

[muddy]

I can't really help with your issue, but I do seem to have similar troubles as yourself with a different wireless router.

Anything connected to the router with a cable (my 360 and brother's PC) gets the full download speeds (I'm either on 10Mb or 20Mb, not sure any more XD) whereas the wireless connections (my PC, PS3 etc) seem to cap at around 4Mb.

EDIT - for what's it worth, this has happened with 2 different routers too.

Do you have any 802.11b devices going through the wireless connection?
They may be limiting the speed, as the router will have to drop the connection speed for all connections to the lowest common denominator... so even if you have an 802.11n router, it'll still have to drop to 802.11b speeds to accommodate the old gear.

Yes, I know the theoretical max throughput of 802.11b is 11mbps, but the true average is 4-5mbps...

The typical peak throughput (sustained data rate) of an 802.11b wireless connection under ideal conditions for end user data is actually 4-5 Mbps. This level of performance assumes a wireless client in very close promixity (within a few meters) of the base station or other communication endpoint. Due to the distance-sensitive nature of Wi-Fi signaling, 802.11b throughput numbers will decrease the client moves further away from the base station.

[Rossco]

Hmm thats a strange one, theres no other new PCs or devices connected either, it just happened suddenly one day with no changes, so as much as that would make sense, its not the reason for me anyway!

[C']

Do you have any 802.11b devices going through the wireless connection?
They may be limiting the speed, as the router will have to drop the connection speed for all connections to the lowest common denominator... so even if you have an 802.11n router, it'll still have to drop to 802.11b speeds to accommodate the old gear.

Yes, I know the theoretical max throughput of 802.11b is 11mbps, but the true average is 4-5mbps...

Sorry, only just spotted this response. For me personally, I have the router set to use G only so I don't think that's the issue.

Just as a comparison I just ran www.speedtest.net on my computer (wireless) and my brother's (wired).

My download came out around 3600 and ping of around 800 (YIKES!) whereas his was 11000 with a ping of 76.

Had this problem with 2 different routers now, so I don't think it's a hardware issue.

[Magnakai]

C', could it be your wireless adaptor? Have you tried reinstalling drivers and all that? Also, could you bring another laptop or computer to your house to test whether it's the wireless network or if it's your computer?

[C']

I have another computer running wirelessly, and that suffers from similar download speeds (as does the PS3).

[Magnakai]

Sorry, I should've read your post more thoroughly... I just saw that you already mentioned that.

I'm kinda grasping at straws here:
Are the wireless devices connecting at full strength?
Have you tried it without any encryption?
Is there anything to do with QoS running?