What do I need to get better Wifi speed?

[+Fahim S. MVC]

My wifi speed isn't as fast as I think it should be. I have an up to 76Mbps down and 19Mbps up internet package with my ISP.

My network broadly looks like this:

ISP Modem -> Homeplug A -> Homeplug B -> ESXi Host pNIC1 -> vSwitch 1 -> pfSense VM -> vSwitch 2 -> ESXi Host pNIC2 -> Gigabit Switch -> Router as AP

No matter if it is a VM on vSwitch 2 or my laptop plugged into the Gigabit Switch or the Router being used an Access Point, I get no discernable loss of speed.

However, when connecting my laptop to the same Access Point over wireless n (20 MHz) the speed drops by more than half (about 25Mbps down and about 10Mbps up).

The Access Point has three Wifi settings (b/g/n 20MHz as it is now, b/g 20MHz and n 40MHz) Choosing any of the other options makes it slower still. I have my signal on channel 11 as it is the one that is the least congested, InSSIDer gives it a link score of 81. As far as I can tell, the Access Point can only do 2.4GHz as is true of my laptop which has a Centrino Wireless-N 1000 half height mini-PCIe card. The Access Point is a BT HomeHub 3 Revision A ISP Router which is now being repurposed as a Access Point (static IP, no DHCP etc.)

Any idea of what to try? I am not averse to spending some money to resolve this - router or computer side.

Happy to (try to) answer any other questions that anyone may have.

[scaramonga]

First thing I did was ditch the HomeHub crap (2 & 3) when I got Infinity, never looked back ;)

[Bi4me]

Increasing the frequency range is supposed in theory to give you better speed. For some people it works for others - it doesn't.

 

You could always try a larger antenna or even a newer router. The Wi-Fi receiver is also a factor. Some just catch the waves better.

 

Apart from that I don't think there's much that can be done.

[+Fahim S. MVC]

Increasing the frequency range is supposed in theory to give you better speed. For some people it works for others - it doesn't.

 

You could always try a larger antenna or even a newer router. The Wi-Fi receiver is also a factor. Some just catch the waves better.

 

Apart from that I don't think there's much that can be done.

What do you mean by the Wi-Fi receiver? Is that the card in my laptop?

First thing I did was ditch the HomeHub crap (2 & 3) when I got Infinity, never looked back ;)

Can I ask what you replaced it with? It really is a POS. What improvement did you get?

[Bi4me]

What do you mean by the Wi-Fi receiver? Is that the card in my laptop?

Yes, the wireless internet card. At the same spot one laptop can connect to a network and have 2-3 bars signal strength while another laptop may not even discover the network.

[ashpowell]

First thing I did was ditch the HomeHub crap (2 & 3) when I got Infinity, never looked back ;)

 

Exactly what I did, with the homehub i literally got half the speed I did with a standard netgear router (one given by plusnet fibre before I had infinity)

[scaramonga]

Can I ask what you replaced it with? It really is a POS. What improvement did you get?

 

Sure.  Got myself an ASUS RT-N56U back then (2 years ago), been using it ever since.  WiFi is excellent on both bands, and have it connected to numerous devices, without (touch wood) any problems. :)  Using custom firmware also :)

[+BudMan MVC]

so lets take the internet out of the equation..  So what speeds to you get via wifi from your nas for example. iperf testing would help too.

 

Simple test just a file copy from your nas via wifi works too -- robocopy works great because it gives us detailed exact info on the speed.

 

I am currently out of town so hard to give examples - but when I get back home I have access to multiple laptops, and devices and even wireless on my desktop to compare with.  I have a tp-link dual band 2.4 and 5 ghz running dd-wrt as AP that can use for testing on my network for speeds.  I do know that it one laptop has shown 300mpbs as the connection speed on both 2.4 and 5ghz that we can use for comparison...

 

And I run esxi with my router on it - your running pfsense I believe as well.. so I think we can do a pretty close apple to apple comparison on speeds for sure.. Other than my internet is way slower than yours :(  I would love to have those internet connection speeds -- but Im on a 25/5 currently..  But lets see what you get local that we should be able to compare really close.

 

I agree if your on N there should be no reason why you should be seeing only 25 down from internet.. if your seeing more than that local.. So lets verify what you can do locally - then we can figure out why your not seeing that from your wan connection

[+Fahim S. MVC]

I did test this myself yesterday.  Although I used a simple Windows file copy from my 7 year old single bay QNAP which has a 1Gbps connection.  The file I used was an ISO of Fedora.  The NAS itself has a 7 year old 7200rpm (at least I think so) 1TB Samsung disc in it.  The target was in both cases the laptop with the Centrino Wireless-N 1000 in it.  I guess it's also worth mentioning that the laptop also has an SSD in it (Kingston SSDNow 96GB) so as to take that out of the equation.

 

I got 3.5MB/s on WiFi, which Google tells me is 28Mbps - this appears to be about the same as what I get for Internet.

I got 28MB/s on a wired connection directly to the switch, which Google translates to 244Mbps - not great but broadly in line with what the test results were here back in the day that the NAS was considered relatively high performance  :rofl:

 

The above makes me really think it is the connection between computer and access point.  I'm at work right now, but will give RoboCopy a go later.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

You said channel 11 was the least congested, just how congested is the airspace around your house?

[+Fahim S. MVC]

Attached is a screen shot from inSSIDer, my network is selected.

I moved my network to channel 6, speed remains the same.

 

This screenshot is from a different laptop (my work machine) which has a Centrino Adavnced-N 6205.  This one is 2.4GHz+5GHz capable and has a 2x2 antenna configuration.

 

 

[+Fahim S. MVC]

Just by way of a quick update, now that I've disconnected my work laptop from VPN (I worked from home), I can try the same file copy operation with this machine.

I get about 4MB/s (32mbps) here.

 

Edit, from RoboCopy

 

Work laptop:

Wireless: 3761756 Bytes/sec

Wired: 21738578 Bytes/sec

[+Fahim S. MVC]

Personal laptop:

Wireless: 4104698 Bytes/sec (31.31 Mbps)

Wired: 21840766 Bytes/sec (166.63 Mbps)

[+BudMan MVC]

Wired doesn't really tell us much other than its not a limit of the hard drive or wire during the wireless test.

 

Do a wired test connected to your AP lan ports?  I would assume that is what you were testing when said connected to switch (switch of AP)

 

Let me fire up my wifes laptop and do a wireless robocopy.  BBL with the results.

 

But clearly you can rule out your router to the internet, etc .since in your seeing the same speeds not talking through to the internet.

[srbeen]

I got around 13-17MB/s with my CentrinoN 6230 (BT and 3 band) off my netgear 4500 @ 5GHz. In theory this is a 450Mbps connection. 5GHz is faster but has a reduced range. Same wifi adapter with a Linksys 310N @2.4Ghz caps around 7MB/s, which in theory maxes at 150Mbps connection. Everything affects speeds.. distance to router, system speed, interference, router type, antenna style, atmospheric conditions, file transfer protocol (FTP/AFP/CIFS/NFS)

As a general rule, a 450Mbps connection is max 56MB/s up & down, so 28MB/s either direction in optimal conditions. Anywhere between 40-75% of each direction is expected in practice. (11-21MB/s)

If you want better, try getting an active signal booster/high gain antenna for the router & laptop. 3dB is double the power. dBi is isotropic, meaning gain obtained from a focused antenna rather than an omnidirectional antenna which broadcasts in 360 degrees.

[+Fahim S. MVC]

I got around 13-17MB/s with my CentrinoN 6230 (BT and 3 band) off my netgear 4500 @ 5GHz. In theory this is a 450Mbps connection. 5GHz is faster but has a reduced range. Same wifi adapter with a Linksys 310N @2.4Ghz caps around 7MB/s, which in theory maxes at 150Mbps connection. Everything affects speeds.. distance to router, system speed, interference, router type, antenna style, atmospheric conditions, file transfer protocol (FTP/AFP/CIFS/NFS) As a general rule, a 450Mbps connection is max 56MB/s up & down, so 28MB/s either direction in optimal conditions. Anywhere between 40-75% of each direction is expected in practice. (11-21MB/s) If you want better, try getting an active signal booster/high gain antenna for the router & laptop. 3dB is double the power. dBi is isotropic, meaning gain obtained from a focused antenna rather than an omnidirectional antenna which broadcasts in 360 degrees.

 

There is probably a lot of useful information here, but it needs to be distilled into one or two key facts.

 

 

Wired doesn't really tell us much other than its not a limit of the hard drive or wire during the wireless test.

 

Do a wired test connected to your AP lan ports?  I would assume that is what you were testing when said connected to switch (switch of AP)

 

Let me fire up my wifes laptop and do a wireless robocopy.  BBL with the results.

 

But clearly you can rule out your router to the internet, etc .since in your seeing the same speeds not talking through to the internet.

 

All the wired tests I have been doing so far have been to the Gigabit Switch.  The AP also has an in-built switch but I wouldn't expect the greatest of speeds from it.  There are 4/5 ports (can't remember off the top of my head), one which is being used as an uplink to the Gigabit switch which uses the only gigabit port that it has, with the rest of ports being fast ethernet (10/100).  I will post some results later when I get home (in the office today).

[+BudMan MVC]

So it only has 1 gb port?  That is a bit odd.

 

So here is my test with my

TPLINK TL-WDR3600 v1

running dd-wrt - the native firmware lasted all of about 5 minutes..  I was horrific...  I could not put dd-wrt on it fast enough ;)

 

 

So the best I saw was a bit faster - in the 8.5MBps range, but this was typical moving about the house.  Now as you can see the connection speed there shows 240, but it was bouncing around during the transfer saying 120 most of the time or 180 now and then.  But as you expect when go to snap the screeny it jumps up to 240 ;)  Every now and then it will show 300..  But not during this testing.

 

Keep in mind you fired up insidder -- don't run any sort of speed tests with that running.. The speed tests will not be accurate with that running.

 

srbeen has some realistic numbers for you..  He is running a 3 band connection and seeing good numbers and still sees a huge range of 11-17..  Now if you could get 11 you could exceed your internet connection.. You need about 9.5 to 10 to be able to handle your internet download max speed.

 

So as mine is only 2 band and MAX 300mbps in theory.. And while I was testing was mostly seeing 120, the 7.xMBps number makes sense.

 

I have only 25mpbs internet so I am 2x+ more than I can ever see on my internet connection.  Did you mention what your wireless client was showing for your connection speed?  Quick approximation is /2 what you see -- so I was mostly seeing 120Mbps -- and my real world numbers were a bit over 60Mbps -- so that is about right.
 

[+Fahim S. MVC]

So it only has 1 gb port?  That is a bit odd.

As odd as it may be, only port 4 is gigabit, the rest aren't.

 

 

So here is my test with my

TPLINK TL-WDR3600 v1

running dd-wrt - the native firmware lasted all of about 5 minutes..  I was horrific...  I could not put dd-wrt on it fast enough ;)

 

So the best I saw was a bit faster - in the 8.5MBps range, but this was typical moving about the house.  Now as you can see the connection speed there shows 240, but it was bouncing around during the transfer saying 120 most of the time or 180 now and then.  But as you expect when go to snap the screeny it jumps up to 240 ;)  Every now and then it will show 300..  But not during this testing.

 

Keep in mind you fired up insidder -- don't run any sort of speed tests with that running.. The speed tests will not be accurate with that running.

None of the tests have been done with inSSIDer running.

 

srbeen has some realistic numbers for you..  He is running a 3 band connection and seeing good numbers and still sees a huge range of 11-17..  Now if you could get 11 you could exceed your internet connection.. You need about 9.5 to 10 to be able to handle your internet download max speed.

 

So as mine is only 2 band and MAX 300mbps in theory.. And while I was testing was mostly seeing 120, the 7.xMBps number makes sense.

 

I have only 25mpbs internet so I am 2x+ more than I can ever see on my internet connection.  Did you mention what your wireless client was showing for your connection speed?  Quick approximation is /2 what you see -- so I was mostly seeing 120Mbps -- and my real world numbers were a bit over 60Mbps -- so that is about right.

My router also claims to offer 300mbps, but the configuration page is currently showing 130mbps. It shows the 300mbps if I use 2 channels (i.e. 40MHz), but that doesn't appear to make a material difference on the speed I get from my laptop.

 

My laptop itself switches between 72Mbps and 78Mbps as its wifi speed when in the router is showing 130Mbps and moves anywhere between 60Mbps to 150Mbps, but typically 120+, when the router is showing 300Mbps.

Do you still want me to test the speed of a Robocopy via a wired connection through one of the fast ethernet ports of the AP?

 

[+BudMan MVC]

Dude if your client is only showing 72-8Mbps -- then /2 your right were you would expect to be..

 

Maybe your client is only 1 stream.. To do 300 I thought you needed 2 streams, for 450 you need 3..  If your card is only 1 stream then I think your at your limit of your client.  Do you have any other wireless cards to test with?

[badb0y]

 

What do I need to get better Wifi speed?

Upgrade your PC wifi card and router.

That's it. No Software or Tweak or Reg Hack can fix this problem.

 

[+Fahim S. MVC]

Dude if your client is only showing 72-8Mbps -- then /2 your right were you would expect to be..

 

Maybe your client is only 1 stream.. To do 300 I thought you needed 2 streams, for 450 you need 3..  If your card is only 1 stream then I think your at your limit of your client.  Do you have any other wireless cards to test with?

 

Ok.. so that's good to know, but I really don't understand what the maths are.  I have ordered a 2x2 a/b/g/n card (it was cheap, so don't really care if it doesn't make a difference but it handles 5GHz as well as having a 2x2 arrangement) for my laptop as the choices are limited thanks to the whitelist - I really don't fancy installing a hacked BIOS.  How do I find out how many streams and how many channels my current equipment has so I can figure out what to upgrade.

 

Let's say for the sake of argument I wanted a 900mbps connection, how many channels, how many streams etc. do I need and where? This is what I find so confusing and I can't find a coherent explanation no matter how much I try.

 

 

 

What do I need to get better Wifi speed?

Upgrade your PC wifi card and router.

That's it. No Software or Tweak or Reg Hack can fix this problem.

 

 

 

I came to that conclusion way before I posted this tread, just need it explained to me so I don't go wasting my money buying the wrong stuff.

[+BudMan MVC]

900mbps wireless - yeah GOOD luck ;)  Not going to get anywhere close to that in real world to be honest..

 

Wireless performance is so over hyped in my personal opinion its not even funny..  If you need 900mbps - use a wire.. Even then make sure you get good hardware.. I see close to that, more high 700 to low 800's on my cheap hardware over a wire.

 

As to streams - do a google for say 802.11 spatial streams and you should get some good info.

[+Fahim S. MVC]

900mbps wireless - yeah GOOD luck ;)  Not going to get anywhere close to that in real world to be honest..

 

Wireless performance is so over hyped in my personal opinion its not even funny..  If you need 900mbps - use a wire.. Even then make sure you get good hardware.. I see close to that, more high 700 to low 800's on my cheap hardware over a wire.

 

As to streams - do a google for say 802.11 spatial streams and you should get some good info.

 

Totally understand I am never going to get 900mbps but I do want throughput as fast as my broadband connection (let's say 80mbps).

So I buy the best router and upgrade to the best wireless mini-PCIe card I can find.

 

The choices of the latter are limited, they are:

1) Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000

2) ThinkPad 11b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter II

3) Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250

 

I have 1) which is slow, and I have bought 2) as it was fairly cheap (about ?20).

 

The question is what should I buy in terms of router?

Do I go AC for future-poofing? high power or normal power? 2.4GHz or 2.4+5GHz?

So many questions, I really need help answering.

[+BudMan MVC]

To be honest in my opinion the stuff you buy now is not going to future proof you much.. I just recently switch from G to N, since my internet connection is only 25/5 and G was pretty close to that.  And what I do wireless is minor ###### and the 18 to 21 I was seeing was fine.

 

But I found a dualband 2.4 5 that would run dd-wrt for $42 to my door - so I couldn't pass it up.  Now I have my G still running and have N running on 2.4 and 5 for playing.

 

I personally would just go with something that can get you your internet speed or close to it.  Do you move stuff about via wireless on your lan?  If so I would see what you could do about going wired for that.. Nothing like moving GB's of files over in a few seconds to and from your server to desktop and back and forth and etc like a good gig wire can do..

 

You can spend $$ on on some overpriced AC that gets you what - is all your clients AC?  You plan on updating them all - for what, just going to be more streams and better tech for cheaper tmrw ;)

 

Wireless is good for reading or surfing some sites on your laptop/tablet/phone/etc  But to work with real files you need a wire! ;)