Halp. My wireless speeds are trash

OffshoreDrilling

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HVAC Guy
Aug 28, 2007
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My wifi speed is trash at home and it's absolutely driving me nuts. I imagine I just need a new router, using whatever the roommates had when I moved in. Not quite the techie I should be, just consulting you guys for advice before spending money.

This is on Wifi, 8ft away from the router...
uOU5bfx.jpg


Router is a Belkin F9K1102V1
Belkin F9K1102 N600 Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router-Newegg.com

Wired.
tIKFMf9.jpg
 

Chester Copperpot

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May 7, 2010
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Wireless will always be more degraded than wired, especially if you have one of those "UFO" (EDIT: I see now it is indeed one of those) style routers that don't have external antennas. It also depends if you're running Wireless-G versus Wireless-N (54Mbps vs 300Mbps max throughput). Your router indicates it's Wireless-N but verify you're using the N signal, most less-technical savvy people don't realize that. Just starting with the easy shit.

Also, if your "8ft away from the router" is in a different room, interference due to walls and other wireless devices can interfere with your signal strength and ultimately, the throughput of the router. You may also want to reposition where it sits or move it to a different room if possible.

You may want to buy a new Wireless N or AC router with external antennas depending on your coverage needs.
 

sickmint79

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Mar 2, 2008
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are you in a busy area? you can download vistumbler and scan access points and channels they use.

i had a problem in istanbul where wifi worked great at night but was totally unusable during the day. we had a bunch of hotels and businesses close by so there were a ton of APs, but it's the actual use of them that really killed me being able to do anything - i worked with the guy who owned the place to get access to his router and dick around with things. all was resolved when i swtiched to channels no one else was using.
 

EmersonHart13

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Jul 18, 2007
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Buy an AC technology router with external antennas. Been very impressed with my TPLink Archer C7.

I had a linksys without the external antennas and as mentioned, they just don't cut it.

Runs about 70 bucks, but any company with the above should serve you well.
 

Chester Copperpot

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You may also want to try changing the wireless channel. Again, something most people don't ever change so you have either 13 channel 6s all interfering with each other or channel 37, as seen in your graph overlapping with nearby channels. I think I change mine to a channel in the 100s and I've never had an issue. This was always after many different routers in many different scenarios (barracks, base housing, apartments, my house).

Might not improve it much but it does have an effect.
 

Bru

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May 24, 2007
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I'm in Chicago and there's a brick apartment building across the street. There are 25 wi-fi networks that show up in my computer and on 2.4 my wireless suuuuuuuucked. Inconsistent, slow speeds. I scanned different channels and switched to the least busy , which was better. And then I bought a 5 ghz router, which helped but I still wasn't getting as fast of speed as wired. The Netgear dual band 2-in-1 modem/router I was using was garbage, and even the Xfinity-supplied Arris dual band 2-in-1 came up short. Switching to a new modem and router solved my problems and now I get the as-advertised speeds and higher with this hardware:

Modem: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013C4L6OE/?tag=tcg21-20

Router: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PDLRHFW/?tag=tcg21-20
 

Intel

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Oct 28, 2009
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You may also want to try changing the wireless channel. Again, something most people don't ever change so you have either 13 channel 6s all interfering with each other or channel 37, as seen in your graph overlapping with nearby channels. I think I change mine to a channel in the 100s and I've never had an issue. This was always after many different routers in many different scenarios (barracks, base housing, apartments, my house).

Might not improve it much but it does have an effect.

This would be my first step as if you are on the same channel as all of those comcast wifi routers you will have a bad time.
 
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