What could be keeping my speed down?

Verizon just upgraded my FiOS to a 20 MBit connection for free (used to have a 5 MBit), so I plan to make use of it. One problem: my laptop doesn't get the extra speed. In fact, since the upgrade it has been going slower.
I have updated my wireless card drivers, didn't help. I have also plugged into the router and I get full speed that way.

Some stats:
Speed wired to the router: http://www.speedtest.net/result/381530626.png
Wireless: http://www.speedtest.net/result/381399419.png
Before upgrade: http://www.speedtest.net/result/379956952.png

I have a Dell Inspiron E1505 (crap, I know) with a 1.6 GHz Duo core. Dell Wireless 1390 wireless card.

There is no interference between the router and my laptop. The card and the router both support 802.11b and 802.11g, and I'm assuming it is using g.

At first I thought it could be a CPU bottle neck issue, but I can rule that out after the wired test went full speed.

Help?

Message edited by havokblue on 12-31-2008 at 01:05:58 AM

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This is a very open ended question and can lead down many streets. First a few questions:

- How far is your laptop in relation to the wireless access point when you conducted the test. Free Space path loss needs to be considered if you are further from the AP

- What does your little windows ICON say speed wise when you hoover over it?

- How do you know you dont have interference?

------------------------------ CCNA, CWNA, CQS-CWLANSS
Reply to gstefanick

Sorry I haven't updated this. First I'll answer your questions.

Laptop is all of ~20 feet from the router.
"Hover" speed reads 54 Mbps, which is why I believed I'm on g not b.
Well, there is nothing in that 20 feet that even could provide interference. No microwave, phones, garages, etc. A TV is sort of in the path, but it has never bothered me before. I never have issues with signal, it stays at full bars 100% of the time, no drops.

Other info.
I've messed around with the channels setting on the router. Channel 1 caused a disconnection, 6 and 11 work fine albeit with the reduced speed still.
The router I have is the one Verizon gave us. It's craptastic. It's a Actiontec MI424WR. Firmware is up to date.

Reply to havokblue

i love it, craptastic! OH, run the test again right next to the AP and see what results you have. Also, are you going across the net during your test? Can you do a file transfer from inside your network, perhaps an FTP ? this will yield more accurate results and remove net lag.

Are you handy with Linux, it would be nice to see a packet capture with wireshark.

Do you have additional wireless clients or just this one laptop to test with?

------------------------------ CCNA, CWNA, CQS-CWLANSS
Reply to gstefanick

Right next to the router and same thing.
What do you mean by going across the net? I am using Speedtest.net to run the tests, but other test sites such as Speakeasy report the same thing.
I don't have a FTP server set up, but if that would be incredibly useful I could get one I suppose.

Define handy. I have Ubuntu also on my laptop, but that was installed with Wubi. I can get around quite nicely. Especially if things are mostly spelled out. I have no problem with going into the terminal if that's what you mean. Would Wireshark be in the repositories or will I have to find it another way. Actually I'll boot into Ubuntu after I'm done with this and see if I can find it.

I could run over to my dad's laptop real fast and see what that gets. I'll edit this post with his speed and if I find Wireshark or not.

Edit 1: I ran Speedtest on my dad's laptop and it gets 10 MBits. Funny thing is that it is all the way across the house.
I thought of some other info that might be useful. First of all my TCP max half open connections is set to 150 right now. It has been 100 for ages but I bumped it up today (using http://www.lvllord.de/?url=downloads). Could that make a difference?
This part bothers me the most. I downloaded Ubuntu (just to test) via torrent... and guess what speeds I got. 1.1 Mbps or 8.8 MBits. That's the part that's tripping me out. Torrents going faster than... erm... FTP I'm guessing?
I've also run TCP Optimizer (http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php) and set it to 20 MBits. I don't know if that would help/hurt/not make a difference but I should probably tell you anyway. Going to Ubuntu right now, I'm going to run the test from there to possibly eliminate those changes I made.

Edit 2: Ho boy. This does not bode well. In Ubuntu I get a decent 8.2 MBits. Argh.
Wireshark just installed. Just tell me what I need to do. Oh and BTW I just realized that Wireshark is for Windows too.

Edit 3: Well scratch edit number 2 I suppose. I'm getting the same speed in XP now...

Message edited by havokblue on 12-31-2008 at 05:15:54 AM

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Reply to havokblue

ok so it looks like it points to the AP. Both laptops with different cards is my guess are all giving you the same results. Wired speed it solid. Sounds like an AP issue... Either try a different AP OR do a wireshark cap to see if it yields something helpful.

Yes, wireshark is for wins too, but you cant monitor WLAN 802.11 traffic easily. Put the laptop in mon mode on channel and take your pops laptop and pull down an iso or something ... record the cap and put it somewhere for me to get to it ..

------------------------------ CCNA, CWNA, CQS-CWLANSS
Reply to gstefanick

Unfortunately Verizon ties us to the POS router they gave us. I could go buy one and plug it to one of the POS's ethernet but that's a lot of pain and money since there is no major problem as it is.

Sorry I'm a bit confused with your instructions... You want me to monitor the network traffic and download from my dad's? If that's the case it's a no go. It's a company computer and I don't even want to imagine the **** storm that would go down if they found a torrent application.

Message quoted 1 times

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Reply to havokblue

havokblue wrote :

Unfortunately Verizon ties us to the POS router they gave us. I could go buy one and plug it to one of the POS's ethernet but that's a lot of pain and money since there is no major problem as it is.

Sorry I'm a bit confused with your instructions... You want me to monitor the network traffic and download from my dad's? If that's the case it's a no go. It's a company computer and I don't even want to imagine the **** storm that would go down if they found a torrent application.

LOL.. yeah i bet !

It sounds to me the AP is the area of interest. In most cases the APs are optimized out of the box (in most cases). If you can do a capture of the beacon i can look at it ...

------------------------------ CCNA, CWNA, CQS-CWLANSS
Reply to gstefanick

What do I need to do to capture the beacon? Wireshark I'm guessing?

I've also found out that this specific model of router has massive problems with DHCP in general. But most of the problems took places under WPA specifically, and I'm using WEP. I know, I know, WEP has been cracked and what not. But I have to use it because the wireless adapter my 360 is using doesn't have WPA or WPA2 support.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.
Reply to havokblue

havokblue wrote :

What do I need to do to capture the beacon? Wireshark I'm guessing?

I've also found out that this specific model of router has massive problems with DHCP in general. But most of the problems took places under WPA specifically, and I'm using WEP. I know, I know, WEP has been cracked and what not. But I have to use it because the wireless adapter my 360 is using doesn't have WPA or WPA2 support.

have you turned off all security and ran your test? i was speaking to a buddy of mine this morning and he said these routers are crap. You can ebay a nice cisco 1200 series a/g/b for under 100. It may be best to just go with something more reliable.

Also, check your wireless card and see is power managment is on. If it is, turn it off.

------------------------------ CCNA, CWNA, CQS-CWLANSS
Reply to gstefanick

With security disabled I still get the same speeds. Really I don't think I'll be buying another though. I'm only 17 and I only have a job in the summer. So I'm not going to spend any extra money unless I just HAVE to.

Don't see any power management options under the card's interface. Under the general power settings everything is set to performance...

I take it you are running out of ideas

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Reply to havokblue

yeah, if you can capture a beacon i can take a look at it ...

------------------------------ CCNA, CWNA, CQS-CWLANSS
Reply to gstefanick

And how do I capture said beacon?

------------------------------ Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.
Reply to havokblue

wireshark.....

------------------------------ CCNA, CWNA, CQS-CWLANSS
Reply to gstefanick

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