Internet Connection Speed
 

Had a chat with Shaw on a few issues today. Generally resolved but the internet connection speed situation I don't quite follow...

- Laptop connected to the modem/router wirelessly (approx 3 feet away) - speed approx 20 Mbps. Changing channels on the router (1, 6 or 11) makes no difference.

- Laptop connected using ethernet cable instead speed 59 Mbps ie good as the service is Internet 60

- Shaw say that the modem and computer are ok and that the Shaw network is saturated locally causing drop in speed when using wireless connection. They say they are improving the network but the supplied speed is correct ads it works with the ethernet cable and the speed drop using wireless is sacrificing speed for convenience.

Does this sound reasonable. I don;t follow how inproving the network outside of my house will improve the wireless network connection inside the house?

(Afterwards I checked that the wireless connection speed between the laptop and modem is 54Mbps.)

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

Whoever told you this is more talented at telling believable stories than resolving issues (whether it's their issue or yours)... Your internet service is good, sounds like you're getting what you're paying for.

What happens if you wirelessly connect your laptop elsewhere, do you get >20Mbps from a reliable server?

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

We have had some issues with Shaw lately, mostly with wireless connection issues with their modem, nothing resolved but its not a huge issue for us, mostly just an annoyance.

The issues just started in the last 4 months, before that it worked fine, only thing that has changed is we moved to another building within the complex, but there are way more Shaw users in this building, where the other building seemed to be mostly Telus users based on the networks my computer shows.


I feel Shaw prices are more of an issue then anything, not sure why they charge such a premium over Telus.

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

Quite the tale but a lot of rubbish to be honest.

Something is interfering with the wireless signal (AC unit? Microwave? close by) or something on the router or PC network settings is configured/misconfigured to top out around 20Mbit.

Full speed via the ethernet cable shows everything is running perfectly in the Shaw network. Simply using wireless should have no bearing especially at the close range you're using. You'd expect some sort of drop off, perhaps to the speeds you're seeing, if you're a fair distance from the router or if obstacles (a number of walls) exist. As it's 802.11g then it won't ever make it to the full 60Mbit as 11g tops out at 54Mbit as you've seen. At a few feet distance it should be getting that speed or very near it.

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

What else is on your wireless network? Is anything forcing the router to adopt a slower speed?

I'm getting 144mbps both ways on my wifi network and 26mbps from my 25meg Telus connection. That's pretty constant over all 3 floors as we have a hard-wired Telus router on the top floor and one of their extenders hard-wired in the basement.

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

Wireless?

Internet?!?

Are you guys from the future?

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

Withabix
We are with Shaw and get great wireless speeds but replaced the supplied Shaw router with a decent linksys dualband one- the Shaw guy even openly admitted that the Shaw routers were complete crap - would switching out the crappy router for a decent one help?

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

Yeah, it's probably just a cheap router. Our free ISP router maxes out at 18Mbps on the wifi if you turn encryption on.

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

It probably would - at least Shaw allow you to use a different router.

Telus don't, but their Actiontec router and extender aren't bad and they are both dual band.

Telus don't let you access a server remotely however, which is a bit of a pain - I like to access my home server via the internet, but can't.

I had managed to force it to work once (a long night and many beers...) but then Telus accessed it when we had a fault and reset everything to factory settings - I can't remember how i did it....I think they've changed the firmware to stop the work-around....

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

I just had several exchanges of e mail between Shaw customer service in Vancouver Island and myself regarding their rather iffy modem/router that was supplied as part of my recent upgrade. We get wifi dropping out some days even on the laptop next to the router and other phones, i pads cannot connect. We never had these issues with the original set up and our own router. There are literally hundreds of complaints about the Shaw Cisco unit yet they denied any issues and instead blamed interference.
I have seen the article with the endless list of possible causes for interference and it seems that it is a very good get out clause for Shaw. "Maybe your neighbour has something interfering with the unit" they said. Jesus so you are telling me we cannot have 2 people living side by side who can both benefit from reasonable in home wifi? It's 2015 i don't buy it!

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

I would defer to you techy guys anyday- I'm way out of my depth but we bridged the crap supplied router and then use the Linksys WRT1900AC as the true wireless router and it works a treat with 2 ipads-, 3 iphones, as well streaming on PC/Mac and two TV all in different parts of a sizeable house- No interference with the neighbour networks either :cool:

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

It is likely that your router or laptop network adapter only supports the "g" protocol. Although the "g" protocol indicates link speeds up to 54 mbps, that includes the WI-FI overhead which is very large and usually limits the real data maximum throughput to about 20 mbps (usually less than 18 mbps when not next to the router). Normally the "n" protocol can have a maximum link speed of 150 mbps (N150) or 300 mbps (N300) (possibly more for some routers and network adapters) but even if the router and laptop have link speeds of 300 mbps, the typical router normally won't have real data throughput of more than about 60 mbps. If your router supports the "n" protocol on the 2.4 GHz band, there should be option in the router configuration to set the buffer size to either 20 MHz or 40 MHz. By default, most routers default to 20 MHz on the 2.4 GHz band which normally gives a maximum link speed of about 144 mbps for N300 and about 72 mbps for N150.

All of this is very confusing but if you look the attached thumbnails, that may possibly clear things up. The first thumbnail is the link speed of different types of routers, the second thumbnail is typical maximum throughputs of different types of routers, the third thumbnail is the link speed based on number of spatial streams and buffer size, and the forth thumbnail is the performance of different N300 routers on the 2.4 GHz band. The fifth thumbnail is a screen shot of about 20 routers in my complex each configured with different maximum link speeds. At the bottom of the thumbnail you can see that there are about 80 routers in the complex using the 2.4GHz band.

First check the specifications of your router model to determine what it supports ("g", "n", and/or "ac" protocols). If it supports the "ac" protocol, it will support the "g" and "n" protocols on the 2.4 GHz band and the "n" and "ac" protocol on the 5 GHz band. Usually most "ac" routers will support the maximum 300 mbps "n" protocol on the 2.4 GHz band if configured for a 40 MHz buffer. If the router is only a single band "n" router, it may only support the maximum 150 mbps "n" protocol and then performance can possibly be very poor (highly unlikely that the maximum data throughput will get to 60 mbps and probably significantly lower).

If your router supports the "n" protocol, then check the network driver of your laptop in the control panel->device manager and see if it indicates that it supports the "n" protocol. Typically most manufacturers will indicate 802.11bgn for a description of the driver if the "n" protocol is supported. If the "n" protocol is supported, that still doesn't tell you if N150 or N300 is supported. To try to determine if you are using N150 or N300, go to control panel->network->view status and look at the "speed". If it indicates 65-72 (20 MHz buffer) or 150 mbps (40 MHz buffer), you are using N150 but if it indicates 117-144 (20 MHz buffer) or 300 mbps (40 MHz buffer), you are using N300.

If your router has the "n" protocol capabilities but your laptop doesn't, then you will have to upgrade your laptop network adapter to improve performance. That can be done by either replacing the built-in network adapter under the cover at the bottom of your laptop or installing a USB network adapter. The following laptop dual band network adapter will likely work but I can't guarantee that it will. If there aren't enough antennas in your laptop, it might work but the link speed will likely be between 117-130 mbps but hopefully that will be enough to get a data throughput of 60 mbps.



If you want to make sure that the adapter will work and you can get a 300 mbps link speed, then select a USB N300 or "AC" network adapter from the following links. If you chose a mini/micro USB adapter, there is a possibility that the antennas in the adapter aren't that good and performance may suffer due to dropped packets. If your router is not a dual band "AC" router, an "AC" adapter won't give you any better performance than a "N" adapter.

Amazon.com: usb network n adapter wireless: Electronics

Amazon.com: usb network ac adapter wireless: Electronics

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

I can only dream of Internet speeds such as yours... Our speed test shows about 3mbps😢 Enough for Netflix for the kids but Iplayer struggles to stream..

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

Chugging along at 10 mbps outside, not sure what it is inside. Doesn't cause any problems in viewing.

Re: Internet Connection Speed
 

Not sure what our speed is but we watched Have I got News For You last night on iplayer without a hitch. It buffered once for about 5 seconds, otherwise seemless! Almost like living in England - but without UKIP.