Slow wireless DDWRT/Linksys WRT54G V1.1

[parkerbink]

I have been running DDWRT on a fleet of steam driven WRT54Gs for years.

I like them because with heatsinks and gigantic antannae I can run them at outrageous dba and get great coverage. Also if they fail they are under 30 bucks.

My issue is I am getting 1/3 of my wired bandwidth and would like to get closer to all that is there.

I had a 2008 firmware up to a few days ago when I started looking for solutions. I have toggled all the possible settings and at best not made a difference, at worst lost connectivity.

Firmware Version is now the newest "stable":

DD-WRT v24-sp2 (10/10/09) std - build 13064


Here are the speedtest results, the wireless are the same on 5 different wireless devices from PC, Mac iPhone and Android based Samsung smart phone.

Wireless:


Wired:


Any helpful input is greatly appreciated.

[zig553]

You could probably increase your wireless speed by moving to a wireless N network, because it appears your wireless adapter is a wireless G adapter. Wireless N produces better speeds. You would have to make sure your router is N compatible, And you would need a wireless N adapter to go with it.

[parkerbink]

Thanks but I only have one N capable device and none of the routers I have are N.
G is capable of much more than the 10 I am seeing and I am certain there is a way to get at least 1/2 of the available bandwidth.

I am not interested in replacing any hardware.

[TurboJake]

It depends on a lot of factors. especially the fact that wireless G splits up bandwidth between all connected clients. 54 nominal Mbps, split up between 5 devices, is 10.8Mb/s when all are transmitting and receiving equally with no QoS setup. But the wireless chipset itself puts out a lot of heat, and over time they just can't handle throughput anymore. Especially when you up the power to the antennas like you are. What you are doing, combined with how old it is screams hardware to me.

It was working fine until recently. If nothing firmware changed, nothing software changed on your device(s), nothing environmental changed (Someone new hopping on your channel) then the only explanation is hardware.

I couldn't imagine living on wireless G with my wireless throughput needs. I loved the old WRT54G routers. But they don't last forever and their time has passed.

[parkerbink]

Wow. Turned the dba down, immediately got this:


As an aside, all I am doing is email, surfing and some streaming of MLB TV. It all works flawlessly.

I don't think there has been a reduction in my throughput, I just decided to try to get more.

[parkerbink]

I can live with this.

Thanks for the input.

[parkerbink]

I got an Asus RT-N16.

Wired:


Wireless G:


Wireless N:

[TurboJake]

Netgear WNR3500v2/U/L running DD-WRT v24-sp2 (04/23/10) min ~ 30Mb through Charter

That upload speed is their advertised speed.... It's terrible...

Wireless N: Only thing wired is the PS3, Which the woman is currently watching netflix on.

[parkerbink]

I pay for 12 down, no clue what up is. Looking for a 2.4 SMA antanna set now.

[m73m95]

I can live with this.

Thanks for the input.

I have the same router you do.
How did you boost the speed? Are there settings that would make it faster? I just plugged it in and started surfing.

[parkerbink]

Turbo said it heated the chipset upping the output DBA. I reduced it to stock. 70.

[parkerbink]

Ordered three of these.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833998116

[TurboJake]

I have the same router you do.
How did you boost the speed? Are there settings that would make it faster? I just plugged it in and started surfing.

He was running custom firmware called DD-WRT which expands the possibilities of the router from stock. By running this firmware he was able to up the power to the antenna. It also can overclock the processing unit, and do much more. At the cost of heat, router lifespan, and other things. It's a very good firmware to run but requires some electronics knowledge, albeit minimal.

What he mentioned he did was boost the antenna power. Upping the dBi (gain) or the TX power doesn't boost the speed per se. It just boosts the range to which you get a connection, thus allowing a better connection further away. The WRT-54GL will, at maximum, support 100Mb/s wired, with a nominal 54Mb/s with a perfect connection and one single client being served.

The possibility of saturating the whole channel to get the full 54Mb/s wireless is almost impossible though. And most of the time with a 10/100 wired connection you'll get 65-80Mb constant.

IF your in the market for home networking and NAS storage for the whole house, your best bet is to pick up a new router. Especially if you have multiple wireless clients.
If your only surfing the web and doing no file sharing, it's a simple matter of how many clients vs how fast your internet connection is. Wireless G is good enough most of the time for this situation unless you're watching netflix on the PS3, XBOX 360, or PC in high def. With mutiple clients doing this at once, this is not much of a possibility one wireless G.

Everything in my house is wireless N. 2 laptops, 2 cell phones, a tablet, a NAS, and my desktop. All of them are interconnected. They all share data with each other. The only thing that is wired is the PS3 because I wanted to saturate all of the possible wireless speed to it. I don't have cable TV so I rely on streaming services such as Playon!, PS3 Media server, Hulu, and a couple others. Frequently with mutliple computers doing it at once. Without wireless N, this wouldn't be possible.

If your situation is anything like mine, do yourself a favor and upgrade.

[themoonman]

haven't messed with ddwrt for a while now but when i had that on my belkin router it was pretty damn beefy.

get verizon fios if available in your area and call it a day! depending on what router/modem they give you, you wont need ddwrt they allow you to edit all settings from the factory.

wireless is probably about half of that.

[parkerbink]

Got the N working.



As I am paying for 12 and getting 30+ wired I am pretty happy with this.

I ordered an N nic for my media pc at my TV.

Thanks for the input!