bandwidth, etc...

sofmed · 03-04-2008, 14:06

Ok, here's where I show my age, and my desire to stay as current as an old dog possibly can these days.

I'm home now and I see my wife (bless her little heart) has set up our PC, and the wireless router, etc.

Problem is that when I link my laptop to the wireless network it bogs down the desktop PC something fierce. We subscribe to the 2nd quickest service through our provider and it's loads faster than the basic, but my mind is working overtime trying to wrap around the issue with bandwidth and how to keep the PC running at speed while I'm wirless on my LT.

Anyone here have any ideas, maybe a different router, anything? I would appreciate any advice besides "call your provider's service number, they'll walk you through it", as the wait time on hold is...well, I think my social security will be expired by the time they pick up. LOL

Help?

Thanks ahead of time.

Mick

treykane · 03-04-2008, 14:46

What router are you using?

*edit*

Also, what type of connection (Cable, DSL), and if DSL what type of area do you live in? Rural?

I ask because with DSL it can make a huge difference.

**Kyobanim** · 03-04-2008, 17:05

Most routers come with software that you can adjust settings with. In there is typically a place where you can set priorities to different devices. Sometimes this is the cause.

It would help if you posted the make and model router as well as the connection type.

sofmed · 03-04-2008, 17:39

We have Embarq service and a 660 series Embarq router, but the wireless is a Netgear wireless 108Mbps WGT624 v3 with 4 LAN ports.

I've no idea about other devices which may enhance the signal. As for the software issue, I'm also at a loss. I'm all ears for any advice though.

Mick

**Ambush Master** · 03-04-2008, 18:50

I am running the very same router and have had up to 4 wireless connections to it at a time, with no noticeable degradation.

I would recommend that you first change the password to the router and then log into the router and select Advanced Wireless Settings, then Wireless Card Access List (Setup Access List). Here you will enter the MAC Addresses of your Wireless Cards that are in your computers. You can either open up the machines and copy them off of the cards themselves or look them up in your system (preferred). If you do not know how to do this I'll walk you through it.

What this will do is limit the access to your routed to only those machines that are registered on it!! You will not have to worry about parasites sucking up your bandwidth.

You should check the settings in the router and be sure that you are running at 108 Mbps and also your cards in your machines need to be 108s!!

Any questions give a shout.

treykane · 03-04-2008, 19:29

I have personally had more than one bad experience with this router. I had one that would randomly power cycle, and another that seemed to not let me use the wired connections.

I switched to Linksys and it has worked beautifully.

I would do as stated above, it could be a simple settings issue. I would also check that if you have static IP's assigned to your computers that they're not trying to share one, or share with the router.

Good Luck

Ice · 03-04-2008, 23:50

sofmed, what operating system are you using?
If you are running Windows XP/Vista, updates might start downloading automatically and some of them are large files that take time to download. How long have you had this problem?

sofmed · 03-05-2008, 14:29

Thanks for all the input, everyone. I'm going to try A.M.'s directions first, then take it from there.

I'm running XP: Media Center Edition, and over all it has given us very few problems.

I'm just coming into the situation blind is all, as my wife has been taking all this on by herself for so long now.

Does anyone else remember receiving such a long "Honey-Do" list when they re-deployed?

Cheers!

Mick

Maytime · 03-06-2008, 17:48

This may be a long shot, but are you running any BitTorrent applications (i.e. to download relatively large files) on your laptop? They will hog all the bandwidth on a home network unless you configure the priorities or bandwidth allocations within the program itself.

I ran into this myself and BitTorrent was the culprit, but if you don't know what that is then the problem lies somewhere else.

$0.02

sofmed · 03-12-2008, 19:10

I'm not familiar with the BitTorrent apps you mentioned but I'll look into it just the same.

Honestly, I've been so busy with some of the other issues on my "Honey-Do!" list, this has, unfortunately taken a temporary back seat.

I'll have time to get back to it when I go on block leave at the end of the month.

Thanks to all of you for your sound advice. I'll let you know how things work out.

Mick

veritasthrice · 03-15-2008, 22:01

All windows based PCs can be set up to follow QoS rules. QoS is Quality of Service, basically you can cap the bandwidth to each computer if you want, it can be enabled through the router.

If you want feel free to give me a PM, or email me @ andrewjurban@gmail.com

I'm graduating from University dealing with this kind of stuff all day long. The more I know about your setup, internet connection, etc The easier it will be to diagnose.

To rule some things out, its highly unlikely that your router isn't capable of pushing bandwidth to your desktop PC (if its connected through Cat5e(basic Ethernet cable) Generally routers appropriate more bandwidth to wired ports than wireless by default. However when you have two PCs fighting for speed, if no countermeasures are in place, its first come first serve on bandwidth.

But like I said feel free to PM/e-mail, we will get you sorted out!