Router bottleneck?

[Rockadile]

I just upgraded to a 50 D/L Mbps internet service.
I'm getting 50-55 Mbps for wired connection but 10-15 for wireless using 2011 MBP.
Am I getting slow wifi because the router is 10/100 ethernet or interference?

SB6141 Modem: http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SurfBoard-SB6141-DOCSIS/dp/B00AJHDZSI

N300 Router: http://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-routers/WNR2000.aspx#tab-techspecs

 

[waw74]

whats your wireless connection spped?
what flavor of wireless are you connecting to? 802.11 B/G/N ?

alt-click the wifi icon in your menu bar
the answers to those questions will be there under "PHY mode", and "transmit rate"

where are you in relation to your router when connecting wirelessly?
imagine a straight line between your computer and the router, what's on that line? 1 wall, 2 walls, a bookshelf the router is buried in?



the 10/100 has nothing to do with your wireless, that's the speed of the wired network ports

 

[Rockadile]

whats your wireless connection spped?
what flavor of wireless are you connecting to? 802.11 B/G/N ?

alt-click the wifi icon in your menu bar
the answers to those questions will be there under "PHY mode", and "transmit rate"

where are you in relation to your router when connecting wirelessly?
imagine a straight line between your computer and the router, what's on that line? 1 wall, 2 walls, a bookshelf the router is buried in?



the 10/100 has nothing to do with your wireless, that's the speed of the wired network ports

802.11g
Transmit rate: 54

1st spot: One wall; 1st to 2nd floor
2nd spot: Two walls; same floor
Getting similar speeds with each.

 

[h9826790]

Am I getting slow wifi because the router is 10/100 ethernet or interference?

If you are running a 100Mb/s hard line, it won't be your limiting factor in this case.

 

[Peace]

That's a single band router. If any device connects to it using the 2.4Ghz 802.11a/b/g it will reduce the wireless connection to 802.11g speeds.

The 2011 Mac's connected to 802.11n using the 5Ghz Dual-band mode used by dual-band routers.

If a device connects at 2.4Ghz to the 802.11a/b/g band the 5Ghz band will not be affected so it will stay at 802.11n.


You should get a newer dual-band router.

 

[Rockadile]

That's a single band router. If any device connects to it using the 2.4Ghz 802.11a/b/g it will reduce the wireless connection to 802.11g speeds.

The 2011 Mac's connected to 802.11n using the 5Ghz Dual-band mode used by dual-band routers.

If a device connects at 2.4Ghz to the 802.11a/b/g band the 5Ghz band will not be affected so it will stay at 802.11n.


You should get a newer dual-band router.

Hmm, I see.
It has to be either my Epson printer and/or old Windows laptop running wireless-g.
I think my iPhone4 and iPad Air can do wireless-n.

What dual-band router would work good with my modem?

 

[Peace]

I'm probably the wrong guy to ask. Everything I have is Apple..

Netgear makes some descent dual band wifi routers. No need to worry about 802.11ac just make sure it's dual-band with a 5Ghz band that can be named.

For example the Apple products all have two WiFi networks. One is for the 2.4Ghz 802.11a/b/g and should use the lower channels while the 5Ghz one has a different name and only accepts connections from capable 802.11n devices that can connect to the 5Ghz band on higher channels.

This lowers signal interference between the two bands which helps.

BTW I use a Surfboard 6141 for my cable modem and it works as advertised. Constant 50-70 D/L and 15-18 U/L.


[edit]

Out of curiosity I ran a speedtest on my iPhone 5S connected to the TC 5Ghz network.

Uploads were a bit slower than usual but as you can see my speeds are fine.

[/edit]

 

[waw74]

http://www.cnet.com/topics/networking/best-networking-devices/

I have the netgear r7000, it's rock solid and fast. It might be a bit of overkill for your needs though.

a simultaneous dual-band will help you out, you can put the slower devices, or things that don't need the high speed on 2.4, freeing up bandwidth on the 5GHz for other things.
simultaneous is very important, most routers are these days, but make sure to check. Some will have big labels saying 2.4 and 5, but it's an either or kinda thing.

the iPhone 4 does 802.11N but only on 2.4GHz, which is plenty adequate for most things you do on the phone. (the 5 was the first with 5GHz)

another thing to keep in mind, 5GHz doesn't go through things well, so depending on how your house is built, add a couple walls between you and the router and the 2.4 may be faster.

 

[Rockadile]

So my bottleneck is because my MBP is forced to run on 2.4 wireless-g and walls?
It looks like those range extenders won't work here.

I was looking at that Nighthawk and Airport Extreme because of beamforming. I'm wondering if that would help. Is it wireless-ac exclusive?

Felt like I splurged on the modem but those routers are almost double priced

 

[h9826790]

Yes, the 2.4GHz network is the bottleneck. I just run a test in my place.

My Mac Pro with the wired network to the 6th gen Time Capsule.


The 802.11n 2.4GHz single band speed on my iPhone 4 connect to the same Time Capsule.


My wife's iPhone 5s connect to the same Time Capsule with 802.11n 5GHz dual band.


I don't have any 802.11ac equipment yet, so can't test it. Anyway, the ac router won't increase the max speed of your 2011 MBP (just like my iPhone 4).