router slows down internet speed?

[bearbo]

i'm currently having a 3.0M cable highspeed internet from Charter Communications.. if i connect my computers individually directly to the modem, and i get around 2.7 megabits/s... but if i connect them through my router then to internet, i get around 700 kb/s...
but occasionally if i can get more than 2 mb using router..

is it because there are more than one computer connect to the internet at the same time, therefore each computer gets a slower data transfer rate?

all my computers are wiredly connected to the router.. any insights?

i have a very beginner level question... what's the difference between router and switch? i've read that if i want to have multiple computer connect to the internet via a switch, one has to be always on and "share" the internet connection, is that true? I was looking at a GB switch, and it looks like I can use the high transfer rate in my network...

 

[pjarvi]

Check the tech support site of your ISP and get the DNS servers for the service you're using. Then, open System Preferences > Network, and add the DNS servers for the current connection you're using (built-in ethernet / wireless). If you can't find the info on their website, call them and ask for the DNS addresses.

 

[bearbo]

Check the tech support site of your ISP and get the DNS servers for the service you're using. Then, open System Preferences > Network, and add the DNS servers for the current connection you're using (built-in ethernet / wireless). If you can't find the info on their website, call them and ask for the DNS addresses.

cool... i'll try that... can you educate me about what does it suppose to do?

 

[Scarlet Fever]

3MB/S means 3 megabits per second. When you download a file, you are downloading it at 700 kilobytes per second. That would by why the figure appears lower.

now that i think about it, that logic doesn't quite work, because I have a 256kbps internet connection, and i download files at 25kb/s, which is ~20% of the stated speed. For you, that would be 600kb/s, so i would say, according to this logic, your internet is going faster than it should.

 

[iMeowbot]

Some routers just aren't very good. What make/model is it?

 

[bearbo]

3MB/S means 3 megabits per second. When you download a file, you are downloading it at 700 kilobytes per second. That would by why the figure appears lower.

now that i think about it, that logic doesn't quite work, because I have a 256kbps internet connection, and i download files at 25kb/s, which is ~20% of the stated speed. For you, that would be 600kb/s, so i would say, according to this logic, your internet is going faster than it should.

uh no.
i appreciate your attempt to help, but perhaps you can use a lesson.
i'm not refering to straight download speed, and i am refering to the speed in the unit of megabits. the speed is obtained from internet speed tests online, and if you are concerned with accurcy of one, i did do on multiple places.
if you read my post carefully, you'd realized that i do get 2.7Mbits if i connect straight from the modem.

Some routers just aren't very good. What make/model is it?

netgear something-something 624 i believe, i can check again later... it didn't seem to have this problem before, but i could have just imagined it was OK before...

 

[pjarvi]

cool... i'll try that... can you educate me about what does it suppose to do?

I don't know why this helps, but when I got my first Mac (G4 Mini) the internet performance was crap. After some searching around I saw other messageboard threads about adding the DNS entries, and it worked.

 

[bearbo]

I don't know why this helps, but when I got my first Mac (G4 Mini) the internet performance was crap. After some searching around I saw other messageboard threads about adding the DNS entries, and it worked.

i'm a bit hestitate about calling ISP, it doesn't seem like the people answer the phone would know anything beyond "restart your router... oh it doesnt work? i'll send someone over for $50 to see if there's anything wrong"

 

[Sdashiki]

i'm a bit hestitate about calling ISP, it doesn't seem like the people answer the phone would know anything beyond "restart your router... oh it doesnt work? i'll send someone over for $50 to see if there's anything wrong"

actually that money you send them every month is supposed to pay for free tech support and on site stuff.

if you cant connect, or use your full bandwith, its up to THEM to get it to you.

$50, i doubt it. I dont know what ISP you use, but if its cable, they will send someone out for free.

 

[iMeowbot]

netgear something-something 624 i believe, i can check again later... it didn't seem to have this problem before, but i could have just imagined it was OK before...

WGT624? That router (like most Netgear units) has gone though a lot of firmware updates to fix a litany of bugs. You'll want to visit the Netgear site to get the most recent. Netgear being Netgear, you will want to download all the available firmware revisions while you are there, and backup what you already have too if it is earlier. Sometimes their updates improve things, sometimes they make things worse, and you'll want an easy way to switch.

 

[bearbo]

actually that money you send them every month is supposed to pay for free tech support and on site stuff.

if you cant connect, or use your full bandwith, its up to THEM to get it to you.

$50, i doubt it. I dont know what ISP you use, but if its cable, they will send someone out for free.

well. okay, can someone answer me this.. is DNS server address an IP address? or what format is it in (i know, i'm ignorant)

okay, when i ping charter.com in windows, i got
Pinging www.charter.com [208.233.219.206]... is that what i want?

 

[jamone80]

heres a neat little site where you can get a pretty accurate reading of how fast your connection is. i know downloading from sites is not always a good indicator.

http://www.dslreports.com/stest

just make sure your not using the internet while running the test. hope this helps.

 

[iMeowbot]

well. okay, can someone answer me this.. is DNS server address an IP address? or what format is it in (i know, i'm ignorant)

Yes, you normally are given two to work with. The router will pick them up from DHCP or whatever protocol the ISP uses. These will be the same addresses you are assigned when you plug in a computer directly to bypass a router, so that's not likely at all to be your problem.

okay, when i ping charter.com in windows, i got
Pinging www.charter.com [208.233.219.206]... is that what i want?

No, and I don't understand why people are telling you to mess with this. DNS can affect the time it takes to start a connection to sites on the net (because a hostname has to be looked up and converted to one of those IP address numbers using DNS), but it doesn't have squat to do with transfer speeds.

 

[bearbo]

heres a neat little site where you can get a pretty accurate reading of how fast your connection is. i know downloading from sites is not always a good indicator.

http://www.dslreports.com/stest

just make sure your not using the internet while running the test. hope this helps.

just to be clear, i did NOT determine the speed of my connection by download a large file and use a timer, that would be extremely stupid of me. i've been mainly determine my speed of connection via this

 

[Scarlet Fever]

uh no.
i appreciate your attempt to help, but perhaps you can use a lesson.
i'm not refering to straight download speed, and i am refering to the speed in the unit of megabits. the speed is obtained from internet speed tests online, and if you are concerned with accurcy of one, i did do on multiple places.

Ah well. Thanks for enlightening me

 

[yg17]

i'm a bit hestitate about calling ISP, it doesn't seem like the people answer the phone would know anything beyond "restart your router... oh it doesnt work? i'll send someone over for $50 to see if there's anything wrong"

Haha, that would be Charter for you.



I begin all tech support calls to them with, "Hi, my internet connection isn't working, and I've restarted the modem, router and every computer (not really, I'll restart the modem and router, but not the computers) and it still doesn't work." It'll throw them off for a bit, because they'll say "Uhhhhhhhhh..........it should work" and then they just tell me to wait and call back later.