I need HELP with some broadband concepts

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Ireimp

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Wannabe Geek

#32521 19-Apr-2009 02:31

I am new to this broadband stuff and very green so please be kind!

I have wireless broadband through Xnet (Flood Plan) using a Linksys Wireless G ADSL modem. I also just realised that on the modem box it says 'devices to connect to your network at a blazing 54Mbps'. Is it just me or is 54Mbps slow? This is the maximum speed I can get and maybe I just bought the wrong modem.

I live in the Wellington CBD in an apartment block built five years ago. I went to a friends apartment today which is exactly three floors above my apartment and was very upset when I realised he is getting 100Mbps through Telecom. However he has a desktop set up which is connected to the internet via a wire. I decided to have a look at a favourite website which streams 24/7 via a webcam and was surprised to watch it without the problem I have in my apartment of the streaming constantly sticking and skipping. Up until today I never thought it could be a problem with my internet connection but now I have started to wonder.

I've also been reading the discussion forums - about ADSL filters and the proper set up (I have multiple phone sockets in my apartment - wireless handheld phone goes into one socket while my modem plugs into another socket on the other side of the room - no filters in use), half ringers and NID (I'm also loosing internet connection when the phone in the house is used), noise on the phone line and so forth. Now I feel like tearing my hair out.

I did a speed test (I'm in Wellington and recommended server was in Auckland) and here are the results: Download 6.35Mb/s, Upload 0.72Mb/s and Ping 232ms. Every time I tried to conduct the speed test through the citylink server it crashed on uploading.

I would love some help from anyone on how I might solve the problem if this is possible. I am too green to know if it's a wiring problem or a modem problem or a ISP problem or what kind of problem it is.

Thanks!

Screeb

698 posts

Ultimate Geek

#207866 19-Apr-2009 05:41

You're confusing the speed to your router with internet speed. 54Mbps is standard for wireless routers (except some newer ones, but you don't need to worry about that). Your internet connection is at most 24Mbps, as is your friend's, so your router certainly isn't limiting your internet speed. Your friend's "100Mbps" is the speed to his router, not his internet speed. You could also get 100Mbps (maybe even 1Gbps) to your router if you connected to it via ethernet (the same type of cable your friend is using).

The problem you're having with the webcam you want to watch could be due to a flakey wireless connection to your router. Try connecting to it using ethernet (wire) instead.

jpollock

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#207870 19-Apr-2009 07:15

If you are losing internet whenever the phone rings, are you using a cordless phone?

2.4GHz cordless phones share the same frequency range as 802.11b/g - the wireless standard used by the router.

Since the modem can't use a different range, you will need to replace either the phone or the router.

802.11N routers are able to use a different frequency range (if configured) - 5GHz.

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cyril7

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#207880 19-Apr-2009 08:30

As Screeb has said 54Mb/s is more than enough to convey an ADSL connection, the max speed from any ADSL connection is 24Mb/s, however depending on your phone line length (to the exchange) the speed can by anything from nothing to 24Mb/s. Your friends 100Mb/s connection is simply the speed of the wired ethernet connection to his router. A wired ethernet connection will be much more stable (100% thorughput) compared to a WiFi connection that can be effected by interference which could be quite conciderable in a busy city apartment situation.

You say you have no filters installed, this is not good, ideally you should have a central filter installed, but as a first step install an inline filter on any POTS (plain old telepone) devices such as your cordless base station. The ADSL modem should connect directly to the line with no filter, alternatively you can get filters like this that provide both a filtered port for the POTs device and a direct line port for the ADSL modem. You only need filters on phone sockets that have POTS devices connected to them, ie a filter is required to stop POTS devices from effecting the ADSL signal, the ADSL modem connects direct to the line.

Before you do this have a look at your modems ADSL status page and see what sync speeds, attenuation, S/N margins it gives, then disconnect any POTS devices from your phone wiring (ie phones, cordless basestation, fax etc) and restart your modem, then check again as to what it reports for sync speed attenuation etc. Then do the same with a filter installed on any POTS device.

I would suggest your flacky connection (jerky youtube etc) is a problem with the wireless connection, so used a wired ethernet connection to your modem instead.

Cyril

sbiddle

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#207887 19-Apr-2009 09:21

54Mbps is the theoretical maximum speed for 802.11g, in reality real life speeds are nothing like this.

One issue that has the potential to be causing you issues is other people using the same wireless channal as you. When you scan for networks in your laptop you will see other networks in range. Being in the city in an apartment you could easily be seeing a large number of other networks.

Have a look what channels these are using and then change your wireless channel number to something that's not being used by any other routers. If all channels are being used by other routers nearby pick something that's not used as often.

Ireimp

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#208014 19-Apr-2009 20:52

First of all may I thank each and every one of you for replying to my post!

Secondly I have now connected my laptop to the ethernet cable which came with my modem and it is now running at 100Mbps. So I don't think there is any issue with speed.

I am going to go out tomorrow and purchase a filter for the other little problem I was having with the internet connection dropping every time my phone was used and hopefully that will solve that issue.

For me personally the biggest issue I now have is that I am still unable to watch the live 24 hour streaming of video from my favourite website...www.rednuns.com/webcam/. When I visited my neighbour yesterday (ISP Telecom) and checked out the website the streaming was perfect and I mean 100% perfect. No skipping and no pausing. I have a laptop which is only four months old. My ISP is Xnet and I am on the Flood plan. I also have AVG installed.

What could be causing this inconsistent streaming? I am just about to tear my hair out so again any advice would be great.

cyril7

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#208021 19-Apr-2009 21:10

Hi, sorting your filter situation will simply get the most out of your connection, but that may not nessecarily fix your video streaming issue. Recently, infact just before Xtra released its current plans, I changed to Xnet, as they offered (at that time) more attractive bang for bucks for a Fs/Fs connection, however I have found that the overal performance is no where as good as what I used to get on xtra especially international traffic. From my understanding Xtra probably have the best contention ratio (bandwidth/users) of any ISP which probably makes them a good choice.

You say you get 6Mb/s via speedtest, this should be more than adequate to support a solid video stream, so your ISPs performance is probably whats an issue. Obviously a speedtest is not a definitive test as there are so many variables that contribute, however it would be good to know your sync speed, both before you fix the filters and after. I dont know where you are in the city but most of the central city should be able to get way better speeds than 7-8Mb/s (assuming your modem supports ADSL2+ and your filters are correctly applied) so I suspect you can get better performance with sorted filters.

Cheers
Cyril

richms

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#208026 19-Apr-2009 21:32

Ireimp: My ISP is Xnet and I am on the Flood plan.

What could be causing this inconsistent streaming? I am just about to tear my hair out so again any advice would be great.

Yes, there are plenty of threads about xnet suckking in the world exchange forum.

The line speed may have being low because you have no filter, but it should still work for streaming stuff even if the line speed was limited to just a couple of megabits because of it.

Get the filter anyway, but I dont think that will help when the other end of your connection is going to xnet and their pile of suck they call an internet connection.

Richard rich.ms

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Ireimp

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#208027 19-Apr-2009 21:34

Thanks again Cyril for your posting and help.

In your posting you mention to have a look at my modems ADSL status page and see what sync speeds, attenuation, S/N margins it gives. Please can you tell me how to do this and I mean word for word. Once learned it will not be forgotten!

I am the Wellington CBD on Molesworth Street which to my mind is pretty central. I am using a Linksys Wireless G ADSL Home Gateway WAG200G modem which according to the box supports ADSL 2. What do you think?

I am a wanna be geek! Learing loads and enjoying it!

cyril7

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#208059 20-Apr-2009 07:44

Hi, the online support only offers the quick setup guide, but to get to the web interface, type in a URL on your web browser of 192.168.1.1 the user name and password is "admin" unless its been changed, once in there will be a status page or ADSL status or similar, the one you want will have sync rates and attenuation etc, it would be good to have a before and after filter install to see if any improvement.

Cheers
Cyril

Ireimp

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#208213 20-Apr-2009 19:42

Cyril I purchased the ADSL filter today and rushed home after work all excited and installed it and it's working a treat as far as my internet disconnecting every time the phone is used. No more dropped Skype calls!

I also managed to get the info from the url you provided, thanks very much.

Without filter:

DSL Status:                         Connected
DSL Modulation Mode:          MultiMode
DSL Path Mode:                   Interleaved
Downstream Rate:             7547 kbps
Upstream Rate:                 901 kbps
Downstream Margin:             12 db
Upstream Margin:       12 db
Downstream Line Attenuation:    13 db
Upstream Line Attenuation:        2 db
Downstream Transmit Power:     12 db
Upstream Transmit Power:        17 db

With filter:

DSL Status:                            Connected
DSL Modulation Mode:             MultiMode
DSL Path Mode:                      Interleaved
Downstream Rate:                  7547 kbps
Upstream Rate:                      901 kbps
Downstream Margin:               15 db
Upstream Margin:                   12 db
Downstream Line Attenuation: 13 db
Upstream Line Attenuation:     2 db
Downstream Transmit Power:   12 db
Upstream Transmit Power:      17 db

What can you tell from this info?

cyril7

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#208216 20-Apr-2009 19:52

Hi, I cannot help feeling that you have posted the same data twice, if not then the filter at least has stopped the disconnections and you phone basestation has no effect while not on hook. Regardless the noise margin has improved, but with those specs I would have expected ADSL2+ speeds as you obviously only 1km from the exchange. Can you force ADSL2+?

Cyril