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I've been lurking here for a while
trying to solve my speed problem. Thanks to everyone for all the
great tips, but I had to laugh when I finally figured this one out.
Maybe someone else can use the tip:
I just got upgraded to Comcast 6Mbs, but was only getting
throughputs in the 2-3Mbs range, with an occasional 4.5Mbs, and an
occasional 1Mbs. Really frustrating. I tried all the tweaks here.
TCPOptimizer is an awesome little program, and seemed to make some
marginal, but inconsistent improvement. I got rid of ZoneAlarm
since v5 seemed to cause a problem even though I had v6. No
software firewall, and new software firewall: same problem. No antivirus
software, and new AV software: same problem.
I have a Linksys BEFCMU10 (the original version) cable modem, and
my main router is a Netgear WGR614 v1 wireless
router. The wireless is turned on and
used, but not for this connection. All the connections are wired
Ethernet. Lot's of posters here have
newer versions of those things, but my same problem. I considered
buying new equipment, but it turns out that even this old stuff
works perfectly, as you will see.
Going straight from the modem, I get full 6Mbs+. Through the
router, it drops by half or more.
During testing, I was cycling things on and off, switching the
wiring when I finally stumbled on the problem. I was connected
directly through the modem, but had the router turned on, and my speed dropped
by half! I figured I had the wiring wrong or something, but nope,
no part of my system was connect to the router. I have a homemade wood rack,
and the router sits just above the modem. I
could do a Speakeasy test wired through the modem getting 6Mbs, and
watch the speed drop as I powered up the router.
So, the problem is: electrical noise! All the cables are shielded,
and the power cords are segregated from the data cables, so the
noise is coming directly from the devices. And low and behold, when
I separated the router and modem by a few slots on my
rack, I'm getting full speed minus about 10%, which is probably
reasonable for router overhead and marginal residual
noise. I imagine a lot of you out there have your router sitting on top of or below your
modem. It's a stupidly simple solution (although it took me a week
to stumble on it): if your having line speed problems, try
separating your router and modem.
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