Internet Speeds, Questions...

[Steve Dallas]

Just ran a speed test. I use TWC Premiere.

Got 17ms ping, 56.89 MBps download, 4.94 MBps upload

[Caddyroger]

Originally Posted by Angrybird 12

There are other factors involved also. The age and rating of the wiring that carries the signal can make a huge difference.
I switched to Cable internet about a month ago from DSL. I was supposed to have doubled my speed. But instead it was cut in half. Since the cable inside my home was about 35 years old along with cheap Walmart splitters, I decided to change them out. I bought all new cable rated for HD and high speed internet. I also bought matching splitters. That brought my speed up some but not like it should. I contacted the cable company and requested they replace my cable coming to the house since it was probably 40 years old and not HD rated. After that my speed increased dramatically... So you may want to check into the age and type rating your wiring has.

Your right about the 33 year old cable. That cable probably was rg56 cable. The hd cable you bought probably is RG6. Today cable in use is RG6. In today's cable their is no such thing as a HD cable. What the cable companies did was installed a new run of RG6.
Do not fall for the trick that some stores tell you. They will try and sell you monster cables. I have 2 computer. a modem , a router, a network switch, 3 tvs, a dvd player, a tivo, 2 comcast hd receivers. All of the cables I bought are from Monoprice.com. I probably have paid less then a set of Monster cables. Some of the cables are over 7 years old.

[PoorMansCamaro]

Originally Posted by sgtjhsfjyjsfj

One thing I forgot to mention, I also had the cable technician put an inline filter on the line that goes to the cable modem. If I understood him correctly, the inline filter filters out the "noise" caused by the traffic meant for the DVR.

I don't have a dvr

[Caddyroger]

Ok guy and gals I will maybe let you know some nice stuff to know about cable internet. If you have a house make sure the cable is RG6. Do not use splitters from Homedepot, Walmarts and like store. I use comiscope or autronic. splitters. Some cable companies you can to service centers and pick one up for free.
I have the Comcast 105 down and 20 up speed tier. My speed readings. above 115 down and 22 up.
if your are well below what you are paying for then you are having problems. Call for tech to come out and test the connection. You can got this site and go the correct forum and they can help you out.

http://www.dslreports.com/forums/all

Here is the Faqs about what your modem levels should read

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/9737

I beleive the Receive/Downstream: -15dbmV to +15dbmV should be +10 to -10.

[Egon]

Originally Posted by PoorMansCamaro

Ok, so a little update. Everything seems to be running fine with the Dell XPS wifi connection. I'm a little laggy with the iphone4s when i'm in the bedroom. The modem/router is located on the furthest corner in the living room away from the master bedroom. so the speed in there is not the greatest. Especially when my other half is streaming video for school in the living room, I am in the bedroom trying to watch hulu or play online games on my phone. I did a speed test on the phone and I would get anywhere from 0.xx - 2.xx Mbps download. With the iphone4s, it is only able to connect to the 2.4Ghz band, so I think if I can upgrade to an iphone5s or even the new 6 and connect to the 5Ghz band, that would work.

I was also thinking about getting a wifi signal booster. Any insight on those? Should I stick to a netgear brand, since that's the modem/router I have, or anyone suggest a better brand, or even a better option?

Caution, long!

Keep in mind that the 5ghz band for WiFi has less range than the 2.4ghz band all else being equal. 5ghz will have a tougher time going through walls and other objects so if you are attempting to create a reliable connection at the extreme limit of your router under its present conditions switching to 5ghz will likely make it worse. I would recommend that you relocate your current router to a more central location in your home for more even coverage to see if this corrects your issue. On the flip side if the problem you are having is due to interference from other devices on the 2.4ghz band switching to 5ghz could fix your problem. (FYI most devices use the 2.4ghz band) If you go searching for WiFi networks from your home do you see many entries or just a handful? If the former your issue may very likely be caused by interference and you would benefit from either searching for a less congested channel on the 2.4ghz band or switching to 5ghz router/devices.

Unless you are OK with trouble shooting your WiFi connection on a regular basis I would recommend against WiFi boosters or signal extenders. I have never used them myself but all I hear are complaints about them. I often see them used as a bandaid fix when something as simple as relocating the router to a better location will work much more reliably. However YMMV just understand they are probably not supported by your cable provider and they often require frequent attention to keep them working correctly.

Just to clarify the older type of Coaxial cable is called RG59 and has a smaller conductor and much less shielding than the newer RG6 that is in current use by cable providers. RG59 is extremely detrimental to signal strength and should never be used. Also as Caddyroger mentioned poor quality splitters are another big source of problems. Many cable providers have spent lots of money to expand the frequency ranges that their cable plants can transmit on. Some of those poor quality generic splitters will only pass frequencies below 600-700mhz if that. If your cable provider has located most of your DOCSIS channels in the 800-900 mhz range those splitters will make it nearly impossible for your modem to operate correctly. Cascading splitters (wiring one splitter to another splitter to create even more connection points) can cause a rapid degradation of your signal strength too. Also leaving ports open on splitters can create locations where outside interference can enter your cable lines. If you don't need 4 ports on a splitter it is better to go to a 3 port splitter than it is to keep the 4 port and not connect anything to one of the ports.

Most splitters will be labeled for their frequency pass range (for example 1-900 mhz) as well as how many DB (decibels) will be lost on each leg. The smaller the DB drop the better in most cases. That will depend on how high the signal is coming into your home, as you may need to lose a few DB in some situations to achieve the desired +10 to -10 DB downstream signal strength range. For example if the signal is coming into your home from the street at +18 DB and you connect that directly to your modem it will not work and will need to be "padded" down by one method or another to get it into the desired operating range. I see many people make the mistake that Bigger/Higher is better and add amplifiers on their own in the mistaken assumption that it will resolve a signal issue. (also keep in mind amplifiers will amplify the signal as well as the noise on the line it can not discriminate between the two)

And finally please understand that the signal strength coming over your cable line to your modem has nothing to do with the signal strength of your WiFi. The signal to your modem could be perfect and you can still have WiFi issues, and no matter how many splitters you change or what type of cable you use it will not change your WiFi strength. Your WiFi strength is a function of your routers broadcast strength, what frequency it is broadcasting on, the distance from your router, and other factors that create interference. (other routers on the same frequency solid walls etc.) Things can get complicated really quickly if you don't understand all of the factors involved, so I hope if you have read this far that some of this information will help resolve whatever issues you are having.

[PoorMansCamaro]

That was a long read, but very informative! thanks!

I do see a lot of wifi networks, I guess being in an apartment would do that. lol I really don't have any other place to put the modem/router, other than in the bedroom, but then I would run into the same problem in the living room. I may try a booster and just keep the receipt and if it doesn't work, i'll just return it the next day.

[KaBoom1701]

Verizon FIOS here 50/50

Download 36.05 / Upload 43.13 (Laptop)

[Egon]

Originally Posted by PoorMansCamaro

That was a long read, but very informative! thanks!

I do see a lot of wifi networks, I guess being in an apartment would do that. lol I really don't have any other place to put the modem/router, other than in the bedroom, but then I would run into the same problem in the living room. I may try a booster and just keep the receipt and if it doesn't work, i'll just return it the next day.

Apartment complexes are one of the most challenging for WiFi. Typically there will be 10 or more WiFi networks operating within the same area and they can and often will cause interference with each other. You might try changing the channel that your router is using to something less congested. There are several WiFi analyzer apps for Android devices that will scan all of the available WiFi networks and inform you what channels they are using or which channels are the least congested. This can help you choose one that is less prone to interference from the other networks in your area. Most people will use the default settings on their router which usually chooses channel 1. Switching to channel 10 may be all you need to fix your issue and I would recommend you try that first before buying any new hardware. Let us know how things go.