Okay, recently I upgraded my internet from AT&T DSL where I was getting about 150Kb/s to Comcast where I am paying for 20Mb/s. Apparently the jack in the upstairs room where my main PC is located is not active. I was told my only option was to put the connection downstairs where my ancient Power Mac G4 resides. According to Speed Test, I am getting 20-22 Mb/s on the downstairs connection, however my main PC is, of course, not getting these speeds. I am using the provided Comcast gateway for right now, and my main PC is using a Netgear N150 as a reciever. If I reset my reciever I can get the 20Mb/s for about 1 minute before it slowly slows down to about 200Kb/s, my question is, since a hardwired connection is out of the question right now, and I don't really have much money to spend, what should I do about improving my speeds and making them more constant?
You are no longer using DSL. You are now using Communistcast. Your connection is rated approx. 20Mbps. Your main PC which is upstairs is using a wireless receiver to pick up the signal downstairs transmitted by Communistcast's provided Cable/Router. Your issue is your upstairs PC is using something like 7.5% of the 20Mbps connection after short time usage from a reset.
Sorry I had to read that several times to get a grip on the situation.
Maybe the band settings (a/b/g/n/ac)? Channel settings interfere with another? Maybe the signal strength is less than -60 dBm. I think the ideal dBm is between -30 to -54
So what should I do? Sorry, I know a decent amount about hardware, but I don't really know much about networking.
Sorry for the poor wording on my first post.
I would assume:
A. Verify signal strength is strong. Maybe the user interface from the netgear receiver can tell you signal strength in dBm format. If not how many bars do you see average?
B. Figure out if near by signals interfere. (If you have a android phone you can download an app called WiFi Analyzer as linked here and see if your signal of your router overlaps others, if so then change it to a channel that doesn't seem to be)
C. As for band, try to make sure your router can/is transmitting "G", "N", and/or "AC" (not too sure about this, need to look in to this more...)
Depending on your router, the home address (router access) may not be the typical 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.0.1 / 192.168.1.0
P.S. I'm not N+ certified, I'm just trying to help lol.
A. The Windows signal thing is 5/5 bars and the signal in the Netgear software is 7/8 bars.
B. I got the app, the channel is not overlapping and I am getting between -60 and -50 dBm in my upstairs room, which is ideal according to the app.
C. My gateway seems to be using G my reciever also works with G.
I am really confused, my signal is near perfect, yet my PC my ipod and my tablet all have problems with the WiFi.
Edit: Scratch that, all your wifi devices have speed issues? Even near the router?
No, just about where my PC is and farther away.
Most likely maybe a signal related issue (with noise/interference). Possible to to get the router and/or the receiver closer to each other with less obstruction?
I will try.
Thank you.