Dual band and other rookie questions

[zzzrabbit]

With dual band routers, is that selectable; i.e., can it be forced to just be 2.4 or must it be both?

I live in rural area w/o interference and I keep reading that 5.0 band has less signal strength, and I have 2.5 floors to cover. Range with old Netear WGR614has not been a problem, just need speed.

Speed is my next question. I presently have cable ISP with 10 meg download speed. Reason I am replacing 8 year old router is I only get 1.5 -2 on speedtest.net going thru router, but hooked just thru modem get very close to the 10 meg.

So with the service I now have if I get an n router is there any difference for me whether it offers 150 or 300 wireless speed?

 

[thiggins]

Dual-band routers allow you to shut off each radio independently. But you can control which band your client uses by assigning different SSIDs to each band's radio and associating with the desired SSID.

Are you quoting wired or wireless speed (1.5-2Mbps)? If wired, all current routers have routing speeds far more than 10 Mbps. Check the Router Charts.

You will need 802.11n clients to get more wireless throughput from an 802.11n router.

 

[zzzrabbit]

Dual-band routers allow you to shut off each radio independently. But you can control which band your client uses by assigning different SSIDs to each band's radio and associating with the desired SSID.

Are you quoting wired or wireless speed (1.5-2Mbps)? If wired, all current routers have routing speeds far more than 10 Mbps. Check the Router Charts.

You will need 802.11n clients to get more wireless throughput from an 802.11n router.

Desktop is wired and have 3 laptops wireless, the laptops are 802.11n capable. The desktop only has a 10/100 NIC; when I get a new desktop in March it will have 1000M NIC and will be hardwired.

My problem now is that once connected to the router neither the hardwired desktop or WLAN laptops get more than 1.5 or so mbps; but if I connect direct to modem with either desktop or a laptop it jumps up to what I'm paying for as far as speed. Have put new cables on and problem the same, and have played around with Netgear utility changing channels and never an improvement, but sometimes worse. Don't do a lot of downloads, but very slow, and youtube is just impossible.

So I am left thinking that it must be the router, but I have tested everything I know of before purchasing another. I need to update hardware (desktop is old), but don't need to overlook something else causing the issue.

On a different, but related subject, is there some site that compares what is being offered for bandwidth pricing in different areas? I see posts here with people saying they have 100 meg download speeds; where I live there is only 1 cable provider (Insight) and although service is reliable, price seems really high. My 10 meg is a $20 month premium to the bare basic which is 1 meg.

Thanks for all help.

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for the further info. It does sound like the router is the culprit.

You may find some of the info you're looking for over on http://www.dslreports.com/

Doesn't matter much anyway. ISPs price whatever the market will bear, which is usually high when there is little/no competition. I can get only 5 Mbps/768K DSL where I am, which costs me $40 a month and that is part of a landline bundle that brings my total bill to slightly over $80 a month.

I asked CenturyLink if I could get just DSL and they said sure. But my $40/month DSL line would turn into a $60/month line. Gotta love those telcos!

 

[zzzrabbit]

Thanks for the further info. It does sound like the router is the culprit.

You may find some of the info you're looking for over on http://www.dslreports.com/

Doesn't matter much anyway. ISPs price whatever the market will bear, which is usually high when there is little/no competition. I can get only 5 Mbps/768K DSL where I am, which costs me $40 a month and that is part of a landline bundle that brings my total bill to slightly over $80 a month.

I asked CenturyLink if I could get just DSL and they said sure. But my $40/month DSL line would turn into a $60/month line. Gotta love those telcos!

Thanks Tim, going to order router from Newegg in a few hours; cannot track down anything else. Only thing that made me hesitate on it being the router was the fact that it does not drop connection; just the slow speed. That Netgear has been on 24/7 for almost 8 years. Still just a little undecided on which one to order, but I need to get with it.

As for ISP pricing, what you are paying makes mine now look like a good deal.
I pay a little under $60 a month for the 10 meg internet and basic cable TV.
I don't even have land line service; just a cell and Skype.

Thanks again.

 

[thiggins]

As for ISP pricing, what you are paying makes mine now look like a good deal.
I pay a little under $60 a month for the 10 meg internet and basic cable TV.
I don't even have land line service; just a cell and Skype.

If you have doubts, I'd buy local or from Amazon, which doesn't charge restock.

As for your cable charge, see, there is always someone worse off!

 

[stevech]

On "dry DSL", that being a POTS phone line without telephone service... wasn't there some legislation to prohibit phone companies from price-gouging dry-DSL? Or was it at the state level?

 

[thiggins]

I don't know Steve. At any rate, that's one windmill I don't have time to tilt at...

 

[RogerSC]

Kind of interesting around here...I have Comcast broadband ISP, nominally 12Mb/s. And I see it vary between about 20-30Mb/s for lower activity times, and then go below 6Mb/s at night when everyone seems to be Netflix'ing. Netflix can get to be marginal at night around here, they need to put in more fibre, I guess. The higher activity times have been getting slower...hardly ever used to be below 10Mb/s.

I'd be happy to pay more for faster DSL (typically more steady speed), but the fastest DSL I can get is 3Mb/s. Which seems really slow after 3 or 4 years on cable broadband.

Life in the sticks *smile*.

 

[thiggins]

My DSL was nice and stable when Sprint ran the show. Since CenturyLink took over, speeds have been variable much more frequently. Somethings things slow down to a couple hundred Kbps for an entire day.

I also see the Netflix overload problem. Even trying to start something around 10PM ET on a weeknight will give me a dreaded "two dot" quality indication on my old Roku box.