Jitter, packets loss and slow connection via WiFI

[Horilka]

Hello.
I would appreciate if somebody could help me to narrow down the issue (jitter and packets loss) with my router.

Here are the facts:
- When I ping my router via WiFi from two different laptops connected to router via WiFi (2.4) I have jitter (reply time varies from 1ms to 1000ms) or packets loss (from 5 to 20%). So I fugured out it's not one of my notebooks issue.
- When I connect those two notebooks to another wireless router D-Link DIR-625 - jitter is insignificant (1ms to 80ms) and there are no lost packets at all.
- When hooked up via LAN cable - ping works just fine with ASUS, so it's only WiFI issue
- For 40MHz negotiated speed of WiFI connection with Asus is 150Mbps or lower, while 230-300 Mbps for D-Link, for 20Mhz Asus gives 48-72 Mbps as opposed to 117-130 Mbps of D-Link.
- I played with 20/40 MHz settings, tried different channels - can't figure out why Asus negotiates such slow speed and gives jitter and packets loss. I also tried FW 3.0.0.4.250, and 3.0.0.4.270 and Merlin's 3.0.0.4.270 - no effect on the issue.

P.S. I found another post about this issue, however the root of issue was never found and person just decided to purchase another router. http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=7741

Any advise would be appreciated.

 

[got_milk]

Are all those latencies being gathered from a ping test between client and router? Even with the DIR-625, 80ms of latency is incredibly high and definitely something I'd be working towards lowering, and there should be nominal (really, zero) packet loss.

Just so you can see, here's what you should be expecting from your wireless network:

--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.245/3.487/3.817/0.750 ms

You didn't mention what band you tested on - based on your details, I would assume you're using the 2.4GHz band. If you haven't yet, use a tool such as inSSIDer to determine the clearest channel for you and set the router to use that channel. If that doesn't help, there may be other forces at work here (considering two different routers and a multitude of different clients exhibit similar symptoms) - you may want to look at where the router physically is as there may be something nearby creating electrical interference which is playing havoc with your signal.

 

[Horilka]

Are all those latencies being gathered from a ping test between client and router? Even with the DIR-625, 80ms of latency is incredibly high and definitely something I'd be working towards lowering, and there should be nominal (really, zero) packet loss.

Yes, Pings are between client and router.
Thanks, I didn't think 80ms was a bad result. I just did one brief check with D-Link. Now I did more tests and I can see that normal ping from client to D-Link looks like

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
    Packets: Sent = 96, Received = 96, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 13ms, Average = 1ms

However if I keep inSSIDer running in background:

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
    Packets: Sent = 31, Received = 31, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 96ms, Average = 18ms

So I'll have to do more tests without inSSIDer running.

You didn't mention what band you tested on - based on your details, I would assume you're using the 2.4GHz band. If you haven't yet, use a tool such as inSSIDer to determine the clearest channel for you and set the router to use that channel. If that doesn't help, there may be other forces at work here (considering two different routers and a multitude of different clients exhibit similar symptoms) - you may want to look at where the router physically is as there may be something nearby creating electrical interference which is playing havoc with your signal.

Yes, I have only 2.4GHz devices.
I used inSSIDer to monitor channels and changed routers setting to use different channels. Seems had no effect.
Physical place of the routers - that's a great idea, I'll test it today and will update this thread.
Thank you for good advises.

 

[CaptainSTX]

inSSIDer

In my experience you can not have inSSIDer running when doing other wireless network tests. It ties up/ monopolizes your adapters and everything else is slowed way down. Stop it do your other tests then restart inSSIDer.

 

[Horilka]

OK, thanks to you guys, I was able to narrow it down and would like to share with everybody else who might face same issue.
Actually there were 2 issues, that's why it wasn't easy to find the root. Number one was packets drops on some channels (might be some interference). Number two was outdated drivers on one of the notebooks. Those drivers worked just fine with D-Link, but were not able to get full speed out of connection with ASUS. Those two factors together lead me to the some wrong conclusions.

Thank you again guys, I knew this is the right place to ask for help.