Upgrading from Linksys E2500

[billyk]

I purchased a Linksys e2500 back in 2011 and have always found the wireless performance and range to be somewhat disappointing. I recently updated the firmware and placed the e2500 in a more central location, which has helped a bit.

I know that every environment is different, but the best I can get wirelessly via the e2500 from my Comcast 100mbs connection is 20-30mbs (I get 100mbs when wired directly to e2500) when standing about 10 feet away in the same room.

If I purchase something like the Asus RT-N66U, will I likely see more of that 100mbs that's delivered from my modem with possibly more range? Or is it likely that the e2500 is giving me most of what I can expect from any other wireless router?

I don't want to spend the money just to get the same or near the same performance and range as the e2500.

Any insights would be appreciated.
-bk

 

[pete y testing]

I purchased a Linksys e2500 back in 2011 and have always found the wireless performance and range to be somewhat disappointing. I recently updated the firmware and placed the e2500 in a more central location, which has helped a bit.

I know that every environment is different, but the best I can get wirelessly via the e2500 from my Comcast 100mbs connection is 20-30mbs (I get 100mbs when wired directly to e2500) when standing about 10 feet away in the same room.

If I purchase something like the Asus RT-N66U, will I likely see more of that 100mbs that's delivered from my modem with possibly more range? Or is it likely that the e2500 is giving me most of what I can expect from any other wireless router?

I don't want to spend the money just to get the same or near the same performance and range as the e2500.

Any insights would be appreciated.
-bk

the limitation of your wifi speeds is simply that your current router is limited to 300M sync speeds and thus just wont do full 100M speeds , this also includes the wireless adapter in your client device as it may also be only 300M , updating to the rt-n66u wont give you any increase unless you also have 450M client adapters

if your clients are only 150M or 300M then a new router is not going to achieve anything as the client devices will still limit the throughput ,

to achieve close to your wan to lan speeds over wifi you will need both a wireless AC router like the asus rt-ac66u or asus rt-ac68u , plus at least 2 x 2 wireless AC adapters in your client devices

pete

 

[billyk]

Thanks for the education Pete!

I am using an old Dell laptop (like 8 years old) at home and I bet it's got a limited bandwidth adapter, therefore the 20-30mbs makes sense. I have a Chromebook coming tomorrow, and I've combed through the specs and I don't see the speed of the wireless adapter.

My son has a newer Sony laptop and when we checked, he's getting 40+mps off of my e2500 - so client adapter speed is key - as you said. Not sure how I can determine the speed of his adapter or the one on the inbound Chromebook.

Given all this, if my son's machine has a 450m adapter, and if I were to buy the newer Asus RT-N66U using my 100mbs Comcast feed, what speeds would he be seeing?

 

[theveterans]

Wireless overhead and error protection limits all actual WiFi speed in a typical environment to 50 - 55% of whatever speed Windows is showing. In a controlled lab or interference free environment, it can go up to 70 - 75%.

You should be able to max out your 100 Mbps easily with 450 Mbps client. You can even get 225 Mbps of actual transfer speed (50% of 450 Mbps that Windows is reporting) on a close, line of sight range.

If you want the 100 Mbps actual transfer rate at moderate distances (not long range due to the nature of 5 GHz band), you have to have AC WiFi since it can transfer 250 Mbps of actual speed at 25 feet away from router with 3 3/4 feet of walls and a closet full of boxes, giving only 2 bars of signal strength:

This is on a 2x2 stream laptop WiFi with 867 Mbps max connection rate (reported by Windows and not actual transfer speed)