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[mikeny]

Are the speeds supposed to be accurate that seem to refresh every few seconds in the router config page?

On my laptop, the wireless speed as reported by the Dell Lan Utility seems to have "Very good - excellent signal stregth @ 54 Mbps. (every so often it changes to 48).  This is on the 2.4 ghz.  However the D-Link router page shows it like 17 or 18 with 40-50 as the signal level!

I ordered the SWA-160.  I am looking forward to testing that soon as well on the laptop.

For the 5 ghz band, I have Linksys WGA600N connected.  I will plug it into the target soon. (a DirecTV Receiver)  In the mean time, the numbers are much lower for the signal strength and never go higher than 54 and often much, much less. It is often, at least as I have seen tonight usually slower than the 2.4 ghz band.  I really should be in good range.  I'm using 20-40 Hz, WPA2, AES.  I connected the WGA600N with the Wi-Fi Protected Setup button process.  For some reason, it was taking my key.  I was surprised the Wi-Fi Protected Access scenario worked.

I hope these numbers are not that accurate.  So far, I've been happy with the router's performance and have had very fast downloads.  (coming from an Actiontec M1424WR)

[mikeny]

I adjusted the router from verical to horizontal and hoisted it up some and has improved the signal levels.  For the 5 ghz band, I'm in the 40s and in the 2.4 ghz band, in the 70s-80s.  However, on the 5 ghz band, the speed doesn't report higher than 54 Mbps.  It only fluctuates between 27-54.  Shouldn't it be higher paired with the Linksys WGA600N.

In the DIR-825 5 ghz band, I have 802.11N only, transmission rate- best (automatic), channel width 40 Mhz, Security Mode-WPA Personal, WPA mode-WPA2 only, Cipher Type-AES. 

I am thinking of forcing the transmission rate to something faster, but I am concerned that it would it would drop off completely.

Thanks for any tips in advance.

[mikeny]

update..I just changed the transmission rate from best (auto) to MCS 4 [81 mbps].  After the router reboot, 5 ghz speed seems locked in at 90 mbps.    I hope it stays consistent.  I am streaming MRV from wired DirecTV DVRs to the client receiver connected through this adapter.  Earlier this morning, I saw hiccups here and there. (even on SD).  In general thought, SD and HD were playing well.  Hopefully, it'll be better at this speed though.

[funchords]

The speeds are data rates.  "Auto" is recommended but the settings are there for you if you'd like to override the algorithm.  By locking them, you're saying that "no matter how bad the error rates get, keep talking at the same speed, even if the other end can't understand me any more." 

Like holding a conversation within a crowded bar makes you speak a little slower in order to be understood, the rates are meant to drop lower when the errors start to spike. 

I think one good use for the locked-in speed settings is if you know that you have some source of interference that makes the higher rates fail.  Rather than have a spikey-bursty-laggy network experience when you start to use the wireless, you might lock the rate to one that you know works best for your installation.  The downside is that you won't get higher speeds when conditions permit, but the upside is that the bandwidth that you do get has less "jitter" or volatility.

[mikeny]

The speeds are data rates.  "Auto" is recommended but the settings are there for you if you'd like to override the algorithm.  By locking them, you're saying that "no matter how bad the error rates get, keep talking at the same speed, even if the other end can't understand me any more." 

Like holding a conversation within a crowded bar makes you speak a little slower in order to be understood, the rates are meant to drop lower when the errors start to spike. 

I think one good use for the locked-in speed settings is if you know that you have some source of interference that makes the higher rates fail.  Rather than have a spikey-bursty-laggy network experience when you start to use the wireless, you might lock the rate to one that you know works best for your installation.  The downside is that you won't get higher speeds when conditions permit, but the upside is that the bandwidth that you do get has less "jitter" or volatility.

Thanks for the post.  Cool analogy too.  I don't know if its because it was D-Link to Linksys but yeah, at auto I did not get capable speeds; certainly nothing above 54.  It seems good like this so far though!.  I would think locking in 90 is sufficient.    I noticed that I could log in to the WGA600N and change its transmission speed from auto to the same options as well but I left it at auto.  I also noticed that they don't have a fixed 40 ghz option, only 20/40 (auto).  Again I have 40 locked now on the 825. 

As important though was the reposition the router because, it was flat out losing the 5 ghz band signal.  The device would disapear altogether from my "connected devices" table.  Thank goodness I can keep the router where it is! The other alternative would have giving up on 5 ghz altogether which would have made my nulled my purchase decision.

I got the DWA-160 today.  What do you think will happen if I try to share this 5 ghz band between the laptop running the DWA-160 and the DirecTV receiver connected with the WGA600N?  Am I better off at putting it on 2.4 ghz?   The drawback there is that I know I will have to run WPA with a mixed N protocol at minimum security and the [exploitive deleted] Nintendo DS my wife plays needs WEP.

[mikeny]

I know it's the wrong forum to start in about the DWA-160 but since I brought it up, I'll just say that I tried it and for the first time I can remember, it caused a "Serious Error" the second time I tried to disconnect it.  It was a major Windows error.  After a reboot, it worked a for a few minutes (slowly).  I disconnected off the 5 ghz band and could never get the computer to recognize that the adapter was inserted anymore no matter what I tried. So this is not going to work out.  It's ok.  I uninstalled it and wound up doing a system restore because it seemed liike the Dell Wireless Utility got knocked out from all this.   By the way this H/W ver B1, FW 2.0.

[funchords]

Wow, good question on the DWA-160 ... 2.4 or 5 GHz.   It's a world of tradeoffs.  USB on 2.4 GHz suffers because the formfactor is usually too small for decent antenna length (2.4 GHz has a 2.5 inch wavelength) so there's probably some "creativity" done there that the 5 GHz USB dongle doesn't have to do (1.25 inches). 

I've done very little with 5 GHz though, so I'd rather defer to someone whose actually tried both in various ways. I'll be reading replies with interest...

[mikeny]

I am considering selling the DWA-160.  As I said, it was a disaster.

Back to my original question regarding the speeds, at this point I am seeing data rates now fluctuating between 54mbps-121 mbps for the WGA600N (connected to my DirecTV receiver) as reported by the D-Link Wireless Status page.  Is that ok.? I was able to stabilize the signal strength on the 5 ghz to 40s-50s.  I wound up changing the fixed speed on the D-Link back to auto (best) because I kept having "can not access content" errors.  Maybe it is best to leave it with some regulation.  So the only non default setting in the router is 20-40 ghz auto which I set to 40 ghz.  I'm using WPA-Personal; WPA2- AES.   I'm not sure why previously the auto speed rate didn't work right before.  Maybe because the WGA600N was set for 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz and I changed it to 5 ghz.  Maybe I improved the signal strength sufficiently.  Maybe I didn't wait long enough to monitor the speed.  For example even now when I see it go as high as 121 mbps, it may start at 54 mbps.  This is still a far cry from the 13-27 I was seeing when I first installed it.

Do you think I should try to use the 2.4 ghz band? I read that some people get better results with 2.4 surprisingly.   My other concern is that the adapter is basically next to the microwave where I read 2.4 is more succeptable. 

 Is it true that if you have g devices on the network that you will not get better than g speed even for N devices?

In short, are 54-121 mbps adequate N speeds? Should I try 2.4 instead (even though I have other g only devices)?  Any tips would be appreciated.

[funchords]

I am seeing data rates now fluctuating between 54mbps-121 mbps for the WGA600N (connected to my DirecTV receiver) as reported by the D-Link Wireless Status page.  Is that ok.?

If everything that you want to do is working, then it's okay.   

I was able to stabilize the signal strength on the 5 ghz to 40s-50s. 

So here's the skinny on signal strength -- it's probably a ratio SIGNAL/NOISE and not really a signal strength meter.  So if you're having problems -AND- you're getting bad levels and nothing you can do to improve the strength of the signal is available, consider reducing the noise sources.  Look for sources that might be introducing noise: a poor power strip, fluorescent lights or touch-lamps, fan motors, and (unfortunately) many kinds of computer and AV equipment.

Note: if all you have are iffy levels but everything is working fine, then don't fix it -- it's working fine.  It's an indicator, not a problem.

I wound up changing the fixed speed on the D-Link back to auto (best) because I kept having "can not access content" errors.  Maybe it is best to leave it with some regulation. 

The data rate is designed to float and react to various conditions.

Do you think I should try to use the 2.4 ghz band? I read that some people get better results with 2.4 surprisingly.   My other concern is that the adapter is basically next to the microwave where I read 2.4 is more succeptable. 

Well I don't think you have a real problem to solve.  If you don't really have one, then leave it alone. 

That said, both 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz are going to have reflections causing multi-path distortion in the signal in places -- to a laptop they'll seem like hot and cold spots that come and go based on position and direction.  If all this stuff is in a static location (e.g. not a laptop) and just isn't working, then a band switch still might work because the wavelengths for 2.4 and 5 GHz are different -- the hot and cold spots will change. 

But if you can't change bands, try changing positions -- like you learned from the 5 GHz thing, placement is everything.  It really doesn't have to be a low to high change, it may simply be a few inches right, left, back, or forward that can change everything.

Is it true that if you have g devices on the network that you will not get better than g speed even for N devices? Should I try 2.4 instead (even though I have other g only devices)?

Partly. 

Your N gear will still take decent advantage of some of the improvements in the spec like frame aggregation and MIMO decoding, even if the AP is servicing B and G clients.  This means your N cards will still be faster and work farther than their 802.11g counterparts in the same network. 

Because of the presence of ANY incompatible signal (including signals not coming from your particular network) prevents the continuous use of some 802.11n features by your AP and clients, some of the substantial improvements available in an N-only network just won't appear constantly (or even very often), especially on the 2.4 GHz band where you simply can't get away from such signals.  But other N improvements that won't interfere with legacy networks (or vice-versa) will still work when both the client and the AP are 802.11N.

Yes.  Try 2.4 GHz as part of solving a problem. 

In short, are 54-121 mbps adequate N speeds?

Adequate is really up to your particular need.   

[mikeny]

I really appreciate your reply.  Like you said, the WGA600N on the 5 ghz is working now for streaming HD.  I'll try not to go crazy about the numbers.  One thing that did concern me is that I noticed it did drop again to as much as 13 mpbs at one point today before it started climbing again and that would have an unacceptable if I was there watching.  I had disabled channel changing on the 5 ghz band yesterday thinking that was the problem but then it happened again when my 2.4 ghz changed! So I disabled the 2.4 ghz channel scanning as well.  I wouldn't have thought that it would have made a difference.  I hope that does the trick and that it doesn't happen anymore.

One other thing I tried the D-Link DWA-160 and I got to work great without using the D-link configuration tool/mangager.  I upgraded the firmware from Ralink and it am using there tool.  It's pretty cool with all the bars and graphs. (send link, receive link and throughput graphs etc.)  It's really bouncing well in the true X-treme N range and no windows issues this time. I've only used the extension dock with it so far. 

[funchords]

I have disabled channel-scanning as well.  (In fact, I've put my channel numbers in my SSID to try to discourage my neighbors from picking channels near mine!)

The router restarts wireless too often when channel scanning.

[mikeny]

I have disabled channel-scanning as well.  (In fact, I've put my channel numbers in my SSID to try to discourage my neighbors from picking channels near mine!)

The router restarts wireless too often when channel scanning.

Great idea!