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[bferrell]

I have the Tme Warner Road Runner 30MB down, 5MB up service, and I ALWAYS get this on the wired side of the network, and have (in the past) always gotten it on the wireless too.

Now I occasionally do, but more often than not get under 1MB down, but I still get 5 MB upload speeds!  WTF??  That doesn't make any sense to me.  And it's not just my ipad/iphones either, my Tivo has an N adapter, and Netflix drops out too (I use speedtest.net for all reporting, I don't have a reliable speed meter for the Tivo).

I've tried changing the channels on the router, disabled advanced DNS, use N only, WPA2 AES, no Qos, no Wish.  Any thoughts on how to get past this?  I used to love this router!!!!

Brett

[bferrell]

Oh, and I tried updating from the 2.00NA firmware to 2.03NA, hardware version B1.

[FurryNutz]

What ISP Modem do you have? Stand Alone or built in router?
What ISP Modem make and model do you have?
If this modem has a built in router, it's best to bridge the modem. Having 2 routers on the same line can cause connection problems.

Some things to try:
Ensure DNS IP addresses are being filled in under Setup/Internet/Manual? You can find these under Status/Device Info/Wan section.
Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking.
Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices on the router. Setup/Networking
Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address.
Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP.

What wireless modes are you using?
Try single mode G or mixed G and N?
What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/Auto TPIK and AES.
What wireless devices do you have connected?
Any cordless house phones?
Any other WiFi routers in the area? Use InSSIDer to find out.
Turn off Short GI and Extra Wireless Protection if you have it. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.

Turn off all anti virus and firewall programs on PC while testing. 3rd party firewalls are not generally needed when using routers as they are effective on blocking malicious inbound traffic.
Turn off all devices accept for one wired PC while testing.

Check cable between Modem and Router, swap out to be sure. I recommend CAT6 and the shorter the better if possible. I use a 1 footer. Swap cable between modem and router. Sometimes these in box cables are not make well.


I use a SB 6121 and 6180 cable modems and my 655 router has been working great. v2.00 and 2.03 FW versions.

[bferrell]

The modem is a <a href="www.midcocomm.com/_files/files/SBG6580.pdf">Motorola SURFboard SBG6580</a>, it seems there is no internal router, but it has onboard WiFi, which is disabled (confirmed by the faceplate LED). 

As I mentioned previously, I'm running WPA2 (personal), AES cipher, N only.  I am using brand new Cat 6 cable (1') as I've just upgraded everything to Cat6/1Gigabit when I got this router.  I will try some of your other recommendations and report back, but as I say, the wired connections to the router always report excellent (30MB down, 5 MB up) speeds, so I think it's either something in the router wireless (config or hardware) setup, I'm mostly confused as to why my download speeds would be so bad when I still always get excellent wireless upload speeds (always near the max).  Thanks for the recommendations.

Brett

[FurryNutz]

I believe this has a router built in, Let me look into it. I just got the 6180 which doesnt' have wireless so I presume its a brother to yours.

Keep us posted.

Maybe someone can review your router settings with you using teamviewer.

[bferrell]

I've tried everything that you recommended with minimal success.  My wireless PC is somewhat improved, but all of my Apple devices are still pitiful (and, yes, they used to get excellent speeds as well - 20+ down, 5+ up).  Answers to the rest of your questions are below.  Any thoughts to why the Apple products would be disproportionately affected (and why their upload speeds are good??)?  The Tivos also see the slowdowns, though I can't test their throughputs meaningfully.

Wired PC - 26mx   30.6Mbps   5.03Mbps


Wireless PC


iPhone - 46mx .44Mbps (yes, UNDER 1!) 5.46Mpbs

[bferrell]

Maybe - but I looked through the manual and didn't see anything about router settings.  Also, TW seems to not want to me access the config for that unit...


> What ISP Modem do you have? Stand Alone or built in router?

Standalone, no router


> What ISP Modem make and model do you have?

Motorola SURFboard SBG6580


> Ensure DNS IP addresses are being filled in under Setup/Internet/Manual? You can find these under Status/Device Info/Wan section.

Yes



> Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking.

Has been/is active.


> Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices on the router. Setup/Networking

Done.



> Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address.

Confirmed.



> Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP.

Done.



> What wireless modes are you using?

N Only



> Try single mode G or mixed G and N?

Using N Only.



> What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/Auto TPIK and AES.

WPA (personal), WPA2 only AES


> What wireless devices do you have connected?

2 Tivo's with Wireless N
2 gen 1 iPads
1 iPhone 4S



> Any cordless house phones?

Yes.



> Any other WiFi routers in the area? Use InSSIDer to find out.

Yes, lots.


> Turn off Short GI and Extra Wireless Protection if you have it. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.

Done.


> Turn off all anti virus and firewall programs on PC while testing. 3rd party firewalls are not generally needed when using routers as they are effective on blocking malicious inbound traffic.

Done.


> Turn off all devices accept for one wired PC while testing.

Done.



> Check cable between Modem and Router, swap out to be sure. I recommend CAT6 and the shorter the better if possible. I use a 1 footer.

Have been using new 1' Cat 6, but I tried a new Cat 6 as well (1') to no effect.



> I use a SB 6121 and 6180 cable modems and my 655 router has been working great. v2.00 and 2.03 FW versions

That must be nice.

[FurryNutz]

First off if your trying to achieve the same speeds for wireless as wired, not going to happen. Too many variables in the wireless world to begin to attain the same speeds as wired connections. Connection speeds are different from actual file or data xfer speeds. This is the nature of the beast that people fail to understand. N mode only you should be connecting at 130 to 300 depending on HW support and configuration. My iphone 4S only connects at 65mb as does a xbox Slim. Those are maximum connection rates for those devices. Other devices will connect to there supported and designed speeds. all this and including external interferences such as "alot of them" near by wifi routers can effect how these routers work and perform.

You might set channel scan from auto to manual depending on what open channels are near by you that are not being used. Were seeing more and more congestion of wifi routers working properly having channels being used on then each router trying to auto scan and find an open one with out running into any interferences. The good nieghbor policy also plays a role in this as well. One reason why auto scan is supposed to work...however when the channels run out, gets harder for the router to find something open or stable.

Its only preferred to test speedtest.net over wired connections, wireless can't provide stable results to compare. The Connection speeds between the devices and wifi router are important however.

Some ISP do lock out there users from there modems. I don't appreciate this specially if there is a router involved. Makes it hard to connect up a external router which usually has better features and also introduces the double NAT problem. Having 2 routers on line can be problematic. The 6580 should be a good modem though.


Your probably set up well for what you have man.


Maybe someone can review your router settings with you using teamviewer.

[bferrell]

I don't disagree with what you're saying generally, Furry, but my specifics are simply unacceptable.

1) I have for weeks gotten over 20Mbps download (less than the 30MB wired side, but in the same order of magnitude) on my Apple products, so this less than 1Mbps down is a new symptom on this router
2) 1Mbps down is unacceptable, even with interference, even with a (b) router!
3) The fact that I am not having any issue (I always get 4-5Mbps) with the upload side of the WiFi seems to me to indicate it's not interference, but some issue with the router
4) It is not limited to my apple products, my Tivos cannot get sufficient WiFi bandwidth to stream an non-HD movie, so this is a real phenomenon not just an iOS software issue.  In fact, the Tivos sometimes cannot even connect to Netflix.
5) My Apple products do, still, occasionally get 20+Mbps download, but it is wildly variable

One thing I didn't mention is that InSSIDer reported no networks on channel 4, but using that channel also generated unacceptable WiFi speeds.

I've ordered a second DIR-655 (a cheap refurb) to try to determine if my router is just defective internally, or if it's something environmental.  I will try to test it carefully (not upgrade the firmware right away, and change one setting at a time) and report back if I can make any determinations.

Oh, and I'm happy to install TeamViewer or post screenshots of every router setting if someone is interested in reviewing them.

Brett

[FurryNutz]

Keep us posted. Send a PM if you want to TV.

[thecreator]

Hi bferrell,

Have you simply tried doing a Factory Reset on the Router? Occassionally, a Factory Reset is necessary when all else fails. I find that if you have a Wireless Computer, the best Wireless Channel to use is Channel 11.

Too late now, but once you are happy with the Router, save its settings to your Computer's Hard Drive, so the next time you do a Factory Reset, you can restore the settings, easily.

[bferrell]

Yes, I tried a factory reset prior to ordering the refurb.

I just got the refurb and plugged it in, some power and network cables even, and it works great (so far) on 2.00NA firmware.  Seems it was hardware, but I'll monitor it a few days before deciding if I want to flash the firmware or not.  Note these are the speeds I'd come to expect, where the wireless is very, very close to the wired speeds.

Wired pc


Wireless pc


iPhone  35ms   26.89Mbps   5.34 Mbps

ipad    43ms   19Mbps   5.33Mbps

[FurryNutz]

I would run it for a while. I ran mine for a while using v2.00 before upgrading.
Only items you see in new FW is IPv6 and closing of Port Zero on 2.03. It works well though. Did you send the other unit back?

Keep us posted.

[bferrell]

Not so fast.  Now the new one is slowing down (wireless download only - upload is good, wired side is good).  What does that mean?  Can interference only affect the download speed?
 

[FurryNutz]

Yep.

Any other WiFi routers in the area? Use InSSIDer to find out.