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[Flagman]

I just upgraded from Rogers Express to Extreme.  I should be seeing 35 mbps upload/3 mpbs download.  The best I've been able to achieve via wireless is 19 down/2.3 up, usually I am averaging 16 or less, same as before the Rogers upgrade. 
I have a DIR-655 router running wireless and hardwired connections,  (HW: A1, FW: 1.02) and another DIR-655 as a wireless access point (HW: A4, FW:1.32NA).  I've checked the speed coming into my house by connecting a laptop by wire to the modem directly and the speed meets specs., so I believe my network is the bottleneck.

The router and AP are running on different channels, and I've used inSSIDer to avoid commonly used channels in my area. So I don't think there is any issue with wireless interference.  Also, my signal strength is generally good throughout the house after I added the AP a few years ago, so no dropped connections, and I'm seeing wireless connection speeds of 300 on the devices that support that speed.

I have tried most of the setting tweaks suggested by FuzzyNutz in his posts here, but nothing seems to help.  It has been suggested by posters on other forums that the 655 is not capable of faster speeds and I should consider a new router.  The 655 has always worked well for me ( as you note I have not needed to update firmware because I have not really had any problems over the years - I've heeded the advice that says if you're not having problems, you don't NEED to update firmware).

My question is, would buying the newest HW version of the 655 out there improve things?  Could I backup my router settings from the old 655 and restore them to the new one, or would I have to go through the setup all over again (ie. are the settings exactly compatible)?  Or should I not bother with the 655 at all and look at something higher end, either by dlink or others?

[FurryNutz]

"I should be seeing 35 mbps upload/3 mpbs download."  

Do both 655 routers exhibit the same speed results? How are you determining your speed?

[Flagman]

OOPS, those numbers are reversed, obviously  .  Should be 35 mbps download/3 upload.

Speed testing was done using both Speedtest.net and Rogers Speedcheck.

The speed testing has been done using a variety of devices (desktop PC, 2 different laptops, iPad andiPhone using the Speedtest app.  Since they've been done in various locations around the house, I'm sure some have been through the old 655 and some through the new one (i'm assuming a device will usually connect to the closest one/with the strongest signal). Testing has also been done at different times of the day.  Regardless of device, day or time, the results have been pretty close.

[FurryNutz]

What region are you located?
Has a Factory Reset been performed?

What ISP Modem make and model do you have?

Some things to try: - Log into the routers web page at 192.168.0.1. Use IE, Opera or FF to manage the router.
Turn off ALL QoS or Disable Traffic Shaping (DIR only) GameFuel (DGL only and if ON.) options. Advanced/QoS or Gamefuel.
Turn off Advanced DNS Services if you have this option under Setup/Internet/Manual.
Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking.
Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices ON the router. Setup/Networking. This ensures each devices gets its own IP address when turned on and connected, eliminates IP address conflicts and helps in troubleshooting.
Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address.
Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP under Advanced/Firewall.
Enable uPnP and Multi-cast Streaming under Advanced/Networking. Disable uPnP for testing Port Forwarding rules.
WAN Port Speed set to Auto or specific speed? Some newer ISP modems support 1000Mb so manually setting to Gb speeds can be supported by the router. Advanced/Advanced Networking/WAN Port Speed
Set Time and Time Zone under Tools/Time.

Link>Wireless Installation Considerations
What wireless modes are you using? Under Setup/Wireless/Manual.
Try single mode G or N or mixed G and N?
Channel Width set for Auto 20/40Mhz or try 20Mhz only.
Try setting a manual channel to a open or unused channel. 1, 6 or 11. 11 for single mode N if the channel is clear.
What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/AES Only. Some WiFi adapters don't support AES, so you might want to try TPIK only or Auto.
What wireless devices do you have connected?
Any cordless house phones?
Any other WiFi routers in the area? Link> Use InSSIDer to find out. How many?
Turn off WISH, and WPS under Advanced.
Try turning off Short GI, WLAN Partition,and Extra Wireless Protection if you have it. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.
Enable WMM Enable 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. Link> Cat6 is recommended.

[Flagman]

What region are you located? Mississauga
Has a Factory Reset been performed? No.  How/why would i do that?

What ISP Modem make and model do you have? Rogers Hitron CDE-30364 "wireless gateway modem" in bridge mode (wireless and router function disabled)

Some things to try: - Log into the routers web page at 192.168.0.1. Use IE, Opera or FF to manage the router. As mentioned I've already done most of these.
Turn off ALL QoS or Disable Traffic Shaping (DIR only) GameFuel (DGL only and if ON.) options. Advanced/QoS or Gamefuel. Done.
Turn off Advanced DNS Services if you have this option under Setup/Internet/Manual. It's OFF
Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking. It's OFF. Seems to make no difference if it's ON or OFF, I've tried both ways
Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices ON the router. Setup/Networking. This ensures each devices gets its own IP address when turned on and connected, eliminates IP address conflicts and helps in troubleshooting. Done
Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address. Done
Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP under Advanced/Firewall. Done
Enable uPnP and Multi-cast Streaming under Advanced/Networking. Disable uPnP for testing Port Forwarding rules. Done
WAN Port Speed set to Auto or specific speed? Some newer ISP modems support 1000Mb so manually setting to Gb speeds can be supported by the router. Advanced/Advanced Networking/WAN Port Speed Done
Set Time and Time Zone under Tools/Time. Done

Link>Wireless Installation Considerations
What wireless modes are you using? Under Setup/Wireless/Manual. On my router, I have to use mixed b, g and n since my version does not have a g and n setting. On my AP I am using mixed g and n.
Try single mode G or N or mixed G and N? see above. Can't use N only since i have G devices.
Channel Width set for Auto 20/40Mhz or try 20Mhz only. Currently set to Auto
Try setting a manual channel to a open or unused channel. 1, 6 or 11. 11 for single mode N if the channel is clear. Done
What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/AES Only. Some WiFi adapters don't support AES, so you might want to try TPIK only or Auto. WPA2
What wireless devices do you have connected? One desktop (using dlink DWA-552), 3 laptops, a couple of iPhones, one iPad.  Of course, rarely all at once.
Any cordless house phones? Yes, Dect 6.0.
Any other WiFi routers in the area? Link> Use InSSIDer to find out. How many? As mentioned, yes I've checked. There are  probably a dozen other routers in the area, but I've manually selected the least used channels, and inSSIDer shows my signal strength to be much higher than the neighbours routers
Turn off WISH, and WPS under Advanced. Done
Try turning off Short GI, WLAN Partition,and Extra Wireless Protection if you have it. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless. Done
Enable WMM Enable 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. Link> Cat6 is recommended. Haven't done that yet.

[Flagman]

UPDATE:
I connected a laptop via direct cable to one of the router Lan ports.  Speedtest.net gave me 60 mpbs down/3 mbps up.  So it is obvious this is a wireless problem, not a router, modem or cable problem.  As I've tried most of the things in FurryNutz list, any other ideas?

[FurryNutz]

Try a different WiFi adapter on the laptop?

[Flagman]

Try a different WiFi adapter on the laptop?

I don't think that's the answer. It's not the wifi adapter on one laptop.  As I mentioned. speeds have been checked using a variety of devices and have been pretty consistently slower than I should be getting.  Since wired speed is what it should be, and all wireless devices seem to give the same slower speed, it must be something in the wireless part of the router.

[FurryNutz]

Well, you might take one of the 655 and update it to v1.35 and set up the router from scratch, set up WiFi SSID and PW, I would use WPA2 and AES only to test with. Don't change anything else at first. Speed test with 1 wireless PC and be sure to turn OFF all other device.

If you choose to update, please follow this:
FW Update Process

DO NOT UPGRADE OVER WIRELESS, ONLY WIRED LAN!

[FurryNutz]

Any status on this? 

[Flagman]

Still monitoring speed and nothing as changed.  I am considering doing the factory reset and loading the latest firmware for each unit, but not really sure how that will change anything? Other than this speed issue, the units have always worked well and I rarely had dropped connections or had to reboot.  Don't want to end up worse off than I am now. I have always read that firmware shouldn't need to be updated unless you're having problems. Is there any basis for believing that a firmware upgrade will result in faster speeds? Maybe these units just can't achieve wireless throughput of 35mbps?

[FurryNutz]

Just do a factory reset first then set up from scratch using one PC to test. See how it works.

[Flagman]

No matter what I have tried over the last couple of months, i haven't been able to get any better performance.  Recently I even purchased a new router, the Dlink DIR-845L, believing that with all the new features (AMPLIFI, SmartBeam, and latest hardware/firmware) I would get some better performance.  Yesterday i conncted up the 845, hoping this would cure my problems.  I actually got worse performance - much worse.  i was measuring 2.5 down  and 4 up, while at least with the DIR I've been getting 22 down (still far from the 45 promised by Rogers). My main computer with DWA-552 adapter would only connect at 54 mbps instead of the 300 connection I am getting now, and the signal strength was much weaker. There was a very noticable lag opening any web page, and even opening and editing the router settings using the admin pages. I returned the 845 this morning and the 655 is back up.  At this point I think my only option is to try another router.  Any ideas?

[FurryNutz]

Well, after testing 2 different routers on the same ISP service and Modem, I presume that the problem is either, configuration, cables or your ISP service, ISP service lines or ISP modem.

[Flagman]

Well, that's a lot of possibilities...Where do i start?

I don't think configuration is the issue - the 845L did not use the same configuration as the 655,  and it performed much more poorly. And there was only one device connected to it.

Cables?  Which cables are you referring to? Between modem and router? I've tried 3 different ones: the one I have used for about 5 years, the one that came with the new modem when i upgraded to DOCSIS 3.0, and the one that came with the 845L.

I am planning to take this up with Rogers, but i know they will try to blame my network, so I need to be sure it's not an issue with my network before I get them involved.

I've seen you offer to remotely view config. for some others on here.  i would be willing to allow you to do that if it would help. Just let me know what I need to do.

Thanks.