Internet problems.

[chaosor]

As some people might know, I have been having problems with home internet, for about 1 and a half years. I still live with my parents, so therefor, they pay the bills, including internet, and I don't have the money to pay the bill. The reason why I mention this, is because until lately, I believed that my ISP wasn't giving us the speeds being payed for. However, 2 of my friends both mentioned that it could be my router. I have been doing research into routers, and am thinking of buying a second one to do a comparison. Another reason for me to do this, is because when I move out, I will need to get a router anyways. Both friends, though, suggested that I look into the Apple Airport Extreme. (they highly advised not getting the express, as it better functions has a wifi extender) I thought this was odd, as the one friend, who suggested it, is what you might call a Fandroid. Currently I use a Linksys router. I just wanted to get your guys' thoughts on what I should do. I should add that we have switched routers a couple times, we have gone through 3 modems, and 2 routers in the last 3 years, but a year and a half ago, is when it really started getting bad.

 

I was also wondering, if I can plug 2 routers into one modem, in order to get 2 wifi hotspots. I would want to do this to keep my devices on 1 router/wifi,, as well as be able to compare the wifi signals, as my friends told me that the Airport extreme had better range and strength than the other routers.

 

I would really like your guys' opinions. Mainly, what you think the problem is, and if I should get a new router or not. Also, if anybody has owned an Apple Airport extreme as well as another router, which you liked better. Even if you don't have the airport, I am always open to suggestions, I just want better internet.

 

Finally, I have noticed that, because my room is on the opposite end of the house as the router, I barely get a signal in my room (that's not where my laptop is, infact my laptop is within 30 ft of the router). I heard some routers have better range. I have also been looking at the wifi extenders, or w/e you call them. but idk how they work. I assume it works as one of the following: assume the router is point a, the extender is point b, and my location is point c. Either the extender extends the wifi signal of point a to point c, or it extends the wifi signal of point b to point c.

 

The problems I have been experiencing :

 

Our internet speeds are extremely slow, usually about a fraction of what they should be. They usually jump around. We usually have at most 3 laptops, a printer (usually off), an apple tv (usually unplugged), at most 5 mobile devices, typically only one connected. It doesn't matter if one, or all of these devices are connected, the speeds usually are between .2 megs- 2 megs (which we are supposed to be getting 3.) Most often, the speeds are around the .5 meg area. Even if we reset the router, it will either cause no change, or give us the 3 meg speeds on our devices for 1-5 days, and then crash back down to .2-.5 megs. Our previous model of router was also Linksys, but I don't remember the model. (this was 3 years ago). I can't say whether we had these problems are not back then, since i didn't really use wifi that much, except for facebook on my ipod touch.

 

I have talked to some people who use the same ISP as us, and some are saying they are having problems, though not nearly as bad or frequent as ours, and most are saying they aren't having any problems. My family uses a local ISP, which is cheaper than many of the nation wide ISP, like TWC, or w/e.

 

 

Thank you for reading this very long topic.

[Bwauder]

I think I've said before in one of these, your personal problem - considering you/router are @ opposite ends of the house - is probably LOS &/or construction as a reasonably current wifi router should have no problem within 50'. As far as a generally poor household bandwidth or rapidly degrading ( re 1-5 days good after reset), check & change security passwords etc in case someone is hijacking it.

 

I've lived in (internal) rendered & standard wall construction houses, in the rendered I was roughly the same distance from the router & not direct LOS, but had extremely poor signal due to barrier interference. Signal amplifier/rebroadcaster ( wifi extenders :) as u called them ) units are probably too heavy an investment for a small home network, and really shouldn't be necessary unless you're living in a lined bunker & signals wont penetrate the walls.

[chaosor]

I think I've said before in one of these, your personal problem - considering you/router are @ opposite ends of the house - is probably LOS &/or construction as a reasonably current wifi router should have no problem within 50'. As far as a generally poor household bandwidth or rapidly degrading ( re 1-5 days good after reset), check & change security passwords etc in case someone is hijacking it.

 

I've lived in (internal) rendered & standard wall construction houses, in the rendered I was roughly the same distance from the router & not direct LOS, but had extremely poor signal due to barrier interference. Signal amplifier/rebroadcaster ( wifi extenders :) as u called them ) units are probably too heavy an investment for a small home network, and really shouldn't be necessary unless you're living in a lined bunker & signals wont penetrate the walls.

I figured that was the problem with the range. And I agree about the signal amplifier ( thanks for telling me what they are called). I have reset the wifi, changed passwords (right after resetting the wifi, scanned the network, etc. I have already thought of the possibility that somebody hacked us. I am also sure that either the router or the ISP is the problem.

 

I have a Motorola Modem, and it only has one ethernet port. I really want to know if I can hook up 2 routers to the same network.

Edited June 24, 2013 by chaosor

[20000_Posts]

Call your ISP and have them do a line test. They'll do that and a speed test and find where the speed is dropping. Do this before buying anything (especially not an apple router lol wat).

 

Also, post what speed you're paying for and then a speedtest here.

[chaosor]

Call your ISP and have them do a line test. They'll do that and a speed test and find where the speed is dropping. Do this before buying anything (especially not an apple router lol wat).

 

Also, post what speed you're paying for and then a speedtest here.

I'm going to try this. But considering the internet speed goes back to normal half of the times that i reset the router, even if only for a couple days, I'm assuming the router is the issue. I looked the router up online, and it had horrible reviews. I'm looking at 3 routers right now, an ASUS (i just have to find it again lol), and 2 versions of the Apple Airport. The reason I am looking at the Airport is because of all the great reviews on it. Even my "fandroid" friend, who absolutely hates apple, loves the router. Before my friends mentioned it, I wasn't even thinking of it as an option, because of the fact that, well, it's apple, and I hate their computer OS, even though I like iOS. I am not going to consider Linksys anymore, as too many reviews, regardless of the models, have complaints of dropped signal, and I do know a couple people who have had problems with Linksys (though none of them were the same model as my family's).

 

But I would really like to know is if I can somehow keep the Linksys router, and my new router if I get one, plugged into my Motorola SB5101 Modem. To make it clear, I am not trying to extend the wifi range of either one of the 2 routers, I want to make 2 wifi's from my modem. The one from the linksys, which my family will use (since my parents refuse to consider a new router, even if it is the problem. The other wifi will be for me, with my router (if I have to buy a router just to have decent internet speeds, when I barely have the money for college, I don't want them using it.)

 

Edit: I'm supposed to be getting 3 down and 1 up. This is what I usually get

Edited June 25, 2013 by chaosor

[20000_Posts]

Explain again why you want two different routers to be active? What do you think that will accomplish? Many times you can broadcast different networks from one router. I believe you can get a switch (pretty much a router that is wired only) and connect it like this: modem > switch > router1+router2

 

Anyway for suggestions, yea the airport express is alright but you're dropping $100 for something with one ethernet port (??) and one usb port.

 

http://www.roc-noc.com/mikrotik/routerboard/RB951G-2HnD.html lots of customization, high power, cheap

 

http://www.amazon.com/RT-N66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-N900-Gigabit-Router/dp/B006QB1RPY lots of customization, lots of range, more expensive, extra USB slot, easy web and usage managing

 

If you can get a computer plugged directly into the modem and do a speed test from there, that will be good too. Do that and post the results here.

[chaosor]

Explain again why you want two different routers to be active? What do you think that will accomplish? Many times you can broadcast different networks from one router. I believe you can get a switch (pretty much a router that is wired only) and connect it like this: modem > switch > router1+router2

 

Anyway for suggestions, yea the airport express is alright but you're dropping $100 for something with one ethernet port (??) and one usb port.

 

http://www.roc-noc.c...B951G-2HnD.html lots of customization, high power, cheap

 

http://www.amazon.co...r/dp/B006QB1RPY lots of customization, lots of range, more expensive, extra USB slot, easy web and usage managing

 

If you can get a computer plugged directly into the modem and do a speed test from there, that will be good too. Do that and post the results here.

It's more of a selfish, and immature reason, but anyways. Basically, I don't really have the money to spend, but (assuming the router is the problem) my parents don't want to buy a better router. Basically, if I decide to buy the router, I want them to be stuck with the crappy one. But, obviously, I'm not gonna jump the gun and buy a router, first i want to make sure it's the problem, and second I have to decide which one I want. And I was looking at the Apple Airport Extreme, not the express. Whether the 5th or 6th generation, i'm not sure. And I actually was looking at the updated version of the Asus router you posted as well. I'm not set on the Airport Extreme, I'm also looking at other routers. I have never heard of Mikrotek, so I want to avoid that. I'll post a screen shot later.

[20000_Posts]

If you don't have the money, idk why you'd count off the best bang for your buck router I posted and look at an airport extreme that's 150% more expensive.

 

The Asus I posted is also the latest, highest quality model they offer at the moment.

 

But yea after posting the speeds directly from the modem, we'll figure out what the next thing to do is.

[chaosor]

If you don't have the money, idk why you'd count off the best bang for your buck router I posted and look at an airport extreme that's 150% more expensive.

 

The Asus I posted is also the latest, highest quality model they offer at the moment.

 

But yea after posting the speeds directly from the modem, we'll figure out what the next thing to do is.

Because I would rather buy from a company i have heard of, like Asus or Apple, rather than a company I haven't, especially if I am spending money I don't really have (I mean I have the money, but I need to be saving every penny for college)

 

And if you click the link to the Asus, there is a link saying "There is a newer model of this item" right below the product features.

 

I'm assuming that if my internet, when connected to the modem, is close to 3, than it is the router, and if not, it's the ISP, or something else. But, I have an ethernet port downstairs, that my family uses for the downstairs desktop (that doesn't have wifi capabilities (running windows 2000). Does that count as connected to the modem, or do I have to plug my laptop into the modem?

[20000_Posts]

If you don't have the money, idk why you'd count off the best bang for your buck router I posted and look at an airport extreme that's 150% more expensive.

 

The Asus I posted is also the latest, highest quality model they offer at the moment.

 

But yea after posting the speeds directly from the modem, we'll figure out what the next thing to do is.

Because I would rather buy from a company i have heard of, like Asus or Apple, rather than a company I haven't, especially if I am spending money I don't really have (I mean I have the money, but I need to be saving every penny for college)

 

And if you click the link to the Asus, there is a link saying "There is a newer model of this item" right below the product features.

 

I'm assuming that if my internet, when connected to the modem, is close to 3, than it is the router, and if not, it's the ISP, or something else. But, I have an ethernet port downstairs, that my family uses for the downstairs desktop (that doesn't have wifi capabilities (running windows 2000). Does that count as connected to the modem, or do I have to plug my laptop into the modem?

My bad didn't see that on amazon. I'd stick to the N66U though, unless you need 802.11AC and save yourself 40 bucks.

 

The one downstairs probably connects to the router. Modems usually only have one outlet and that's for plugging into the router. I'd plug your laptop directly into the modem (so the router will drop connection until you're done). If you get the 3Mbps from that then yea we can confirm it's something with the router.

Edited June 26, 2013 by FREEDOM

[chaosor]

connected to my modem, and this is what I got

[20000_Posts]

Yea so looks like your router is the problem. One last thing before buying a new router, make sure the ethernet cable that runs from the modem to the router isn't caught on any doors, or has any really sharp bends in it. It could just be that the cable is really damaged and causing problems.

 

If the cable looks okay, then yea probably safe to buy a new router.

[chaosor]

Yea so looks like your router is the problem. One last thing before buying a new router, make sure the ethernet cable that runs from the modem to the router isn't caught on any doors, or has any really sharp bends in it. It could just be that the cable is really damaged and causing problems.

 

If the cable looks okay, then yea probably safe to buy a new router.

 

No tears, no bends, and its roughly in an open space, the access cord is hanging out the back of the desk, which is like an inch apart from the wall..everything looks good. Now to decide on the router.

 

edit: would this switch be good, to connect the 2 router to my modem?

Edited June 27, 2013 by chaosor