Wifi Problems or router problems?

I pay for 30 Mbps download and when my step son plays a game online it drops down to about 1.5 but when he gets off it comes back up to the 30. i think its causing problems with my daughters iphone staying connected to the wifi

I have a asus RT-N56U with a netgear extender. do i need a better router or pay for more bandwith?
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
Does he play over wireless? The extender is likely a large part of the performance issues if so.
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
If he's on wifi it really doesn't make a difference if 'connected to the extender' or not, as all of the wireless data will be retransmitted on the same frequency from the extender, making the wifi collide with its own traffic.

If you're able to run it like a secondary AP with a wired uplink you should see things drastically improve, or if you make his computer wired into the router instead of wireless you will likely see these issues vanish. Gaming doesn't utilize a lot of bandwidth by itself but does transmit a large number of small packets.
 
the only thing i could wire him into is the extender the router is in my room and would cost 60 dollars just to move it somewhere else in the house. havent tried wiring it up tho. ive noticed it alot more since he started playing this diablo 3
 

Geoff

VIP Member
Wireless extenders really kill the performance of a network, as it effectively cuts throughput in half as it receives and retransmits everything. If you can make due without the extender that would be preferred. Make sure you place your wireless router as centrally as possibly, and avoid having it blocked by furniture.
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
If that's in tandem with removing the extender, then sure.

What extender is it? You'd get a lot better performance making it into an access point with a wired uplink. Then the wireless resources don't have to compete for airspace between each other.
 
its a netgear n600 and if i moved it it would be getting rid of the extender. but it cost 60 dollars to move the router

also at any given time since im streaming tv and stuff now i can have 15 devices connected. from phones computer ps3 and streaming devices

someone said i may need to look into a new router with ac technology
 
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idk i asked them and thats what they said. i live in an apartment is the only special thing and its kinda of a locally owned cable company so thats the only things i can think of
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
If there's a cable modem component to it you should just be able to relocate the modem to any of the other coax jacks in your place.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Do you have access to where all the cable connetions are? If you have more coax connections in the apartment then you should have somewhere where everything is connected together. If it doesn't work at the other jacks then they aren't connected together.

You should have a central cable coming into the apartment and then connected to a splitter to go into other rooms.
 
i dont have access to that

If he's on wifi it really doesn't make a difference if 'connected to the extender' or not, as all of the wireless data will be retransmitted on the same frequency from the extender, making the wifi collide with its own traffic.

If you're able to run it like a secondary AP with a wired uplink you should see things drastically improve, or if you make his computer wired into the router instead of wireless you will likely see these issues vanish. Gaming doesn't utilize a lot of bandwidth by itself but does transmit a large number of small packets.


could u explain to me how to run the extender as an access point?
 
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beers

Moderator
Staff member
what is the difference in an access point and extender?

Access Point : Broadcasts wireless signal, uses a wired interface upstream to connect to rest of network.
Extender/Repeater : Rebroadcasts wireless signal, uses a wireless interface upstream to connect to rest of network.

Repeaters get a bad rap as most of them rebroadcast on the exact same channel that they receive data on. This typically destroys any expectation of reasonable performance based primarily on CSMA/CA.
 
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