CardboardSword
New Member
I'd like to preface this by saying that I'm a hardware/software guy, not a network guy. Whenever the task of setting up or troubleshooting a network arises, I tend to make a big mess of things or just find myself lost, and this is one of those cases. This is kind of a long story, but its put me through a lot of grief and the CF community has always been a great help, so please stay with me on this.
We recently upgraded our internet connection to "Ultra-high speed", but found that the old networking hardware was showing its age. First we installed a new router (D-link DiR-615) because the old reliable WRT54G finally started to deteriorate. We finally got the speed increase (Up to almost 700kb/s file downloads over the previous 160~), but would sporadically lose the speed. This wasn't a huge deal, as it would pick back up on its own pace. This didn't last very long as it got more frequent and shorter periods of usability. After a call to the isp, they told us that A. Our account wasn't properly set up for broadband and B. that our modem was an old hunker. They sent a new modem, which, naturally, refused to connect initially and had to be set up by a technician, who then proceeded to go back to HQ, because the problem wasn't on our end. We had to hook the router up ourselves, because the Aliant techs won't touch anything they aren't specifically trained in of course. After it was set back up, the speeds are still terrible! The real kicker is that of the 4 computers on the network, they all get varying speeds. The desktop (XP) the modem/router are connected to maintains constant connection, but its fairly old and abused, so speeds are difficult to gauge just by browsing. My girlfriend's and her brother's laptop (7 and Vista respectively)are both Dell XPS and both get good speeds in comparison to my desktop (7), but are both below what we used to get and the Vista latop gets the fastest of the bunch despite having the same hardware as the one using 7. My desktop can hardly connect and when it decides to co-operate I top out at around 80kb/s file download speed. I've used two different Wi-Fi usb sticks that worked fine on every other connection they've ever been on.
The connection disparity is not because of bandwidth issues. Its not like everyone is trying to stream HD video simultaneously or something like that. All computers minus the wired desktop have had disconnects at some point, despite being well in range. I've done a couple very basic things like change the broadcast channel to avoid interference and ensuring some settings were enabled. I'm at my wits end with this guys. If there is anyone left reading my wall of text at this point I would hugely appreciate some help.
We recently upgraded our internet connection to "Ultra-high speed", but found that the old networking hardware was showing its age. First we installed a new router (D-link DiR-615) because the old reliable WRT54G finally started to deteriorate. We finally got the speed increase (Up to almost 700kb/s file downloads over the previous 160~), but would sporadically lose the speed. This wasn't a huge deal, as it would pick back up on its own pace. This didn't last very long as it got more frequent and shorter periods of usability. After a call to the isp, they told us that A. Our account wasn't properly set up for broadband and B. that our modem was an old hunker. They sent a new modem, which, naturally, refused to connect initially and had to be set up by a technician, who then proceeded to go back to HQ, because the problem wasn't on our end. We had to hook the router up ourselves, because the Aliant techs won't touch anything they aren't specifically trained in of course. After it was set back up, the speeds are still terrible! The real kicker is that of the 4 computers on the network, they all get varying speeds. The desktop (XP) the modem/router are connected to maintains constant connection, but its fairly old and abused, so speeds are difficult to gauge just by browsing. My girlfriend's and her brother's laptop (7 and Vista respectively)are both Dell XPS and both get good speeds in comparison to my desktop (7), but are both below what we used to get and the Vista latop gets the fastest of the bunch despite having the same hardware as the one using 7. My desktop can hardly connect and when it decides to co-operate I top out at around 80kb/s file download speed. I've used two different Wi-Fi usb sticks that worked fine on every other connection they've ever been on.
The connection disparity is not because of bandwidth issues. Its not like everyone is trying to stream HD video simultaneously or something like that. All computers minus the wired desktop have had disconnects at some point, despite being well in range. I've done a couple very basic things like change the broadcast channel to avoid interference and ensuring some settings were enabled. I'm at my wits end with this guys. If there is anyone left reading my wall of text at this point I would hugely appreciate some help.
