Speed issues thru router

[Jersey_Steve]

Before I hooked up my router (a Linksys BEFSR41 v2) I used to get speeds of 1500-1800k. Ever since I installed it I have been getting speeds anywhere between 500 & 700k. I have tried hooking the modem directly up to my computer and my speeds shoot right back up to where they should be. All I have connected to router are one PC and my XBOX. Any ideas as to why my speeds are down to less than half?

 

[Del]

My speed dropped abit when I went thru a router, but not much.
How do you connect to the internet and what operating system are you running?

 

[Jersey_Steve]

Cable modem (Sci Atlanta Webstar) and Windows XP Pro.

 

[JohnWill]

I just downloaded a 540mb file from Microsoft, and my download speed for the entire download was 175kbyte/sec through my SMC Barricade router. Since my service is 1.5m/128k broadband, that's as good as it gets, with or without the router.

FWIW, a broadband router should have no measurable impact on your throughput, something is seriously wrong if it does!

 

[Del]

Have you tried contacting Linksys Tech Support?

 

[Jersey_Steve]

Ok, upgraded to firmware ver 1.44.2z. Also, set MTU to 1500 and as per Linksys tech support (if you can call it that) I set the # of DHCP users down to 5. Still pulling speeds from 500-700. I'm just as stumped as I was to start.

 

[Del]

Really don't understand, I get over 800kbps thru my router. A friend of mine has a Linksys router, I'll ask him, maybe he has some idea why your speed drops so much.

 

[GOTzMADsKILLz]

hmmm..that is strange... I have the same router and use it as my firewall instead of Zonealarm Pro. Since switching to the router and getting rid of zonealarm my speeds have increased big time and notice no difference between w/router and wo/router speeds. You could try taking it back and getting another one, maybe somethings screwy on the inside. Wish I could see your settings. Are you using any of the port forwarding settings?

I know that I sometimes set up a BF1942 server on mine and forward a tonne of ports in and even after I close the server and turn off the forwards I find I still get mega ping hits on the game ports for a few hours after. With all the incoming traffic it may explain some if any speed loss is taking place. Have you set up the log viewer on your computer.

It's a good thing to use to find out what traffic is trying to get through and if your sending anything out to the internet. Things such as spyware and stuff show up (zonealarm is better for this purpose, since the linksys logviewer is very utilitarian). Anyways try setting up the logviewer by sending it your computers ip after installing the software on your comp.

Download viewer here:

Linksys Log Viewer for BEFSR41

 

[Monstrous Mi]

For GOTzMADsKILLz:

The firewall on the router and Zonealarm are two different types of firewall and I recommend that you use both.

Zonealarm protects you against malicious programs that may have infected your computer (like a backdoor trojan or a keylogger). Zonealarm will only allow programs on your computer that you have specifically authorized to access the Internet.

The router will allow all access requests to the Internet coming from your computer.

As a more benign example, lots of programs have automatic update features and therefore, when an Internet connection is present, they access their home website and download the latest updates to their program.

Personally, I don't like this, so my personal firewall blocks this sort of access.

 

[tdejohnx2]

I am having the same problem with a small network I am setting up. I am using a linksys BEFSR11 with firmware Ver. 1.44. When I connect my laptop directly to the modem I get speeds of about 2.8Mbs. When I connect the router to the modem and then connect my laptop to the LAN port of the router I get speeds ranging from 6Kbs to 256Kbs!! I have tried 2 different linksys BEFSR11's and I also used a Orinoco wireless Gateway and had the same results. I have messed with the MTU settings on the routers but could not find too much of a difference in any MTU changes. I have found the best MTU size for my laptop and I will set that up in the registry to see if that makes a difference. As far as router setup, I am not doing and forwarding, using 192.168.6.XXX, DHCP for 5 IP's. and that is it. No MAC cloning. If you have any ideas I would like to know how close our setups are.


TIA,

TRD

 

[GOTzMADsKILLz]

What does your Local Area connection speed say you are connecting at? Should have 100.0 Mpbs. between the Router and the Laptop. and 10 Mpbs between the modem and directly with your computer.

You've been playing with your MTU settings? Have you seen this one:

MTU Settings Instruction

not sure what your settings are what do you have them set to?

I'm sure you've looked at this on Linksys' Site:

R E F E R E N C E C A T E G O R Y

If I use MTU patches with the Router, will my performance increase?

R E F E R E N C E

There are several third-party Maximum Transmission Unit [MTU] patches available on the Internet. The recommended settings vary by version and operating system with these programs. As a general rule, an MTU setting between 1400 and 1500 is ideal. The Router's firmware (1.39 or above) have a setting that can adjust the MTU. You should not put this higher than 1500 or lower than 1300.

Or this one:

P R O B L E M

I do not know how to set up the proper MTU size, how do I do this?

S O L U T I O N

To find the proper MTU Size, you'll have to do a special ping of the destination you're trying to go to. A destination could be another computer, or a URL.

1. Click on the Start button, then select the Run option.

2. In the "Open" field type in command (If you're using Windows 2K/NT/XP use CMD instead)

3. Once the window opens, you'll need to do a special ping. It should be formatted:

ping [-f] [-l] [MTU value] [Enter] an e...ned input [url]http://192.168.1.1/Filters.htm into the "Address" bar

6. You will be prompted for a User Name and Password. Leave the User Name blank and input admin as the password then click OK

7. Once you've done this you should find your self on the Filters tab. Scroll down to the bottom and look for "MTU". Enable the option and input the optimum value you got earlier. So for our example this would be 1480. After that value has been inputted click Apply then Continue and you're done.

NOTE: If you don't have a "MTU" option please goto http://www.linksys.com/download and select the model number of the router you have and the OS you're using. Then click on "Firmware" and follow the upgrade instructions.


I've never played with my MTU settings as for the MTU settings of the Router? I don't have any place where I can access or change that, does yours? Maybe they removed it from the 1.44 Firmware for the BEFSR41 v2.0... just as they removed the SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) option and left it with only the Forwarding.

My setup is pretty basic as you can see from my specs. My Router has forwarding enabled for a BF1942 Linux server I have set up, but nothing is forwarded to my Windows Computer (listed below) That's about it. I have the Firmware 1.44.2 as well and everything is pretty basic, the Linux machine uses a static network IP so I only have DHCP set to 1 since I only need one IP for the Windows comp. Haven't played with any settings. I have no spyware installed and everything that's suppsoed to be automatically checking for updates is turned off. I do everything manually. If you have Nortons AV is keeps a constant conx to the internet to let you know when an update is available as well, Windows Update auto checks every 5 minutes I think the default is. You can turn these off and then you may want to try one of those online speed tests to see if there's any change in your speed. I think CNET has one.

 

[JustMe2]

Thank you, Monstrous MI!
When we went to cable and a router 2 weeks ago, I decided to leave Zonealarm active. (peace of mind) And it made sense to me that there would be things that the router's firewall might not stop. Glad to read somebody else confirm what I thought! And I'm like you on the software thing. If I want to update it, I'll do it myself!
JustMe2

 

[Jersey_Steve]

Tried changing MTU on router and in Windows to 1458. Still getting horrible speeds. I still have the strangest feeling that there is something in the setup that I am missing.

 

[Rockn]

Try running a tracert while your switch is in the config and once while it is out of it and compare your times returned and the number of hops. Try a tracert www.intel.com > C:\compare.txt from the config with the router in the config and then again without typing in tracert www.intel.com >> C:\compare.txt That will append the results from the second test to the same text file. Post back with your results and we might be able to tel you for sure if it's your router. How does it compare with the XBox out of the scene entirely?

 

[JohnWill]

I don't know where the 1458 number comes from, but it's the first I've ever heard of it. Check out this on Speedguide.com or this at Apache Systems. The numbers I've always used are:

1500 - Ethernet
1492 - PPoE
576 - Dial-Up

These also seem to be the numbers that are mentioned at these sites.