Sager NP9262 Internet problems

[MoeyMo23]

I live in a house at college with 4 other guys and we all run our internet through wireless. I noticed the other day that their internet is running much faster than mine and when i look at my speed it is always within 1.0mbps to 5.5mbps. When i go and look at their speeds they are always at 11.0 or more mbps. does anybody know i can fix this

[Woody]

This is probably because of the distance from the wireless router to your computer. Also the value you're measuring (1.0 to 5.5 or 11.0Mbps for your friends) is not your Internet speed but your local network speed. For reference with my Sager 9262 I get about 270Mbps on my wireless N home network and 130Mbps on my wireless G home network with speeds diminishing as I move away from the router. You guys should seriously consider upgrading your local wireless router. If anyone on your local network is using an old wireless B device it will slow down your whole network to that speed and I suspect this is happening unless the router itself is really old in which case you should upgrade it. You should find out who is the culprit and ban him from the network until he upgrades his wireless device.

The other thing you can do is get another router and have two wireless networks, one B only and one G only. Another option is to learn how to set up and install a router using DD-WRT which is an alternative operating system supported by most common wireless routers. I personally recommend an inexpensive Linksys WRT-54G for this. This system allows you to run multiple wireless networks from a single router as well as boost the signal strength a good 300% over the default value while staying in safe limits.

If you'd like to measure your actual Internet speed go to speedtest.net or dslreports.com and run the Internet speed tests. Depending on how fast your ISP is you will find that a good Wireless G connection is going to be fast enough not to bottleneck your connection but you all should be getting much better speeds than you mentioned.

[MoeyMo23]

ok well even if the mbps doesn't have to do with my overall speed of my internet . why is it that on a website like youtube for example. it will take a couple minutes to load a 1-2 minute video but on my roommates laptops they load in a matter of seconds. and i dont think the probllem is the distance to the router because my laptop is the closest to the router in the house

[Woody]

...why is it that on a website like youtube for example. it will take a couple minutes to load a 1-2 minute video but on my roommates laptops they load in a matter of seconds...

It's because your connection is painfully slow. You need to move closer to the router and find out about the other stuff I mentioned. What type of router is it? How many people are using the connection? Does anyone have an old 802.11b device? Is one of your roommates downloading large files (like torrents) while you are trying to watch youtube.

Also it's possible if one of your room mates is tech savvy and controls the router he may have deliberately configured it to give himself priority using the QOS configuration features of the router (if it has that). That would be unfair if you all split the price evenly. You need to find out about these things to fix your problem.

[MoeyMo23]

Now its only my youtube videos that are loading ungodly slow. anybody have any idea how to fix this. all my webpages load fine except loading youtube videos

[sheaiiimef]

Try watching a TV show on ABC, NBC, CBS when no one else is online and see how it runs. Try your youtube as well. You have to start out with only your machine using the network.

You should also go to www.dslreports.com and run some of their diagnostic tests. Click on the "TOOLS" tab. It will help you narrow down your problem. One good thing about this is you are learning and will be able to help others.

[MoeyMo23]

i just watched a episode on abc while all 4 roommates were still connected and it streamed very fast and i had no problems with loading times. I have tired many other streaming video sites and they all are smooth and fast EXCEPT for youtube.. i really am good with computers and i have never seen this problem before

[Woody]

From your computer go to www.speedtest.net

Select the yellow pyramid in the flash intro to run the test and then copy the url to this thread.

When it's done go under the part that says "Share your Result." Click the "COPY" button next to the "forum link" box and past it into a post on this thread.

[MoeyMo23]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/352589438.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[sheaiiimef]

Ultimately, your download speed is only going to be what the distant end is capable of transmitting. If there are many people on youtube your download speeds will suck. It also depends on how many hops there are between you and them and what node and backbone they are on.

It sounds like you are good. Not every website will give you kick*** downloads.

[MoeyMo23]

i am not even talking about having kickass loading times.. my videos are taking like 2 hours to load a 1 min 30 sec video

[Woody]

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your Internet connection. It doesn't make sense that youtube is the only site you have trouble with. The only thing that could explain it other than simply hitting that particular youtube video at a bad time is if there is some weird QOS configuration in the router that specifically limits your connections to youtube without affecting the other computers on your network. I highly doubt this was done unless your room mate got tired of you hogging all the bandwidth watching youtube and configured something to slow you down.

[MoeyMo23]

None of my roommates know how to work with computers and they wouldnt have the first clue in how to edit router settings. and its with all youtube videos not just one

[Woody]

So try this...

Sit your laptop down side by side with one of your room mate's computers. Make sure no one else in the house is online at the time. Run the speedtest.net test and compare the speeds (do it one at a time, not simultaneously). Both tests should be fairly close with maybe a 10-20% difference at the most.

Then go to youtube and open a video....time it. Close the browser, and then open the exact same video on the other computer, time it. If the results are similar there's nothing wrong with your computer, it's the Internet service or the router.

This is basic troubleshooting. You need to run various tests to isolate the problem and determine exactly where it lies before you can do anything about it.

Do this and post back here.

[RaderCad]

Don't forget that all microwave routers/hubs are line of site. If you have some (or lots) of metal in the wall between you and the router your signal between your computer and the hub/router will degrade. The connection speed between your computer and the router/hub has a lot to do with how your computer's signal is received by the router/hub. I have been dealing with long distance configurations in WiFi for a couple of years and have found most of the limitations.
In a home environment you may be closest to the hub/router but interference from electrical lines and piping or foil backed insulation may be blocking the connection between your rig and the hub/router. Some simple changes may bring up your connection speed:
Try mounting the router/hub higher than it is.
Get some larger rubber-duck antennas for the router.
Try moving your computer. Sometimes just by moving my laptop a couple of inches the signal will increase by a bar or more.
Also you might try upgrading the driver for your WiFi card.
Also try making your computer the DMZ on the router/hub. This will remove the router/hub firewall protection from your computer, so your personal computer protection must be strong.
If all that fails go to the Radio Lab web site and get one of their long distance USB WiFi antenna with amplifier for RV's or boats, and scarf on your neighbors WiFi.

[MoeyMo23]

i get perfect signal from my router and everything is fine with my internet except for youtube. thats it. oh and also now all my roommates are having problems with youtube not just me.

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

Try using the help features on Youtube's website

Video Issues: Videos stuck loading (http://help.youtube.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=58129&topic=10560)

It could be a windows update, software update, or your browser could be causing an issue. Make sure your not using a beta version of the browser.

[RaderCad]

OK!

I noticed that you said your connection was around 1Mb/second to the router / hub......

If you are somewhat good at reading manuals and understand simple software configuration settings go into the routers management side and designate your computer as the DMZ (demilitarized zone.) This will put you outside the routers firewall and outside the firewall queue. Just make sure that you have very strong up to date firewall and virus protection on your computer and set the firewall to 'stealth mode' after configuring the router. Also, remember to set your 'share' settings to off.

Most home routers are designed for only four connections at a time. Thus if you are sharing a router with four others you will be waiting inside the firewall queue same as them. This may reflect on your connection speed to the router especially if you get on the router in last place. However, I am not sure about your situation. I have been 'exploring' around here in the boat yard and I recently had a 1Mb connection speed until I hacked, er, went into the routers management side and set my computer up as the DMZ. My connection speed then jumped up to the high 30's and low 40's as soon as I re-set the connected to the router.

We have a special marine antenna / USB WiFi setup that is good up to about a mile, line of site. Where we are now we only get two to three bars, at best, to the boatyard's router. The distance to the router / hub is over 200 yards, the router is inside a cement block building with tall steel tanks blocking our line of site to the router location. We 'see' upwards of 9 separate routers available where we are. However the majority of the signal strengths is only one bar. We have four sites in the two or better range. We actually can pick up the neighboring technical school's router / hub the best and it is about 1/4 of a mile away. Soon we will get the password / protocol for that router for night work.

So if you want a higher connection speed to the router, priority routing, no firewall queue, just make your computer the DMZ for your router. It may also upset your roomies, requiring them learn more about managing computers / routers / hubs / TCP - IP, DSL and so fourth, so watch out. Don't forget to change the routers management password, remember what you changed it to, so they will have a harder time than you did......