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Can I improve WiFi speed on Infinity?


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Old 16-09-2013, 19:17
iainmann
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I upgraded to BT Infinity a couple of weeks ago. I'm getting a very good 71 meg wired connection but only registering 30 meg with WiFi connection.

I'm using a BT Home Hub 3 Type.

I've reset the modem and router. I've tried all the WiFi channels on the router. But can still only get a 30 meg connection. I've spoken to BT but they're not really interested because I'm getting a good wired connection speed.

Anything else I can do? Would buying a Home Hub 4 help?
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Old 16-09-2013, 19:37
-GONZO-
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Do you need more than 30meg for whatever your doing?
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Old 16-09-2013, 19:50
chrisjr
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What WiFi standard are you using? To get the best out of Infinity you need to use 802.11n. If you are using 802.11g then that may explain why you are getting no more then 30Mb.

But in addition you need to ensure that your speed issue is not also down to interference and/or a weak signal. A useful tool for looking at WiFI issues is inSSIDer

http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/

Install that and let it analyse your WiFi environment. It may show that your signal is being affected by interference from neighbouring networks. It might also show a clearer channel you can use that might improve performance.
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Old 16-09-2013, 19:58
iainmann
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Do you need more than 30meg for whatever your doing?
Just seems a waste of those 40 extra megs.
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Old 16-09-2013, 20:24
iainmann
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What WiFi standard are you using? To get the best out of Infinity you need to use 802.11n. If you are using 802.11g then that may explain why you are getting no more then 30Mb.

But in addition you need to ensure that your speed issue is not also down to interference and/or a weak signal. A useful tool for looking at WiFI issues is inSSIDer

http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/

Install that and let it analyse your WiFi environment. It may show that your signal is being affected by interference from neighbouring networks. It might also show a clearer channel you can use that might improve performance.
Thanks for that. My MacBook Pro is using 802.11n and a WiFi scanning app shows I have a 70% signal with 13% noise, which looks as though it should be pretty good to me.
But I'm only getting 30 megs download.
I'm on channel 11 and there are other BT Home Hubs around me on the same channel...but changing to 9 or any other doesn't improve things.
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Old 17-09-2013, 11:04
Maccadanny
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You will hardly ever get the maximum speed on a wireless connection.Have a look at this site.
http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/w...elessspeed.htm
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Old 17-09-2013, 13:25
beerhunter2
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Thanks for that. My MacBook Pro is using 802.11n and a WiFi scanning app shows I have a 70% signal with 13% noise, which looks as though it should be pretty good to me.
But I'm only getting 30 megs download. .
First off, even with a VERY good connection the headline speed of WiFi, for example 802.11g's 54Mb/s, is the signalling rate. You will never get anywhere near that it real data terms. (About half would be good.)

Next WiFi is a "shared" service; every station on the channel is sharing the bandwidth and so the more stations on a channel, the less bandwidth everyone gets.
I'm on channel 11 and there are other BT Home Hubs around me on the same channel...but changing to 9 or any other doesn't improve things.
WiFi channels overlap and so changing top a channel that close is unlikely to help. You need to be much further way.

There are umpteen threads on these forums on how to "tune" you WiFi.
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Old 17-09-2013, 13:32
flagpole
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how are you measuring this 30meg?
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Old 17-09-2013, 21:32
iainmann
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how are you measuring this 30meg?
speedtest.net
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Old 17-09-2013, 22:21
littleboo
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wifi is more about convenience than speed
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Old 02-10-2013, 00:27
ntl7
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I upgraded to BT Infinity a couple of weeks ago. I'm getting a very good 71 meg wired connection but only registering 30 meg with WiFi connection.

I'm using a BT Home Hub 3 Type.

I've reset the modem and router. I've tried all the WiFi channels on the router. But can still only get a 30 meg connection. I've spoken to BT but they're not really interested because I'm getting a good wired connection speed.

Anything else I can do? Would buying a Home Hub 4 help?
Just had infinity installed yesterday & I get about 30Mb on WiFi on my Macbook Pro.

Dell laptop which is further away downstairs does not get more than 8/9Mb.

I can get 70Mb by ethernet, so not so pleased with the HomeHub4's wireless performance.

Hoping they release a firmware upgrade to fix this.
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Old 02-10-2013, 07:51
rjb101
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A review of the homehub 4

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/wirel.../bt-home-hub-4

Not sure that your expecting too much from wireless.

This is a review of another router - described as outstanding

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/wirel...on-bipac-7800n

The maximum speed they got out of it at 1 meter is 46.6Mbit/s
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Old 02-10-2013, 09:54
michael37
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I'm on channel 11 and there are other BT Home Hubs around me on the same channel...but changing to 9 or any other doesn't improve things.
You'd need to change further way from 11 than that. try either 1 or 5.

Make sure that the macbook is configured to actually use 802.11n.

Do you have any older computers connected to the Wi-Fi that only support 802.11g, if you do then whenever it is active it forces the entire network to slow down.

Make sure that WEP is disabled on the router, even if it is not used (and you should not be using it) it reduces trhoughput.

If you can use only WPA2+TKIP is gives a lower performance hit that WPA+AES.

Consider getting a dual band router, a significant cause of reduced throughput is wi-fi interference and with effectively only 3 usable channels at 2.5GHz it can be hard to find a clear channel if you have lots of neighbours with Wi-Fi. The 5GHz is much quieter and offers better channel seperation so congestion is less of a problem and 5Gz offers higher max speeds to boot. Modern macbooks support 5GHz, but you may need to upgrade the wi-fi cards on it and other devices if they do not.

If all also fails consider one of the new 802.11ac routers (you will probably need to upgrade the wi-fi cards on most of your devices to get best use of it).

Realistically though wi-fi never gets anywhere close to the headline theoretical speeds and it is generally not worth paying for broadband speeds over 50Mb/s if you are not able or willing to used wired network connections, as you will not see the full benefit of it via Wi-Fi unless you regularly have multiple users making use of it at the same time.
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Old 02-10-2013, 11:06
flagpole
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I get over 30Mb out of a N Lite (150Mb) adapter right across the length of my house.
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