Topic '[AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?' in forum 'Shaw' - dslreports.com

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 04:43:19 EDT

itxgd posted : Switch the channels and put it in a higher places

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:44:00 EDT

ilianame posted :

You might see a slight upload with the Shaw Bidet upgrade.

I suppose so.
Although it will depend on the firewall settings. If the rules are tight, you are not likely to see any packet intrusions.

P.S. I hope "State'ful packet inspection will lock this thread down already ;)

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 03:44:23 EDT

Baud1200 posted :

said by ilianame:

... I've never observed any traffic going up...

You might see a slight upload with the Shaw Bidet upgrade.

said by RyanT in Edm :

Extremely puzzling.

Indeed.

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:49:36 EDT

ravenchilde posted :

said by ilianame:

but I've never observed any traffic going up :|

I BOFL.

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:10:14 EDT

ilianame posted : That is puzzling, I usually do 2-3lbs down every morning, but I've never observed any traffic going up :|

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 03:04:33 EDT

kevinds posted : I saw that too, and decided I best to leave it alone...

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:34:07 EDT

Baud1200 posted :

said by RyanT in Edm :

...On the toilet I got .48 down, 1.45 up. That's the thing that is immensely puzzling...

Constipation??? :(

Don't think Shaw supports the proprietary hardware you are using here... you may need to speak with your doctor.

Might not want to send the packet log to Shaw tech support either ;)

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:32:46 EDT

kevinds posted : The .48 out of 100 doesn't matter, its the link speed, and how much your wireless link can currently support.

You could be transfering a file from your desktop with a 1000 mbps connection to your network, and still get .48 or 1.45.

I'm more interested to find out why the speeds are different, .48 vs 1.45.
--
Yes, I am not employed and looking for IT work. Have passport, will travel.

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:23:59 EDT

anon posted :

said by jordanp:

kevinds advice is the right way to go. If your devices work on the 5GHz band, it should work much better than the 2.4GHz band. If you're still using the 2.4GHz band, the range will be brutal because of the interference.

The RT-N56U supports having separate ssids for the 5GHz and 2.4Ghz networks. If you setup a router ssid for 2.4GHz and router-5g ssid for the 5GHz network, you can check whether you can see the 5GHz network on your devices.

I ended up buying one of these on eBay for bluetooth and 5GHz support on the laptop, which required flashing a modified BIOS to work (to get around the whitelist):
»ark.intel.com/products/59472/Int···ual-Band

In our condo, I was able to get ~90mbps over the 5GHz network, with the router at one end of the condo and the laptop at the other.

I have already setup a second SSID on 5ghz. From the router to the bedroom I'm getting about 10mbps. On the toilet I got .48 down, 1.45 up. That's the thing that is immensely puzzling, if the signal is so bad that I'm only getting 0.48 out of 96 down, why am I getting 1.45 out of 4.8 up?

Extremely puzzling.

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:22:00 EDT

kevinds posted : Powerline ethernet might be something to look into?

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:03:28 EDT

anon posted :

said by kevinds:

Switch as much as you can to the 5GHz band,

But the higher-frequency, it won't go thought objects as well (walls for example), which also reduces interference from neighbors.

Hard-wire in as many devices as you can, which will help reduce interference from the other devices in your home as well.

There might be something in your walls blocking the signal as well?

The only thing that could be hardwired that currently isn't is the desktop, and I was just waiting on getting the rest of our stuff unpacked so I know exactly where/how we're gonna setup our TV stand before running the ethernet along the edge of the baseboards. Our laptops we'll commonly use in the bedroom and on the couch/chair so it's not really plausible to hardwire them. My PS3, once it's setup, will also be hardwired.

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:12:02 EDT

rustydusty posted : There is absolutely no need to manually adjust your channels, unless like me where you have 4 AP's on every corning of the house. The auto channel feature on the DIR-655 works wonderful and will adjust to the best channel available.

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 15:54:31 EDT

ilianame posted : Serious post:

You guys are on crank,
if the guy's router doesn't penetrate the wall to the next room,
then the guy needs to RMA his router 99.99%

I live in a highrise, with about 50 visible networks,
I have a D-LINK DIR655 I bought from BB 4 years ago,
I can "see" it with my iPhone from outside of the building over 200 meters.

No inside connectivity troubles,
except my buddy's HTC Pnash completely crashes the Wi-Fi capability on the DIR-655 - so I make sure he turns off the Wi-Fi when he enters.

Aside from scanning the local Wi-Fi for the free-est channel, I did nothing. Mind me saying, i was on Ch6, scan showed Ch 1 to have less signal power on it - so I switched.

The thing about Wi-Fi signal strength - if the Channel looks "low" on the scanner - does not mean you will be better off on this channel. Wi-Fi devices "talk" to each other to mitigate air-time,
so in practice it's better to set your channel to the one where all channel devices have good communication with each other.

So at the end I switched back to Ch6 - and I'm getting good 40mbps out of the Wi-Fi

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 15:45:31 EDT

ravenchilde posted : I think this might help, it add access points but uses your electrical wiring as a backhaul to your router:

»homestore.cisco.com/en-us/powerl···prod.htm

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:16:40 EDT

rustydusty posted : Easiest solution, add an access point in the middle of your house.

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:57:37 EDT

Baud1200 posted :

said by ilianame:

Have you tried playing around with the Shaw Delivery MicroBots settings?

The refraction coefficient is different in the air compared to copper,
and I'm sure it's affecting the little fellas trying to deliver the content with no wires.

Ever since Shaw switched to the delivery bots from the RF waves,
it's been quite erratic, there are used batteries appearing near my cable outlets,
and I swear someone's been trying to break into my on-line banking.

Might well be the temperature, they move a lot slower when it gets cold outside ;)

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:47:58 EDT

ilianame posted : Have you tried playing around with the Shaw Delivery MicroBots settings?

The refraction coefficient is different in the air compared to copper,
and I'm sure it's affecting the little fellas trying to deliver the content with no wires.

Ever since Shaw switched to the delivery bots from the RF waves,
it's been quite erratic, there are used batteries appearing near my cable outlets,
and I swear someone's been trying to break into my on-line banking.

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:20:03 EDT

Baud1200 posted : You will want to make sure that you have updated your router firmware to the latest version, and check to so do regularly. Asus has quite a few "revisions" to the firmware for these things and they do seem to impact performance quite a bit.

You can choose to use the Asus firmware at:
http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=RT-N56U&p=11&s=2

Alternatively there is an open source project DD-WRT firmware available which will give you a lot more advanced options than the Asus default. Depending on how much you want/need to mess with it this may be the way to go.

Good luck!

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:04:24 EDT

jordanp posted : kevinds advice is the right way to go. If your devices work on the 5GHz band, it should work much better than the 2.4GHz band. If you're still using the 2.4GHz band, the range will be brutal because of the interference.

The RT-N56U supports having separate ssids for the 5GHz and 2.4Ghz networks. If you setup a router ssid for 2.4GHz and router-5g ssid for the 5GHz network, you can check whether you can see the 5GHz network on your devices.

I ended up buying one of these on eBay for bluetooth and 5GHz support on the laptop, which required flashing a modified BIOS to work (to get around the whitelist):
»ark.intel.com/products/59472/Int···ual-Band

In our condo, I was able to get ~90mbps over the 5GHz network, with the router at one end of the condo and the laptop at the other.

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:28:44 EDT

Shaw_Alex posted : We have a great article on WiFi Connectivity Troubleshooting over at »community.shaw.ca/docs/DOC-1043

Let me know if that helps out at all.
-Shaw_Alex

Re: [AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 03:02:41 EDT

kevinds posted : Switch as much as you can to the 5GHz band,

But the higher-frequency, it won't go thought objects as well (walls for example), which also reduces interference from neighbors.

Hard-wire in as many devices as you can, which will help reduce interference from the other devices in your home as well.

There might be something in your walls blocking the signal as well?
--
Yes, I am not employed and looking for IT work. Have passport, will travel.

[AB] Any tips for improving WiFi performance with Shaw?

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:46:47 EDT

anon posted : Hey guys!

Just got Shaw 100 setup in my new condo. It's a fairly busy part of town, and there's 10-15 other 802.11 signals within reach of my unit. I'm running the standard Shaw Cisco modem shipped in bridged mode, to an Asus RT-N56U 802.11N router. Connecting to a variety of wireless devices (Acer Core i5 laptop, couple phones, fairly hardcore Core i7 gaming rig). I scanned the channels and there is literally nothing around me broadcasting over 5ghz, lots over 2.4 so I picked a channel that was relatively uncluttered.

The problem is my range is absolutely brutal. In my bathroom which is maybe 30 feet and 2 walls away from my router I hit 2mbps on my phone or laptop. In my bedroom which is literally one wall and 20 feet away from the router I'm lucky to hit 5. As I am writing this I can almost touch the router from my laptop and I just speedtested at 21mbps, my phone just did 16.

I was previously on Telus 25mbps at a different location, a house with much less interference from other networks, and would hit 23-24mbps with a completely flat line for speed. Same router, same computers and phones, same everything except the location and the Shaw service instead of Telus and I was getting faster wifi speeds with 1/4 the rated line.

Should also note that I just plugged in the ethernet and hit ~96mbps, so I know that the line itself is not an issue.

Anyone have any tip/tricks/suggestions for setting up a wifi network in an area with a lot of interference? Is it even possible to get good speed, or should I just downgrade to a 25 or 50mbps connection? As it sits right now it's faster for me to just use the HSDPA on my phone in the bedroom rather than the wifi.