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ProbablyDrew
join:2012-12-31

ProbablyDrew to BryanInPHX

Member

to BryanInPHX

Re: [AZ] Speed Increase 01/31/13

Anyone have any idea why this upgrade would have caused my router to suddenly become unreliable?

I'm on premiere (went from 22/5 to 50/10).
hardware:
WRT54GL router running tomato shibby firmware
motorola surfboard SB6120 cable modem with firmware "SB612X-1.0.5.1-SCM00-NOSH Dec 21 2010 15:52:06"

Everything has been stable for a couple years now, suddenly this last week after the upgrade the router has become unstable, you load a website, use streaming radio, whatever, and it will drop out every couple minutes for 10 seconds or so, wired and wireless.
I get that my download speed is probably high enough now to saturate the wan port on this old router but I don't understand why even low bandwidth activities like 96kbps radio streaming now drop out constantly.

I have tried upgrading the firmware on the router, clearing nvram, rebooting it, all to no effect. If I plug straight into the modem with a computer I get 64mbps down (powerboost may be part of that) and it's stable. If I go through the router I'm lucky to get 10 down. Prior to the upgrade I would get the advertised 22 or greater all the time.

Is it possible my router was on its last legs and this pushed it over the edge, or could something else be going on?
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

4 edits

nonymous (banned)

Member

May be time to think of getting a new router. The 50 may be pushing the routers limits and if you use any QOS or other routing features may not get the full speed.
Just did a little googling seems to confirm the WAN throughput will not do 50. Time for a new router. What I have read I may have misinterpreted just googled your router and throughput.
I have the older version of the router and it is rock solid just at the lower speed package. Also do not fully use QOS etc. as no real need with my use. If i had to really do QOS even at 25 I might think of a new router also. The firmware can not make up for the hardware. With today's speed faster hardware is needed. I am talking WLAN not LAN. Also if you are heavily into say a media server, transfering large files between computers etc. even the LAN falls short of gig speeds available now.
ProbablyDrew
join:2012-12-31

ProbablyDrew

Member

Yeah I figured that would be the case. It doesn't surprise me that the wan/lan ports can't keep up after looking at the throughput review on smallnetbuilder.com
However I'm surprised that it would suddenly just start dropping connection to the internet randomly when not even pushing high speeds.

In any event after wasting many hours I caved and ordered an ASUS RT-N66U which should be able to keep up just fine based on reviews. I would have gotten the ASUS RT-AC66U but decided against it since it has no working version of tomato, costs $35 more, and I don't see myself owning any 802.11ac devices in the next couple years. Maybe if a Nexus phone is released with it but I don't see that kind of throughput making any difference on a phone in the near future.
nickphx
join:2009-10-29
Phoenix, AZ

nickphx to ProbablyDrew

Member

to ProbablyDrew
Linksys released the WRT54GL in 2005.. It's 2013. It's probably safe to say you got your $99 worth out of it.

I used to have a WRT54GL. It had a problem where it could not handle over a few thousand packets per second. This would cause problems with counter-strike when browsing for games as the game browser would send out a flurry of udp packets to hundreds of hosts.