Linksys wrt54g & ntl - page browsing seems slower

PixelTrawler

Hi

Just got the linksys wrt54g and page browsing seems noticeable slower through it then when connecting directly with the NTL modem...

anyone else notice this... surely the router should make no odds to browsing speed...

dlofnep

My linksys gave up on me a few days ago with NTL. Not sure if it's the router or not, haven't tried it on another network.

Try your MTU size Joe, change it to 1500 if it's not already and tell me if it makes any difference.

paulm17781

This is worrying. I just sold my ATA and was going to buy the Linksys WRT54GP2. Not sure if I want to now. Does anyone have good things to say about them?

okcomputer

dlofnep wrote:

Try your MTU size Joe, change it to 1500 if it's not already and tell me if it makes any difference.

what do you mean change MTU size? i'm a bit dopey on these things

dlofnep

okcomputer wrote:

what do you mean change MTU size? i'm a bit dopey on these things

In your web browser, go to 192.168.1.1

Password should be admin by default I think. MTU should be on the main page. Just check it out.

dlofnep

paulm17781 wrote:

This is worrying. I just sold my ATA and was going to buy the Linksys WRT54GP2. Not sure if I want to now. Does anyone have good things to say about them?

Paul, I have the wrt54gs. Just got a new one because the other one is dodgy. It should be fine mate.

paulm17781

dlofnep wrote:

Paul, I have the wrt54gs. Just got a new one because the other one is dodgy. It should be fine mate.

Cheers!

One review I just read said the security isn't great on it. Would you agree? I am planning to buy it through Blueface and I trust them. I just don't want to have to send it back every 6 weeks.

okcomputer

dlofnep wrote:

In your web browser, go to 192.168.1.1

Password should be admin by default I think. MTU should be on the main page. Just check it out.

changed the MTU to 1500 but no difference

my speed was 3mbs without the router and now averaging about 1.2mbs with..grrr

dub45

okcomputer wrote:

changed the MTU to 1500 but no difference

my speed was 3mbs without the router and now averaging about 1.2mbs with..grrr

Are you using the router with wireless or with Cable? There is always a loss with wireless - if with wireless what are you using the router with?

SimonMaher

Im having similar, ongoing problems with the Linksys router. I get an absolutely rock solid 1.96mbps when I just use the ethernet cable from modem to PC. When i put the router in line it slows down not just on the wireless version (on the laptop) but also on the hard wired PC too. Lose quite a lot of speed and connection gets laggy too. If I switch back to the normal set up then all goes back to normal speed.

Head wrecking!

Pete

maquiladora

I've had the same setup and haven't had a problem. Sometimes I need to recycle the router once, but I haven't had any problems beyond that. Webpages are clearly going to appear a bit faster when on ethernet from the modem as opposed to wirelessly via the router, but thats normal.

dlofnep

My friggin NTL won't work with any router now for some reason.

PixelTrawler

finally back online after battling with this machine for the last 3 hours...

all went wrong when i updated the firmware on the linksys...

lost the ability to connect to anything. Couldnt connect to the linksys or the ntl modem... luckily i had a laptop handy so i could see the ntl modem hadnt failed...

eventually had to reinstall the tcp protocol again to get the desktop to recieve an ip again...

no idea how that got affected by a firmware update but so far impressions of the linksys aint too good!

incidentlly the linksys comes with version .1 firmware and the latest is .6 ( version .4 supposedly corrects the delay in page browsing i mentioned above but ive yet to try it out )

gonna try get the linksys to work again now

PixelTrawler

maquiladora wrote:

I've had the same setup and haven't had a problem. Sometimes I need to recycle the router once, but I haven't had any problems beyond that. Webpages are clearly going to appear a bit faster when on ethernet from the modem as opposed to wirelessly via the router, but thats normal.

on my desktop im wired to both but there seems to be a delay when wired to the linksys as opposed to linking direct to the modem

Sparky

ive heard that the linksys routers slow things down alright, now im using unofficial firmware from sveasoft to increase the radio power, redone it back to standard firmware but i do still have a problem.

PixelTrawler

damn it! I only bought the model cos ive seen it recommended here so many times for ntl users....

mind you the firmware .6 seems to have improved things a little. The radio power doesnt seem as good as my old eircom netopia.

Mind you speeds as a whole have dropped since friday. It was 2.95meg but since last night its reporting 2.78 ( its the same either direct to the modem or router ) and its the same again this morning...

think the connection as a whole has gone to pot a bit

bhickey

paulm17781 wrote:

This is worrying. I just sold my ATA and was going to buy the Linksys WRT54GP2. Not sure if I want to now. Does anyone have good things to say about them?

I've never actually used a WRT54GP2 (I prefer to keep the VoIP ATA separate) but I've installed a good few of the WRT54G's for other people and they've always been very good for me. I generally use the Sveasoft firmware for the WRT54G's.

PixelTrawler

That sounds more positive!:)

Whats the advantages of this firmware we've mentioned?

Also can you switch back to regular firmware if need be?

bhickey

Joebloggs4817 wrote:

Whats the advantages of this firmware we've mentioned?
Also can you switch back to regular firmware if need be?

Initially they had more features than the Linksys firmware but Linksys have caught up at this stage in most areas. The big disadvantage is the $20 cost. The firmware will only run on the MAC address(es) specified so even though you can get the firmware generated for several MAC addresses they still do enforce the subscription model. You can switch back to the Linksys firmware any time. Also the new WRT54G V5 models are currently not supported so best to get an earlier model.

Sponge Bob

Joebloggs4817 wrote:

Whats the advantages of this firmware we've mentioned?

Some extra features like ssh for remote login and you can welly the radio output by a factor of 3 or 4 . the sveasoft firmware ( alchemist ) has been around a while)

Also can you switch back to regular firmware if need be?

good question, never had to so I cannot answer.

garlad

Can someone show me where I get get an updated firmware for the Linksys WRT54GP2 (the one with the built in phnoe ports)?
Also if I upgrade firmware, will I have to set up all my port forwarding/WEP/VOIP settings?

UberNewb

bhickey wrote:

I've never actually used a WRT54GP2 (I prefer to keep the VoIP ATA separate) but I've installed a good few of the WRT54G's for other people and they've always been very good for me. I generally use the Sveasoft firmware for the WRT54G's.

Me and my friend got the WRT54G routers from blueface and have to say its a great router. Very simple to operate and there is no loss of speed for either of us when browsing the internet.

PixelTrawler

bhickey wrote:

Also the new WRT54G V5 models are currently not supported so best to get an earlier model.

bugger! mines a V5

PixelTrawler

UberNewb wrote:

Me and my friend got the WRT54G routers from blueface and have to say its a great router. Very simple to operate and there is no loss of speed for either of us when browsing the internet.

This sounds more positive too. Think yesterday was just a bad day for me!
IE7 Beta 2 ate my system ( long story but if the install goes wrong you cant get near system restore either... just a warning )

Decided to wipe the machine. Stuck on windows x64 only to discover sygate firewall doesnt run on it...

And then i had the linksys problems... mind you once i did get the lot running it seemed to be ok ( patched to latest linksys firmware )

UberNewb

Joebloggs4817 wrote:

This sounds more positive too. Think yesterday was just a bad day for me!
IE7 Beta 2 ate my system ( long story but if the install goes wrong you cant get near system restore either... just a warning )

Decided to wipe the machine. Stuck on windows x64 only to discover sygate firewall doesnt run on it...

And then i had the linksys problems... mind you once i did get the lot running it seemed to be ok ( patched to latest linksys firmware )

DON'T install IE7, its a load of crap!!!

I made that same mistake and then I couldn't get rid of it. I have been converted over to Firefox and can't understand why I haven't been using this for years. It is far better than IE, believe me you should give it a try.

paulm17781

UberNewb wrote:

have been converted over to Firefox and can't understand why I haven't been using this for years.

Because it is only about 18months old! I agree though it is better than IE.

So general concensous, buy wrt54gp2 or not?

UberNewb

paulm17781 wrote:

Because it is only about 18months old! I agree though it is better than IE.

So general concensous, buy wrt54gp2 or not?

Yeah I'd buy another one.

PixelTrawler

too early for me to say whether id recommend the router... it doesnt seem as good as the eircom Netopia I had.. that had great radio range.

As for IE, i didnt mind beta 1. I use IE and Firefox about an equal amount... ive no major preference...

Avoid beta 2 though!

paulm17781

Did everyone here get the router from Blueface or not? Did anyone who is having problems get it from Blueface?

SimonMaher

I didnt get mine from Blueface, bought mine online. I can see where there might be a problem with slow speeds on the wireless side, but I just can't figure why the speeds also slow on the wired side too. I get bursts of adequate speed and then it just stops, then moves on again. Going to try the firmware upgrade tonight and see what happens.

Pete

Blaster99

One note on WRT54G firmware. It's open source so there are a lot of variants out there, many claiming lots of things. A lot of the non-Linksys ones are buggy. Sveasoft's alchemy version works quite well, but I don't know if I would bother.

The WRT54G is or was prone to wireless disconnects. I haven't seen it in a while so perhaps the newer firmware releases fixes this. Other than that, for what it is, it's a good router. You can even install Linux on it...