Hi,
I have inconsistent wireless throughput. It seems to be my router, but I'm not sure.
When I use my HTPC (wireless G) to play videos from the PC in my bedroom, I will sometimes get up to 1.5 megabytes per second sustained wireless throughput. It drops off as the video buffers enough. If I click on another part of the video, the throughput goes up again to fill the buffer. I'm using VLC or sometimes MPC player.
However, sometimes the throughput drops to about 180 kilobytes per second sustained, and the buffered data runs out and the video stops while it buffers some more.
When this "slow mode" happens, if I restart the router, I get the fast 1.5mB/sec speed again. If I do some web surfing, or open a few video files, eventually I loose this fast speed and have to restart the router. Sometimes during the middle of the day I get the fast speed without restarting the router.
My setup: Living room HTPC on 802.11G (MSI PCI card), bedroom PC with all the files is on hardwire ethernet cable to wireless router (Linksys WRT54GL). I get ok wireless signal, at least -66dbm. I don't think it's an issue with signal fade, since restarting the router seems to always give me the fast speed again.
I would like to not have to constantly restart the router. I've tried flashing the router firmware from the default Linksys firmware to the recommended DD-WRT firmware. I still get this problem, if maybe a bit more frequently. I've tried different drives on my HTPC wireless MSI card.
That's all I could think of to do. Does anyone know why my wireless throughput is so inconsistent? It seem to be linked to the router, since restarting the router fixes the problem, for a bit.
Thanks,
Eric
Have you increased the wireless Mw or clock rate of the router from original setting? If so the chip may start overheating.
I've bumped up the Tx power from the default 71 to 140mW. It didn't seem to fix the problem though. I'll keep a tab on the temperature today.
I've also noticed that the DD-WRT front page shows you the wireless speed mode (5.5mbps, 24mbps, 36mbps, or 48mbsp...it picks one of these). When the router slips into the slow speed, the DD-WRT control page is showing the mode is 5.5mbps, the slowest speed. So this could be an indicator.
But I don't know how many things cause this transition to slow mode. The antenna reception seems about the same (about -60dbm) regardless of transfer mode. Maybe if my neighbors turn on a microwave or something, would the error rate for transfers go up? Maybe those types of interference do not manifest in the signal quality indicator?