Can't get more than 65Mbps

No other wireless devices, only the laptop.

I read your link and many others and I do understand about limitations of N. The link says it may not report 300Mbps but it certainly should report 130-150Mbps. Mine is only reporting 65Mbps. So something is not right. And that 65Mbps means maybe I am really getting 35Mbps. Not acceptable in my mind for a new Wireless N router and a new Wireless N laptop.

I've tried everything to get more than 65Mbps. With the router customer support directing me I changed settings. Changed the channel too. No matter what I can't get more than 65Mbps at home and many times much less.

There has to be a reason for it. All I can assume now is it is a bad wireless card.

As for what my internet speed is, isn't that irrelevant? I am talking about wireless connection speed. Meaning how the wireless device communicates with the network. That's what I understood wireless connection speed means.

Otherwise who would care if wireless N is 300Mbps capable? Very few have that internet speed.

This is how it was explained to me:

The speed for the WiFi portion of the WNR2000 is the speed between a wireless device, like a laptop, and your router. This is part of your LAN (Local Area Network). Your router has 4 Ethernet ports that are rated for 100Mbps. This would be the absolute maximum theoretical speed between a computer connected by an Ethernet cable to your router. This has nothing to do with the speed of your internet service. You can set the router to 300Mbps and it will attempt that rate of communication with a wireless device that is in the 802.11n category, assuming the device has enough hardware in the WiFi setup to handle such speeds.

If you wanted to transfer a file, using WiFi, from the desktop to the laptop, then the 300Mbps 802.11n WiFi speed would result in a quicker transfer than the 54Mbps 802.11g WiFi speed. If you wanted to send something wirelessly from a laptop to a printer on your network, then the 300Mbps might help to do that quickly.

Another way to look at it is that inside a computer there are connections that can transmit data between components of the computer at 1000Mbps or faster. They function at that speed even though the external connection to the internet is only 15Mbps.

Slartybart said:

Edit: I use the Asus RT-N53 (~$60), it's bigger brother RT-N56 (~$110) is a gigabit router with 2 USB ports. Both are dual band. I had an issue with their firmware, but just backed off to the previous level and everything is good. I'm only getting between 36 and 72 Mbps (3 floors up from the router) but my internet speed tier is only 50 Mbps - so I'm more than happy with the performance.

Do you mean your wireless connection status shows between 36 and 72Mbps, like my screenshot shows 65Mbps and chev65's shows 300Mbps?

Or is there another way you get those numbers?

Only one way to get the numbers I posted.

That is to use an adaptor and router that are capable of full 802.11n speeds and set the router up on 802.11n Only setting, you do need to use the correct security and encryption also.

With 5 bands signal strength and with a clean channel you should have no problems achieving the full 300Mbps. Less bands will mean less speed.

When I see someone stuck at 65Mbps that usually means they are using N and G Mixed mode which is limited to 802.11g speeds.

Channel bonding can help but isn't required to achieve the full 300Mbps. Channel bonding only works well when there is nearly 5 bars signal strength and can actually hurt performance if the signal strength isn't very strong. Yes I have tested this out. To turn on channel bonding there will be a setting in the router that says 20-40Mhz or 20Mhz, first one is channel bonding mode.

Most of that extra speed will be noticed when moving files on the LAN, online streaming and LAN streaming of movies will also work much better. My ISP speed on the wired LAN is close to 30Mbps but when testing from the wireless machines it's 20Mbps.

When I see someone stuck at 65Mbps that usually means they are using N and G Mixed mode which is limited to 802.11g speeds.

You've mentioned this several times, please tell me how I can find this setting. The manufacturer didn't even know what I meant when I asked about it.

Also my ISP speed is almost 16Mbps but on the wireless, once I move in to the next room or upstairs it is half that or worse. I know it will degrade but if I started at 300Mbps (or even 150Mbps) it certainly should be better.

I found a review of my router where someone said they also could not get more than 65Mbps. Their laptop has a Broadcom wireless adapter too. This Netgear router apparently has an Atheros CPU. I read that it is better to match up the manufacturers.

I think I will try a Linksys that I'm pretty sure is Broadcom based and see if that shows any difference.

Other than that I really have no other ideas. I may just return the laptop too. I'm pretty convinced there is something wrong with either the card, antenna or both. I sit in a McDonald's and can't even get five full bars for signal strength, that can't be right.

bru said:

When I see someone stuck at 65Mbps that usually means they are using N and G Mixed mode which is limited to 802.11g speeds.

You've mentioned this several times, please tell me how I can find this setting. The manufacturer didn't even know what I meant when I asked about it.

Also my ISP speed is almost 16Mbps but on the wireless, once I move in to the next room or upstairs it is half that or worse. I know it will degrade but if I started at 300Mbps (or even 150Mbps) it certainly should be better.

I found a review of my router where someone said they also could not get more than 65Mbps. Their laptop has a Broadcom wireless adapter too. This Netgear router apparently has an Atheros CPU. I read that it is better to match up the manufacturers.

I think I will try a Linksys that I'm pretty sure is Broadcom based and see if that shows any difference.

Other than that I really have no other ideas. I may just return the laptop too. I'm pretty convinced there is something wrong with either the card, antenna or both. I sit in a McDonald's and can't even get five full bars for signal strength, that can't be right.

All routers have this setting, it's just a simple mixed mode setting that should be on the routers wireless set up page. I just looked up in your routers user manual that max for this router is 145Mbps so it seems your router has limits for 802.11n speeds.

If you can post a screen shot of the routers wireless set up page I can most likely find the setting for you. With good signal strength channel bonding is another useful option.

5 bars at McDonalds should be pretty good.

But I don't get 5 bars, only 4. On the phone now with Netgear. They assure me I am operating in N wireless only mode. They say it is related to the security settings.

If it is 145Mbps max how can they say "up to 300Mbps". Regardless I'd be happy to get 145Mbps.

I just spent another 30 minutes with Netgear support. Although they won't specifically say it they allude to the laptop being the problem. And I think it has to be true. If it was functioning correct why at a public Wi-Fi spot would I only get 72Mbps? If it was my router then at a public spot I would think I would get at least the 145Mbps.

This is from the set up page. They claim this setting means it is Wireless N mode.

Bandwidth and throughput my friends. Your router can push out 300mbps but your modem may only get to 65mbps.

Wjvanderwende said:

Bandwidth and throughput my friends. Your router can push out 300mbps but your modem may only get to 65mbps.

If only. Wired connection shows 100Mbps as it should. It has to be the laptops's wireless card. Whether it is limited to 72Mbps or some other reason.