Can't get more than 65Mbps

My foray into networking/wireless has been fraught with problems. For this thread I will focus on why I can't get better than 65Mbps speed when my laptop is connected wirelessly.

Laptop is new, has 802.11n. Router is new (Netgear N300). In theory I should be able to achieve 300 Mbps. I understand what effects speed but I know there is a problem.

If I have the laptop literally on top of the router it still never registers higher than 65Mbps. I know about interference...have no wireless phones in the house on the same frequency. I know about neighboring networks effecting speed, but shouldn't I occasionally be able to see higher speeds?

There are lots of settings on the adapter card and I have fiddled a bit to no avail. There are also settings for the router. Essentially it is at default which should allow "up to 150Mbps".

My desktop which is connected wired also has wireless. So to see how it would perform I enabled wireless and it did 72Mbps and it is literally an inch away from the router.

So knowing that neither computer can approach 150Mbps what does that tell me? Bad router?

I'm about ready to return everything.

bru said:

My foray into networking/wireless has been fraught with problems. For this thread I will focus on why I can't get better than 65Mbps speed when my laptop is connected wirelessly.

Laptop is new, has 802.11n. Router is new (Netgear N300). In theory I should be able to achieve 300 Mbps. I understand what effects speed but I know there is a problem.

If I have the laptop literally on top of the router it still never registers higher than 65Mbps. I know about interference...have no wireless phones in the house on the same frequency. I know about neighboring networks effecting speed, but shouldn't I occasionally be able to see higher speeds?

There are lots of settings on the adapter card and I have fiddled a bit to no avail. There are also settings for the router. Essentially it is at default which should allow "up to 150Mbps".

My desktop which is connected wired also has wireless. So to see how it would perform I enabled wireless and it did 72Mbps and it is literally an inch away from the router.

So knowing that neither computer can approach 150Mbps what does that tell me? Bad router?

I'm about ready to return everything.

In order to achieve 300Mbps with 802.11n you need to set the router to use the 802.11n Only setting, the mixed settings won't work for the higher speeds because wireless N needs to slow down in order to work with other slower standards like G,B or A. The N Only setting will only work if all clients are using wireless N.

You will also need to use WPA2 security with AES encryption as both of these are made to work at wireless N speeds.

It can also be the wireless adapter(s) themselves. My wife has a laptop with a Broadcom wireless N in it and it can only do 65 Mbps as well, due to a limitation of the chip.

From what I could find from looking into it a year ago is that it looks like there is a surplus of these Broadcom chips (that are more like early draft N, than full spec N), and quite a few laptop manufacturers are still using them and advertising N speed wireless, without being able to achieve full N speed.

stormy13 said:

It can also be the wireless adapter(s) themselves. My wife has a laptop with a Broadcom wireless N in it and it can only do 65 Mbps as well, due to a limitation of the chip.

From what I could find from looking into it a year ago is that it looks like there is a surplus of these Broadcom chips (that are more like early draft N, than full spec N), and quite a few laptop manufacturers are still using them and advertising N speed wireless, without being able to achieve full N speed.

Do you have any links? I can't even find a model number for my Broadcom adapter, it just says Broadcom 802.11n. But I think I have to agree with you because I have tried everything. I have set everything on the router as it should be including security to WPA2-[AES]. I can't actually find the specific setting but I'm pretty sure the router is already set for n, not mixed.

Funny thing is this laptop replaced one I returned because I wanted a better CPU. But apparently I got an inferior wireless adapter. The other laptop had an Atheros adapter. I never specifically looked into its speed but this Broadcom also get worse reception than the Atheros did so I bet the Atheros will have better speed.

The manufacturer uses a variety of adapters so maybe I could exchange and get lucky and get an Atheros or I could just go back to the Laptop with the lower CPU if it means better wireless performance.

No links at the moment. I think all I used was the DevID and/or ProdID (can find it through Device Manage to search for it.

The manufacturer uses a variety of adapters so maybe I could exchange and get lucky and get an Atheros or I could just go back to the Laptop with the lower CPU if it means better wireless performance.

Only possible if the chip isn't soldered to the motherboard.

The manufacturer shows drivers for three wireless adapters. So that would also mean three different motherboards too? Seems like a lot of components. My thought was that either of the three adapters could be used depending on what they had on hand. I think the other laptop I originally had with the lower end processor that had the Atheros was the same motherboard as this one.

Regardless, I went to a public Wi-Fi location and was able to get 72Mbps. So that rules out 65 max. Signal was still not great and certainly did not get 150 or 300. I am leaning toward an antenna issue. Or just a cheap wireless card. Right now I am outside my house and I only get two bars for signal strength. Speed is 39Mbps and fluctuating. Can't live with that.

BTW the computer support told me it was 300Mbps capable. Also that the adapter was new, Broadcom Foxconn 43227. Couldn't find a lot of info about it. I think they are full of BS.

Theoretical speeds and Real world speeds are two different things. If all of your devices run off 802.11 N wireless cards, make sure your router is set to N, like Chev65 said. Also, depending on your wireless router and how many channels it has.......75Mbps might be your cap.

The router is "up to 300Mbps". The computer mfg says my wireless card (802.11n) is capable of 300Mbps. So how can I be capped?

As for setting the router to N. I see no setting for this. I assume it is set for N by default. But maybe that is wrong.

Does anyone have a Netgear and use Netgear Genie interface? I think the settings are similar for most of their consumer routers.

Do you know if you have any other wireless devices that have an older standard, such as 802.11 G for example? And just because it is "capable" in no way means that is what you will get. It is just saying that is the maximum you can get if you have no other restrictions. Check this out for a quick run down on Wireless N......

802.11n Speed - How Can I Get an 802.11n Wi-Fi Speed Rating of 300 Mbps?

If your router isn't a dual band router, Wireless N will be affected by appliances in and around the home. If anything is not working correctly, I would think it would be the wireless card in your laptop before the router. Just out of curiosity, what is it that you can't do with your laptop because of it connecting at 65Mbps?