A question of Speed vs Bandwidth

[AstaLaVista]

Can someone playing online take away all my bandwidth?

I have Comcast 16 Mbps broadband, I have a D-Link DIR-655 wireless-n router, my computer dual boots with Vista + win 7 x64 Ultimate, my kids PC use XP, one has a wireless-G PCI card and the other one a wireless-B usb hub.

My pc, the Xbox 360 and Brother Networkd printer are the only peripherals wired to the router

Well, the kid with the Wireless-G card is the one that plays World of Warcraft online and it seems that at times, my online experience just crawls to a slow halt... just a few minutes ago I was responding to another post and after hitting the submit button, the screen just stood there like if it was thinking and I literally had to close down the browser, open up a new one for my reply to show up.

Can it be him draining all my bandwidth or should I be looking at an outsider hacking it?

The wireless is secured with a WAP password so I would say I am very secured but the D-Link is new to me so I can't navigate like I used to do with the Linksys. I am sure that a password is needed because my other kid has an i-Touch that it requires him to enter a password to use the wi-fi.

After they go to sleep, I will do a speed test and post it here, at the moment, I barely got to 6MBPS Down and .89 up. I am usually at 12 to 16 down and 2 to 3 up. The test can be deceiving though.

I am not a PC guru but I know my way around computers and I can follow directions fairly well. Any help, hint or guide would be appreciated.

 

[ccatlett1984]

playing wow can use a ton of your bandwidth, you can enable QoS and throttle down the amount of your bandwidth that your son is using.

 

[Antman]

You can log into your router (192.168.1.1 in some cases) and check 'attached 'devices' and account for the connections. Not a bad idea to check, probably only wild geese though.

Sometimes, power cycling your cable modem and router will correct throughput issues.

Sometimes, simply unplugging and re-plugging your LAN cord can correct throughput issues.

ccatlett1984 is correct, but you need to do that on the son's machine.

 

[AstaLaVista]

playing wow can use a ton of your bandwidth, you can enable QoS and throttle down the amount of your bandwidth that your son is using.

WOW, thanks for the fast response. Now, I don't suppose you want to tell me how I go about setting up the QoS to throttle the speed down? I googled it but I got more confused than before

 

[ccatlett1984]

what version of windows is your son's computer running? and do you have admin rights on his computer?

 

[AstaLaVista]

what version of windows is your son's computer running? and do you have admin rights on his computer?

XP Pro w/SP3 and I am the sole admin on all the computers at my house.

 

[H2SO4]

what version of windows is your son's computer running? and do you have admin rights on his computer?

XP Pro w/SP3 and I am the sole admin on all the computers at my house.

This is a decent solution for hobbling XP's network throughput. It is easier to configure and administer than XP's inchoate QoS implementation. I don't own shares

NetLimiter - The Ultimate Bandwidth Shaper

 

[MrMephitis]

Does not sound like a bandwidth issue to me if you still have .83 meg upload, I run at less than that as a matter of course here in rural SW UK and have no issues posting to forums.

 

[Kari]

To check which computers are connected to your router, log in to the router's web interface. Address is in your case http://192.168.0.1, by default username is admin and there's no password. If still using these defaults, please add a password to eliminate the possibility of outsiders logging in to your router to change settings.

DHCP Client List (i.e which computers/devices are connected to the router) is in SETUP > Network Settings, last at the bottom of the page.

Check out if WISH (Wireless Intelligent Stream Handling) is something for you. You find it on web interface choosing ADVANCED > WISH. You can use WISH to prioritize the traffic of certain applications.

Check OpenDNS, I believe with all the computers in your household you are one of those users who could really benefit of using OpenDNS. Though the service is free and there's no need to register, only registering gives you the full control.

Kari