How much will a wireless router increase my speed by?

Question

I was thinking of buying one, as my TalkTalk broadband is only 2.3mbp/s at the moment, and I was promised 8mbp/s.
Any ideas how to increase the speed without a wireless router?

Answer 1

They are correct- having a faster wireless router would not matter. Your speed is limited by the slowest link in the chain.

If your broadband connection is 2.3 mbps, then that's the maximum speed at which you can communicate over the Internet (and your upstream is probably slower) It doesn't matter if you're running gigabit ethernet in your house.

Local connections between machines on your home network- those go at whatever speed your switch/network card allows. So if you've got a gigabit switch, a server with a 100mb network card, and some old computer with a 10mb card, then file transfers would occur at 10mb, since the computer can't send/receive data any faster.

Answer 2

It really depends on the speed that your ISP is giving you; depending on what you are using DSL, Cable etc. DSL is normally slower then Cable but if you live in an area that has high Cable Internet usage then that will slow your speeds. The router will ensure that the data is transmitting as fast as possible to the other computers that you are sharing your Internet with; but if the speed that you're getting from your service provider is slow then nothing will help you. You can call them and ask them what maximum speeds are set for you and see if there are any higher speeds available. Also, make sure to set up your router with a password and limit the number of computers that can access it. If you don't protect it you will have other people hacking in and sharing your bandwidth; which will slow you down further.

Answer 3

A wireless router will not increase you speed. It is up to your service provider to increase your speed. Going from a wired router to a wireless one will not make an improvement in speed. If anything, with the wireless router you might even have a slower speed depending on the strength and quality of the broadcastered signal.

Answer 4

as above, a wirless router cannot increase your speed.

on talk talk, you are relying on the BT connection.
generally, between your house and the exchange, this means you are going through old fashioned copper wire network, designed for telephone circuits.
the further away from the exchange, the worse your connection speed will become.
the only way you will ever get 8 mbps, on an 8mbps connection, is:
1) live right next door to the local telephone exchange
or,
2) get connected via (fibre optic) cable from telewest or virgin media

Answer 5

if you are thinking of using a router then the linskys n giblet router and storage link wrtn350n is going to be a good choice. It will not increase your speed that comes from your service provider but the above item is a sound choice.

Answer 6

speed doesnt increase by getting a wireless router.
your connection is set by your isp (internet service provider)
no way to increase your connection speed unless u get a bigger connection. wireless routers dont really limit your connection either but file transfers it might deppending on what router u have, most routers are 56mbps transfer.
most computers these days are at least 100mbps

Answer 7

It won't make a difference, its the upstream line speed, the words 'up to 8Meg' say it all, you basically get what you pay for, you may get 8Meg if you go on at 4am when your neighbours are all in bed, its standard industry practice among ISP's to oversubscribe and underprovision, if its free this will be even worse.

Answer 8

The router won;t make any differnce. The speed is determined by your line and how far from the excahange you are.

Answer 9

If your now on adsl2 (8mb) then invest in an adsl2 router to get the full benefit.

It may be a line issue that you're getting 2.3mb, I had/have the same problem with my 'service' provider :-(

Answer 10

Call your ISP and have them do some tests.
A router is not the answer.
Remember your ISP more than likely said "Up to 8M".