Router setting help

[BaconBreadBaker]

Any suggestions on router settings to improve network speed?

I have a relatively recent Cisco E4200 router and a 500M connection. The router seems to be dumbing down the connection.

If I connect computer directly to modem and use the netvigator speed test, I am getting close to advertised speed - 475Mbps. However if I connect through my router the speed drops to about 125Mbps.

I would leave it with computer (Mac) plugged into modem directly, but then I can not for the life of me figure out how to get my wifi devices (other macs, iPhones, etc) to see the computer.

So, any ideas of what I should be looking for in the router to get the throughput closer to the 500 mark?

[pin]

what cat cable are you using to connect modem to router and router to computer (are you checking router speeds via wifi or lan actually)?

[BaconBreadBaker]

speeds are all being checked via the LAN directly, whether through modem or through router.
I have Cat.5e between modem and router, and a Cat.6 between router and computer.

[jgl]

I'm not a networks guy so this is a stab in the dark, but you might check your MTU size in case it's been set to small for some odd reason and causing fragmentation (iirc it usually defaults to ~1492 which I've found to be safe)

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/5793

Another thing you might look at is CPU and memory utilisation via your admin interface.

I've recently noticed that putting home routers inline between connections drastically slows down LAN connections for certain protocols, but I would have assumed that they'd be pretty safe when connecting a LAN to a much comparatively internet connection.

Have you confirmed that the problem is not the Cat 6 cable? In my experience, cables are the prime culprit behind the vast majority of computer problems.

[BaconBreadBaker]

my MTU is at default, 1400.
Dont know how to check CPU/Memory allocation on the router, but I know the computer (MacPro is fine at 8GB).
I will pick up a new Cat.6 for testing.

Wasnt sure if there is also some settings to look at on router to ensure its performing at maximum speed.

[jgl]

Off memory that's smaller than what my router defaults to. Try bumping it up as a quick test?

Google MTU and Apple... looks like a fair number of people have run into problems caused by incorrect MTU size (I am still almost blind guessing though so don't fixate on this too much).

Some routers will give you system stats if you browse in via the admin interface. I am not sure if Cisco/Linksys do this. The amount of RAM on the Mac isn't relevant here.

And definitely check the cable (though cat 5e vs 6 doesn't matter)

[HK2A430]

I wonder if this might be the issue:

http://www.ads-links.com/index.php/s...oad-speed.html

This post mentions upstream speed only, but perhaps there is also a downstream setting. Of course, sometimes it could be something simple like messed up ports, so in addition to suggestions above I'd try a different port on the router as well as a new cable. Good luck.

[Rob2020]

One tip here, no matter the port speed of your router, e.g. 100M, 1000M, the throughput speed will be largely determined by the CPU of the router itself.
Easiest way to determine the max throughput of your router will be to have two PC's (with good CPU's and network cards). Transfer a large file from PC to PC and monitor the speed.

I have PCCW 1000M, the modem has several ports and I connect it as such:
1. Desktop PC with 1000M network, allows me to get super high speeds from the Internet
2. Wifi router
3. now tv box

Unless you're buying a very expensive router that is rated to process at gigabit speeds, the "gigabit port" is just marketing bs

[MrMoo]

Gigabit routers are normally incredibly expensive, but as ASICs improve the cost lowers. Check out the PCM and small net builder reviews for real world performance and see if you can find the device.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwa...er-charts/view

The Linksys E4200 is listed at 686mbs, I would guess you have a cat 5 cable and not a cat 5e or cat 6. At least it isn't a cat 3 cable.

[Gruntfuttock]

Check also that the router isn't configured to do anything else other than routing which might consume a load of cpu resource (eg any "security" stuff that involves inspecting packets).