E4200 - very low wireless throughput with WMM activated [ Edited ]

[yo8saw]

Hello,

I've been experiencing some problems with my E4200 when connected via wi-fi, with WMM activated. But, to start from the beginning:

- My ISP connection is rated at 50 mb/s download;

- I test my internet speeds on speedtest.net, on 4 different servers across Europe, twice on every one;

- All wireless tests are performed on a laptop with an Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 adapter, at a distance of about 1 (one) meter from the router, with no other objects between them;

- When I connect my laptop via an ethernet cable to the E4200, the download speeds are normal, consistent on all servers I test on - about 47-48 mb/s;

- Transferring some large files from a desktop computer (connected via an ethernet cable at 1Gbps) to my wi-fi connected laptop, I get about 11-12 MB/s on 2.4GHz, so that's pretty good;

- Tests conducted on speedtest.net, as mentioned above, result in very poor performance on wireless: 2-3 mb/s, when WMM is activated. The poor performance affects both 2.4 and 5GHz bands;

- Tests on speedtest.net on both the desktop and the laptop (with the ethernet cable connected, wifi adapter disabled) give normal results, as stated above: 47-48 mb/s;

- Disabling WMM results in an increase of download throughput, to about 27-30 mb/s, but the link drops to 11g mode (54 mb/s), as this is the normal behavior for any 11n certified device;

- Tested with both WPA2 Personal and with no encryption, on 2.4 and 5 GHz, and the results are the same;

- Enabling WMM on the network adapter of the laptop didn't help;

- Changing channels and/or channel width did not help, neither on 2.4, nor on 5 GHz - the area I'm in is quiet in this regard - no other wireless networks detected by inSSIDer;

- Upgraded firmware to Ver.1.0.02 (Build 13) and repeated all tests (took a few long hours); same results.

I'm guessing that the speeds I get with WMM disabled are about all I can get on an 11g link.

Has anyone else noticed any correlation between WMM and decreased throughput on wireless? Any tips or tweaks I could try? It's frustrating, having an 11n certified router, and having it drop to 11g speeds just because of WMM.

I would appreciate any insights, as I am out of ideas. Thanks in advance;

Bogdan

[yo8saw]

Anyone?

[SPAWN_06]

Try setting your Beacon Interval to 50, Set Fragmentation Threshold and RTS Threshold to 2304 under Wireless > Advanced Wireless. Save the settings. Reboot your router by unplugging it and plugging it back in.

[yo8saw]

The 'Advanced Wireless' tab is not available in my router's configuration interface. As far as I know, the firmware of the E4200 does not allow changing those settings.

[sabretooth]

Manually type http://192.168.1.1/Wireless_Advanced.asp and the Advanced Wireless Settings tab appears.

[yo8saw]

I eventually found the page in question, just as sabretooth suggested. Unfortunately, setting the Fragmentation Threshold and RTS Threshold to 2304 and the Beacon Interval to 50, did not help. The results I get are roughly the same as before. I tried changing them slightly above and below 2304, but to no avail. From what I understand, the fragmentation is useful on busy networks, or on weak links, right? Neither of these is the case.

[Corleone]

You have already tried to upgrade the firmware on your router.

Did you reset the router after upgrading the firmware?

After upgrading the firmware on your router, it is recommended that you should reset the router and reconfigure it. Press and hold the reset button on the router for 30 seconds. Release the reset button and wait for 30 seconds. Power cycle the router and reconfigure it.

[yo8saw]

Yes, I did reset the router, and reconfigured from scratch. Nothing I've tried so far seems to increase the speeds on wireless. The only significant and consistent differences in speed appear when I disable WMM. At the moment, I'm absolutely clueless about how to proceed. 

[yo8saw]

Does anyone else experience these problems, or is it just me?

[castor]

Open the set up page of the router ...

Set the wireless security as WPA2 personal .and set the channel width as auto ....

Then unplug the power from the modem and the router and see if that helps.