Here's a strange one....

I'm with o2 broadband premium, and have the wireless box II. I've just been testing a Plexus Wireless access point (WAP) (�17.50 from ebuyer!). To test it I connected it via ethernet to the wireless box II and to my amazement, when I connect wirelessly to the WAP I get a 3mbps improvement over the connection I get to the o2 wireless box II.

Can anyone think why this cheap bit of hardware is outperforming the o2 Wireless router? I have tinkered with channel settings, switched between 802.11b/g, and I can't for the life of me work out why my o2 router is slowing down my connection.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Bump!

Any help greatly appreciated.

I'm not clear what is connected to what during the two scenarios. Perhaps you could clarify which pieces of kit are connected, how they are connected, and how you are pumping data through the system, in each case?

Hi John

I have an O2 wireless router II, and into the ethernet socket I have also connected a Plexus wireless access point (because I'm testing it before I take it over to slovenia and set it up for g/f's dad).

In both cases I am connecting wirelessly via my macbook.
What I am finding is that when I connect to the Wireless O2 router I get 10mbps, but when I connect via the Wireless Access Point I connect at 13mbps and it is noticably quicker.

Is there anything I can do to the O2 router to make it perform as well as the Plexus?

Thanks that is clearer.

When you say connect at 10Mbps/13Mbps do you mean that doing a speed test gives those speeds?

It seems that the Plexus WAP has better network software. I don't know of anything you can do to improve the router's wireless performance.

Hi, just a guess but it may be related to the chipsets in the wireless, if the mac and plexus use the same manufacturer, then often they communicate with eachother more seamlessly, or if they are different, the plexus and mac just may be better at talking to eachother.

Alternatively it could be something like a better designed circuit board generating less RF interferance perhaps, the fact that the o2 box has to handle adsl which generates RF as well, may be impacting upon performance.

It could also come down to things like antennas, are the o2 box's antennas internal? does the plexus have an external antenna?

As well as lastly, the firmware that controls the wireless in the plexus may just be better written or they use a newer generation of chip that processes wireless instruction faster.

If connecting at 10Mbps to 13Mbps they this suggests a lot of stuff in the way, and antenna design comes into play at this point.

One wireless channel may be shared with neighbours which can also slow things down.