Need help with a WRT54G2 router

jhr76 · Post by **jhr76** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:05 am

Hi. I recently bought a Linksys WRT54G2 wireless router to be able to have my new Playstation 3 connected to the internet since it´s on a different room than my computer. Ever since my network performance has decreased even if the PS3 is off (or not using the internet). My computer (Windows XP Home SP3 fully updated) is connected thru an ethernet cable and is virus and spyware free. Since installing this router most of the time my browsing is extremely slow and so are my P2P downloads. uTorrent will say that there are no incoming communications and it´s port checking utility will say that the port is closed even though I have forwarded ALL ports. Nothing else has changed as for as my computer´s configuration (my firewall, Sygate Personal Firewall Pro is configured as it´s always been). All I want from this router is for it to allow my PS3 wireless access to the internet and to allow my computer a direct connection to the web, I don´t want it to filter or block anything. I have tried disabling the security features from the advanced settings page (and BTW this router does NOT have a "disable firewall" checkbox like the manual states), I tried the DMZ, etc, but to no avail. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:05 pm

Is the wireless secured? If not, some neighbor could be leaching from your connection.

Powercycle the router, ensure your torrent/p2p stuff is completely turned off....and eyeball its performance over time...does it still slow down?

jhr76 · Post by **jhr76** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:58 pm

Hi. The wireless is secured (with WPA2 I believe) and what do you mean exactly by "powercycle" the router? If by that you mean shutting down all power I do that all the time since my computer is not on 24x7.

Post by **Philip** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:03 pm

He meant to shut down the router and restart it.

Newer hardware works better with WPA2 than WEP performance-wize in my experience...

Generally, the wrt54g2 can handle over 40Mbps of traffic in both directions simultaneously, so it shouldn't be hardware issue.

Are the router and your cable/dsl modem separated at least a foot apart ?
Have you tried online speed tests, tracert and note ping times ?

Another venue to explore would be to change the wireless channel to a less congested one.

jhr76 · Post by **jhr76** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:40 pm

The cable modem (Scientific Atlanta 2000 series I think, what my ISP gave me, never had a problem with it) are probably not a foot apart (I´m from Argentina so I think in centimeters, they must be at maybe 40 centimeters or so apart) but I don´t have the room to place them further apart.
The speed issue is only on my computer which connects thru the ethernet port, so the wireless channel should have nothing to do with it, right?
I tried pinging Yahoo several times when browsing was very slow or not working and I did not get any lost packages, but I do not remember the average times (and I don´t know what would be considered acceptable for a 3 Mb cable connection)
Also, what would cause the message about not receiving any incoming connections on uTorrent if not some of the router´s security features? Speeds are really slow lately (with some exceptions) but I am getting like 2kb/s on torrents with over 10 thousand seeders (Bleach anime episodes) where it should be going at at least 100+ kb/s

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:22 pm

jhr76 wrote: but I am getting like 2kb/s on torrents with over 10 thousand seeders (Bleach anime episodes)

Bingo!

jhr76 · Post by **jhr76** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:30 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Bingo!

What?