Best router for the 54g 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)?

I just bought a V2000z from Compaq...I'm experiencing slow connections with my old 11Mbps Belkin router and have decided to replace it...

Now, what would be the best router for my 54g 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster? What does SpeedBooster mean?

Thanks for the help!

 

I would get the WRT54GS from linksys. This router has speed booster, which increases data transfer between your computers/router by 35% (with the WRT54GS)

If you have any more questions, Please Ask away!

 

Ah, so that's what the SpeedBooster does...35% increase in speed...
Well, if you see one if this babies cheap, send it my way!

 

Yes, it will work. On this particular router, i know its a 35% boost from regular "G".

I would check newegg for a good deal on it


Click here for Newegg Deal

Click here for Amazon Deal

 

I too have a V2000z with the SpeedBoost option. I own a Dlink DI-624 wireless router and it supports a connection speed of 108Mbps. My laptop supports upto 54Mbps but has the SpeedBoost option. Can my laptop go any faster than 54Mbps even though I'm not using a SpeedBoost compatible router?

-Thanks

 

Sorry, but it cant unless you get a new internal wireless card

 

Best price I've seen on the WRT54GS is $60 at my local Sams Club. It's a v5 unit so don't plan on firmware modding.

-- Lew

 

There are still some good deals at Newegg or Amazon if your still wondering

 

I have the same router (WRT54G) but can't seem to get the wireless connection to work. The signal is strong but it won't assign an IP address. I've tried updating the drivers and turned off the firewalls but it still won't work.

I've tried configuring the adapter but I still can't get it to work (though I'm not sure how to configure it, so).

Any suggestions?

Edit: I should mention I have the DV8120CA with the 54g 802.11b/g WLAN With 125HSM/SpeedBooster.

 

Folk if your laptop is new call hp and mention the problem...I had to replace my internal wireless card because the old one wouldn't work...I haven't received the new card yet though.

 

My laptop also supports Speedbooster (aka 125HSM), but I've never seen anyone get confirmation that they are really transmitting at increased speeds. I bought a Buffalo router that supports Speedbooster and sat right next to the router to see if I could get "turbo speed". I didn't get any indication that I was transmitting files any faster. If you go to Broadcom's website, you'll see the companies that support Speedbooster. I believe they are Linksys, Belkin, Buffalo, and US Robotics (I think there are others).

I bought the Buffalo because it supported Speedbooster, but I'm not sure it actually does anything.

<edit>
I'm going to try some file transfers while I have WirelessMon ( http://www.passmark.com/products/wirelessmonitor.htm) running. That will give me the ability to track data rates on a graph, and then I can compare before and after. That should tell me once and for all if this Speedbooster actually works.
<edit>


Russ

 

Thanks for the comment...would you care to report back on your findings?

 

I did some quick tests last night to see if I could actually tell if Speedbooster was working. So far, I don't see any difference. Here's what I did.

I took my laptop into the same room with my router (about 4-5' distance, though I also moved them to where they were almost touching). I made sure that Speedbooster was enabled on the router and on my wireless card. I ran WirelessMonitor ( www.passmark.com) and then transferred a large video file from my desktop to my laptop. I tracked total data rate using WirelessMon and topped out at 1MBps (not megabits, but rather megabytes). My bandwidth was listed as 54mbsp. Next, I disabled Speedbooster in both my laptop and my desktop and moved another large video file. I got exactly the same results, 1MBps. I re-enabled Speedbooster and tried it again with the laptop practically touching the router, and didn't see any improvement. It topped out at 1MBps.

I also tried various security settings (for some reason, I didn't get it to connect without security - I do this later). The max rate stayed the same (1MBps) but I noticed that I had more momentary drops down to 100kBps. I believe this was just from the overhead of maintaining the security.

I plan to update my modem driver (just to make sure) and try these tests again using the various security modes. I'll take some screen shots to illustrate the results and post them here.

 

Tom's Networking ( http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2004/04/01/linksys_wrt54gs_wireless_wrt54gs/) tested the Linksys router with the associated Linksys PC Card and indeed found an increase in speed. However, they said you had to be so close to get that speed that it was practically moot.

The fact that they were able to do it means that either I don't know what I'm doing (likely), or there's an incompatibility between my built-in Broadcom adapter and my Buffalo router (not likely). I'll keep playing with it just to see if I can do it.

Again, though, I haven't really seen reports in the forums (fora) where someone definitively got it to work.

Russ

 

Thanks for the Repot Russ...I thought for some reason that the Speedbooster deal was a bunch of baloney...

A D-Link 524 is being delivered today...I'll try that (even though it has no SB) and if it works, I'll keep it and stop looking for a router...

 

I updated the driver on my laptop but then I had a hard time associating (connecting) to my router, and the speed really fluctuated. File transfer rates seemed the same as before (1MBps) as long as I had a reasonably strong signal. I fiddled with a few more settings on both the router and the laptop, but never saw any speed increase. I finally had to roll back to the earlier laptop driver since I couldn't even connect if I wasn't in the same room with the router. I guess for my knowledge and hardware combination, Speedbooster is a myth.

I may give HP and Buffalo a call, but I fully expect them to blame each other. Perhaps I can get Broadcom to help out.

Russ

 

Here's the latest....

I bought the matching Buffalo PC card for my router just to test it out. After finally getting it installed (took about 3 attempts and 2 system restores...NOT very elegant installation), I tried to connect. It acted like the my laptop previously did with the newer Broadcom driver where it took forever for it to connect/associate with the router. I thought this was strange since the card and router were supposedly a pair. Anyway, once I did get a connection, the Windows wireless icon in the system tray reported that I was connected at 125mbps! Woo hoo! The signal was stronger, too.

Now for the file transfer test. I loaded up Wireless Monitor and then found another large video file to transfer from my desktop to my laptop. Total data rate maxed out at 1MBps, the same as when I used my built-in wifi adapter. Even when I put the laptop literally right next to the router, it stayed around 1MBps. As if that's not enough, the transfer rate also fluctuated much more, so that the overall transfer rate was lower (though I don't have a measure of that). Just to double-check, I switched over to my built-in card, got an indication of being connected at 54mbps, and did the file transfer. It maxed out at around 1MBps, but it was less variable and stayed at or near 1MBps much more that with the Buffalo card.

Next I checked the signal strength to see if the Buffalo card was indeed stronger. I reconnected to my network using the Buffalo card (again, at 125mbps reported speed) and walked down the hall to my bedroom (which is a weak spot in the network). The signal was stronger and speed stayed a reported 125mbps. I did the file transfer test and this time the total data rate was fluctuating down around 100KBps, even though the signal strength and reported bandwidth stayed high. Switched over to my built-in card and got a weaker signal (as usual in the bedroom), and a reported connection bandwidth of 36mbps, sometimes even less. However, the file transfer data rate was around 500KBps and varied less, which was better than the Buffalo card. Strange indeed.

Tom's Networking reported similar results for the Buffalo pair, saying that the signal did vary some. ( http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2005/11/28/mimo_face/index.html) It's a good article worth reading as it compares several different "mimo" or "pre-n" collections for transmission speed and variability (or quality). I guess for my needs, I'll give up on Speedbooster and just be happy with my built-in adapter. It seems that even if the reported bandwidth is low or the signal strength is low, I can still get decent data transfer rates.

Russ