Old router: Netgear WGR614v6
New Router: D-Link DIR-615
USB Adapter (wireless computer) : Netgear WG111v2
Symptoms/explanation/story:
Old router's speeds on a computer connected wirelessly, my computer (router is wired to roommates PC), used to always score around 4500 kb/'s download, while this new one seems to be completely all over the place (I've gotten scores far higher than I ever did on my old one with my new router, but also really random low scores too e.g. 1100-1800 kb/s etc).. and also, via my usb adapter's program thing the speed of the connection is COMPLETELY all over the place, there seems to be NO stability at all (anywhere from 11 mb/s to the full 54 mb/s but mostly either 18 mb/s, 24 mb/s or 48 mb/s).
Now.. questions:
Does the adapter's speed's reading (the 11-54 mb/s stuff in the usb adapter's program) even matter as long as it stays above the speed that my internet provides to me (if my internet 6 mb/s does it matter if the lowest the meter goes on the adapter's program is 11 mb/s?)? Regardless of whether the adapters' program meter matters, what's with the extreme VARIABILITY of my speed tests (all done with dslreports.com) and therefore my actual internet speed?
And also.. regarding youtube videos: On the old router, the videos would fully load as fast as they could I imagine, but on the new router it'll load fast for like 2-3 seconds then it'll completely halt loading, then a second later it'll resume loading but the loading is much slower than the initial burst of loading it does for every youtube video I go to.
What? Considering this happens for every single video, it leads me to believe that this is intentional, that there is some kind of control/choke going on? Is this right? If so, how do I turn this off? More reason why I don't think this is just due to the router being crap as in connection dropping is because it has never/yet to interfere with my video watching - the loading progress bar will always stay ahead of the progress of the video watching, making me think there has to be some kind of intentional control going on.
I'm also aware that you can't presumably maintain the top speed of a download for eternity (when you initially start downloading something the speed will be astronomical whereas as the download goes on it'll level out somewhere), but the old router was able to load yotube videos full speed without having any kind of choke/control halt then major slowdown thing, so?
Ethernet cable Q: We had to buy a 7ft ethernet cable because the one that came with our new router, 3 ft., was not enough. This 7ft ethernet cable cost $23. I don't know if there are a lot of rip-offs on ethernet cables, but a few months ago I was buying a new TV and discovered the issue of overpricing on HDMI cables, so I thought maybe there was a similar scam going on with ethernet cables. How much do ethernet cables cost on average (7 ft.)/where can I get some cheap ones if cheaper ones exist?
End: I did not set up our previous router, it was set up for us, but I did set up this one. I don't imagine I could have screwed anything up though because all I did was plug in the cords where they're supposed to go, reboot the computer and it worked (didn't use the installation CD) and then configured the channel, SSID, and security for the wireless.
New Router: D-Link DIR-615
USB Adapter (wireless computer) : Netgear WG111v2
Symptoms/explanation/story:
Old router's speeds on a computer connected wirelessly, my computer (router is wired to roommates PC), used to always score around 4500 kb/'s download, while this new one seems to be completely all over the place (I've gotten scores far higher than I ever did on my old one with my new router, but also really random low scores too e.g. 1100-1800 kb/s etc).. and also, via my usb adapter's program thing the speed of the connection is COMPLETELY all over the place, there seems to be NO stability at all (anywhere from 11 mb/s to the full 54 mb/s but mostly either 18 mb/s, 24 mb/s or 48 mb/s).
Now.. questions:
Does the adapter's speed's reading (the 11-54 mb/s stuff in the usb adapter's program) even matter as long as it stays above the speed that my internet provides to me (if my internet 6 mb/s does it matter if the lowest the meter goes on the adapter's program is 11 mb/s?)? Regardless of whether the adapters' program meter matters, what's with the extreme VARIABILITY of my speed tests (all done with dslreports.com) and therefore my actual internet speed?
And also.. regarding youtube videos: On the old router, the videos would fully load as fast as they could I imagine, but on the new router it'll load fast for like 2-3 seconds then it'll completely halt loading, then a second later it'll resume loading but the loading is much slower than the initial burst of loading it does for every youtube video I go to.
What? Considering this happens for every single video, it leads me to believe that this is intentional, that there is some kind of control/choke going on? Is this right? If so, how do I turn this off? More reason why I don't think this is just due to the router being crap as in connection dropping is because it has never/yet to interfere with my video watching - the loading progress bar will always stay ahead of the progress of the video watching, making me think there has to be some kind of intentional control going on.
I'm also aware that you can't presumably maintain the top speed of a download for eternity (when you initially start downloading something the speed will be astronomical whereas as the download goes on it'll level out somewhere), but the old router was able to load yotube videos full speed without having any kind of choke/control halt then major slowdown thing, so?
Ethernet cable Q: We had to buy a 7ft ethernet cable because the one that came with our new router, 3 ft., was not enough. This 7ft ethernet cable cost $23. I don't know if there are a lot of rip-offs on ethernet cables, but a few months ago I was buying a new TV and discovered the issue of overpricing on HDMI cables, so I thought maybe there was a similar scam going on with ethernet cables. How much do ethernet cables cost on average (7 ft.)/where can I get some cheap ones if cheaper ones exist?
End: I did not set up our previous router, it was set up for us, but I did set up this one. I don't imagine I could have screwed anything up though because all I did was plug in the cords where they're supposed to go, reboot the computer and it worked (didn't use the installation CD) and then configured the channel, SSID, and security for the wireless.
I heard of monoprice back in my hdmi cable search but didn't know they sold ethernet cables as well. $23 was no big deal (since it's virtually a one-time purchase), but the penny-pincher in me wants to get the best deal always, so this is great. 