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Resolved Question

Does the router also control internet speed?

Dec 2, 2011 11:42AM PST

I have a wireless Netgear WGR614v5 router, 54Mbps which is approx 6 yrs old. I also have the high speed cable internet service that provides up to 10 Mbps DL speed. Since my router still works, is there any reason I should replace it or is it possible it degrades in speed as it ages? It just seems my internet speed isn't as fast as it used to be, that's why I was curious.

Thanks.

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Donna Hager has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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Yes, a router can affect your internet speed
Dec 9, 2011 12:01PM PST

There are many things that can affect your internet speed. For example, if you have a broadband cable ISP, this has a fixed pool of bandwidth that's determined by the infrastructure of fibre optic and copper cables that the ISP has installed. So, you might buy 12Mb/s downlink internet, and some times of the day when there isn't much usage, you might get 20+Mb/s. Other times of the day, like the evening, when everyone else is getting Netflix instant movies, or downloading other streaming video sources, your speed could go down 6Mb/s (these are just examples, but I've seen it happen at my house *smile*).

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Thank you Doh_1
Dec 9, 2011 10:47PM PST

I appreciate your detailed explanation & will also ck out the website too. Happy

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A router . . .
Dec 2, 2011 9:03PM PST

is a pass-through device. It has no effect on connect speed. If your speed has dropped I'd suggest you contact your provider.

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What's causing today's slower speeds?
Dec 3, 2011 1:46AM PST

The move to many using Netflix and other such services accounts for quite a bit of the internet traffic today. And yes it will make the internet slower.

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to Bob
Dec 3, 2011 3:39AM PST

I don't use Netflix or watch any movies online if you are referring to me being the one that in doing that might cause the internet speed to be slower. Or is it possible due to being on cable that people in my area using things like Netflix also affect "MT" internet speed as well? I remember reading years ago that if enough people in the area are using the cable for internet, it can affect the speed whereas that doesn't apply to the DSL speed.

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Sadly it applies to DSL speed too.
Dec 3, 2011 4:23AM PST

Unless one is limiting their access to the DSL provider, the "internet" accesses are affected. There are long nice articles about how this works and why the pipes are getting clogged.

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(NT) thanks Wayne (nt)
Dec 3, 2011 3:39AM PST
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Yes and No!
Dec 9, 2011 4:50PM PST

Given the setup you describe with an 802.11G Router (54 Mbps) on a 10 Mbps cable line, the router won't slow the traffic down, there is plenty of spare capacity. That's the "No" part.

The "Yes" part is a bit more complicated. Internally to your network, if you subscribed to a fast cable service, like the 100 Mbps or 200 Mbps offered by Virgin Media in the UK, then yes, a 54 Mbps will slow it down to 54 Mbps. You would need an N or N+ router (150 and 300 Mbps respectively) to get the full faster speed.

There is one other circumstance on a G router and that is where you add to the network an older device with a B (11 Mbps) Network Interface Card (NIC). Most G routers will slow the whole internal network down to 11 Mbps, including any G NICs on the network because they are single channel. But again, this shouldn't affect you with a 10 Mbps cable feed. Most N routers don't have this problem because they broadcast on multiple channels.

So internally, I don't think you have any problems, so unless your router breaks or you subscribe to a faster service, there isn't any real point in replacing it.

Externally, it's a whole different kettle of fish! DSL is by far the worst, all carriers implement the service by providing a high speed trunk to the distribution cabinet (sometimes called a Fat Pipe) and then multiplexing a number of users off it, In the UK for example, a consumer ADSL link will multiplex up to 50 users and a business link will multiplex up to 30 users. The speed will be variable, depending how many users are on and what they are doing. If you log on at say 3:00 am, it's likely there won't be much contention and you'll get nominal contracted speed, not usually more because the ISPs throttle it (USA may be different, I defer to the local guys). But if you log on when the kids get home from school and they are all Facebooking, twittering, or even, shock horror, doing homework, you will find the speed somewhat patchy. Similarly, when their parents get home from work! So pick your time if you are doing anything heavy.

Cable doesn't work the same way and different cable systems work differently. The Virgin Mobile system, for example, is susceptible to server load, rather than link load and their policy is (or was, when I was there) to add another server when the average load climbed above 70%. There was some load slowing but nothing like that on the more popular ADSL.

And the other major factor on the internet is who you are logging in to. The speed you see will depend on the end to end speed of your link, so if you log into a slow website, yes, your speed will be slower than if you log into a fast one. But assuming your usage pattern hasn't changed, that shouldn't be a huge factor.

And it remains to be seen what effect the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 will have. It "should" be better but if you have a router that doesn't suppost it natively or worse, your ISP doesn't, somewhere along the line, the IPv4 traffic will have to be tunnelled to IP v6 and vice versa. More processing "could" result in less speed - who knows?

Isn't it all wet string and cocoa tins, anyway <g>?

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Answer
(NT) Thanks for your insight Zouch (nt)
Dec 10, 2011 8:59AM PST