Linksys Router Speed Losses

[robb]

I have a Linksys BEFW11S4 v.3 (with firmware 1.45), and I am having some speed problems that I was hoping someone here could help with.

I upgraded this week to the new SBC speed packages, and I have noticed some very erratic results in speed tests. It became clear that I was getting very different wired/wireless results, so, yesterday I ran 4 trials to see if I could narrow down where I might be losing speed.

In each trial, I tested my speed in each of three configurations. WR - Wireless through Router, CR - Cabled through router, CM - Cabled direct to modem. I cycled both the router and the DSL modem between each individual test. The DSL modem is a Speedstream 5360. The Wireless connections were made within 6 feet of the router.

My results were:
1 - WR 3385, CR 4669, CM 4801
2 - WR 3491, CR 2292, CM 4630
3 - WR 3400, CR 3586, CM 4602
4 - WR 3093, CR 4500, CM 4789

Avg WR 3342, CR 3762, CM 4706

It would appear that my router is losing 17% of my bandwidth, and using the wireless drops another 9%, so I'm missing out on over a quarter of my available bandwidth.

Oddly enough, upload speeds were very consistent, with only two tests of twelve outside of 492-500.

Any experts have an idea as to where I should start trying to solve this problem? I know it's terrbily spoiled of me to not be happy with 3300 kbps downstream, but when you know 4700 kbps is mine for the taking, you understand!

Thanks for your help!

[Addict]

Honestly those results don't seem to erratic. You'll always have variations in online speed tests.

As for your wireless losing another 9%, you should expect that it won't perform as good as the wired. Wireless will have more latency by design. This is especially true if you have your WEP keys enabled (like you should).

[robb]

By erratic, I simply meant that I was sometimes seeing almost 5 Mbps, and sometimes 3 Mbps, which certainly is erratic! It was later that I realized it wasn't erratic, but seemed to be related to how I was connected.

Therefore, I ran the above tests just to confirm that the results were based on connection method, and to quantify how much speed I was losing from the router and from the iwreless.

The complaint/question is about how can I maximize my speed, as I am surfing at around 1.5 Mbps slower than I "could be." I'm losing a T1's worth of speed! Should I honesly expect to lose this much speed from the router and from the wifi?