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The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => Routers / COVR => DIR-655 => Topic started by: joshuaz5 on July 23, 2009, 06:27:18 AM

Title: Little underwhelmed by dir-655 - Are there tips on config to improve throughput
Post by: joshuaz5 on July 23, 2009, 06:27:18 AM
Bought the DIR-655 to replace a 4-5 yr old linksys wrt54g router.  I was having some signal strength issues, and throughput wasn't all that great via wireless, and finally decided to make the leap.  Setup was a breeze, took me 5 min to run through GUI (skipped the install cd), and was up & running.

So... I set up one of my wireless laptops (g adapter), and signal strength & throughput didn't change, and actually seemed a little worse.  DSL reports testing showed about same throughput, so I am wondering if there are common settings I could change to improve it.  I've been through the forum & saw a few things, including:
1.  Disable DNS relay (seems counterintuitive, but a few reported it would basically have my ISP be DNS vs. the router being some sort of relay).
2.  Uncheck use unicasting (Not exactly sure what that is, but since my old linksys didn't have it, maybe I don't need it?)
3.  disable auto channel scan (I went through settings-> advanced & didn't see any options to tweak channels, mixed mode, g only, etc - but will try again tonight - maybe it is squirreled away elsewhere)

4.  Forcing wan port speed to 1000 MBPS, and setting connection type to xDSL (can't hurt to try).

Anyone else have suggestions on what has worked for them? 
thanks,
josh
Title: Re: Little underwhelmed by dir-655 - Are there tips on config to improve throughput
Post by: jdrom on July 23, 2009, 08:17:03 PM
I'm not sure forcing the WAN port to 1Gb is the wisest idea. I'd set it to match whatever your modem is, probably 100Mb.

Disabling DNS really has no difference, it just means on your PC, the DNS servers listed will be the actual ones, rather than the router masking the IPs of them.

And the wireless options your looking for are under Setup > Wireless Settings > Manual setup.
Title: Re: Little underwhelmed by dir-655 - Are there tips on config to improve throughput
Post by: claykin on July 23, 2009, 08:56:24 PM
What is your wireless client in your notebook?  Very important to make sure you have the current wifi driver.
Title: Re: Little underwhelmed by dir-655 - Are there tips on config to improve throughput
Post by: Demonized on July 25, 2009, 09:22:41 AM
1. Makes virtually no difference
2. Makes no difference too
3. Manually getting the best channel is advised (also check which channels are occupied by neighbours)
4. Setting WAN port to 1000 mbit will result in no connection with a 100 mbit modem. Choosing xDSL will only influence QoS when you really have DSL

Suggestions: get the latest wireless drivers, set your antenna's right




Title: Re: Little underwhelmed by dir-655 - Are there tips on config to improve throughput
Post by: joshuaz5 on July 28, 2009, 06:46:33 AM
Thanks for everyone's feedback.  I have continued to tinker & adjust, based on some of the suggestions below.  The good news is that it has been pretty reliable, no drops, etc, but just not seeing the signal strength I was hoping for. 

I think for now I'm going to try to update the wireless driver, the laptop is about 3 yrs old, and drivers about 1 yr old (Sep 2008).  I've got another week or so before I have to decide to ship back to amazon - since I only have G adapters on my various laptops, my DSL (2,600 kb up/ 800kb down), I'm not really getting benefit of extra capacity.  I'm going to research n adapters, & see if I can pick one up for cheap, to justify :-) the router purchase & get extra bang for buck.

I did orient the antennas per the box suggestion - about 30 degree tilted left/right, and center one vertical.  Thanks again for everyone's help.