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How I doubled my Internet speed with OpenWRT

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Re: How I doubled my Internet speed with OpenWRT

#71

Post by quanium1337 »

getsat wrote: post #58
andrewhillman wrote: post #47

I just had comcast to my home last week. I pay for 120 mbps but when connected via cat 5 it only reached 90 max mbps which would fine considering when using a wifi router it only reaches around 30 mbps. I have moved around the wifi router but it doesn't make much of a difference. The technician told me the 120 mbps that I am being charged for is for for direct access and wifi won't reach 120mbps. I complained to cust…

Cat5 has a max throughput of 100mbps. 802.11g wifi (probably what you're using) has a max throughput of 54mbps. Either buy a Cat5e/Cat6 cable or change your wifi access point to use 802.11n. I am connected to my 2007 Airport Extreme at 300mbps right now using 802.11n.

Cat5 is suitable even for 1000BASE-T (Gigabit), although at that speed it's just not as good as Cat5e [1]. But it should be enough to handle 120mbps.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable

Re: How I doubled my Internet speed with OpenWRT

#72

Post by simple10 »

chatmasta wrote: post #46

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this in the thread but you can actually opt out of the xfinitiwifi thing. The deal is that you can use any of the hotspots if you have a comcast account and also share your router. If you opt out, you can no longer use the xfinitiwifi hotspots but nobody can use yours either.

I've successfully disabled xfinity wifi on my router. You have to do it through your comcast.com account instead of through the router admin. After updating your account, Comcast will remote disable the xfinity wifi on the router.

http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/disabl...

Re: How I doubled my Internet speed with OpenWRT

#73

Post by seanp2k2 »

getsat wrote: post #58
andrewhillman wrote: post #47

I just had comcast to my home last week. I pay for 120 mbps but when connected via cat 5 it only reached 90 max mbps which would fine considering when using a wifi router it only reaches around 30 mbps. I have moved around the wifi router but it doesn't make much of a difference. The technician told me the 120 mbps that I am being charged for is for for direct access and wifi won't reach 120mbps. I complained to cust…

Cat5 has a max throughput of 100mbps. 802.11g wifi (probably what you're using) has a max throughput of 54mbps. Either buy a Cat5e/Cat6 cable or change your wifi access point to use 802.11n. I am connected to my 2007 Airport Extreme at 300mbps right now using 802.11n.

Any old cat5 can handle 1000BASE-T. 1000BASE-TX uses 2 pairs (4 conductors) and is pretty rare in the wild, whereas 1000BASE-T uses all 4 pairs (8 conductors). https://www.iol.unh.edu/sites/default/files/knowledgebase/ge...

This has more information on cat5 vs cat5e vs cat6 and their compatibility with different speeds / modes: http://serverfault.com/questions/107172/what-is-the-actual-d...

TL;DR almost any Ethernet cable you buy today will be cat5e or better, which will work just fine. Really old cat5 is technically compatible and should work too, but due to it having slacker tolerances for e.g. crosstalk, it might not work over e.g. longer runs or difficult situations (cable ran next to fluorescent lights, etc).

EDIT: If you want to know what speed your link-level has established, your OS should provide this info. netstat -e on windows or netstat -i on OSX / Linux should show the connection speed. In windows, you could also do WinKey+ r -> ncpa.cpl -> right-click active internet connection -> connection details IIRC.

Re: How I doubled my Internet speed with OpenWRT

#76

Post by FireBeyond »

shmerl wrote: post #68
grok2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is talking about also using the additional WiFi hotspot that every Comcast modem they provide you with has (not leaching from a neighbor). http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/comcast-sued-by-c...

But that hotspot goes through the same line that neighbors are connected with, no? Or Comcast doesn't count the hotspot traffic towards the plan bandwidth?

It counts it towards your data cap (if you are subject to it), but not to the bandwidth available under your plan.

Re: How I doubled my Internet speed with OpenWRT

#77

Post by jebblue »

He's connecting to his neighbor's router seemingly without permission.

"When you rent a cable modem/router combo from Comcast (as one of my nearby neighbors apparently does)"

It may be illegal:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_piggybacking

Comcast is not on the EFF's list of Wireless Friendly ISP's (referenced in the Wiki article):

https://www.eff.org/pages/wireless-friendly-isps

Even if it were: http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wirelessfaqs/f/legal_free...

"Using a neighbor's wireless access point may not be legal even with their permission. "

Re: How I doubled my Internet speed with OpenWRT

#78

Post by icehawk »

jebblue wrote: post #77

He's connecting to his neighbor's router seemingly without permission. "When you rent a cable modem/router combo from Comcast (as one of my nearby neighbors apparently does)" It may be illegal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_piggybacking Comcast is not on the EFF's list of Wireless Friendly ISP's (referenced in the Wiki article): https://www.eff.org/pages/wireless-friendly-isps Even if it were: http://compn…

xfinitywifi is provided by Comcast, you need a valid comcast login to connect. He is a Comcast subscriber himself, and thus he has a valid Comcast login.

Re: How I doubled my Internet speed with OpenWRT

#79

Post by moron4hire »

FireBeyond wrote: post #76
shmerl wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that hotspot goes through the same line that neighbors are connected with, no? Or Comcast doesn't count the hotspot traffic towards the plan bandwidth?

It counts it towards your data cap (if you are subject to it), but not to the bandwidth available under your plan.

That's the worst. I have more than enough bandwidth for Netflix, but I frequently hot my data cap.

I don't think there is such a thing as a comcast account without a data cap.

Re: How I doubled my Internet speed with OpenWRT

#80

Post by shmerl »

FireBeyond wrote: post #76
shmerl wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that hotspot goes through the same line that neighbors are connected with, no? Or Comcast doesn't count the hotspot traffic towards the plan bandwidth?

It counts it towards your data cap (if you are subject to it), but not to the bandwidth available under your plan.

That's weird. Since it defeats the purpose of expanding their WiFi hotspots coverage. If people have capped plans, they are likely to disable that hotspot altogether and use their own routers to begin with, to avoid anyone switching it back on. If they wanted such thing to work, it had to be excluded from both monthly data caps and active bandwidth limit.

That's besides the point that monthly caps is a completely nasty rip off. Luckily I never had one. Are they common in Comcast network?

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