Linkys WRK54G (upgrading routers?)

Sorry about the double post!!!!!!!!

My family and I have a Linkys WRK54G router. Sometimes there are 4-6 people at once on the net. Transfers to begin with are slow already.

I think the router does about 2.4GHZ.

I want to upgrade my familys internet so everyone gets a good speedy connection, wed like to stay with Linkysy too.

What is involved in buying a new router?
Will this speed us up?
Since we have lots of people, what models and features do we need?
Would changing the router change our IP?

Are they any from here that are good?
Click!

 

Well um. I'm not sure what a ISP is...but id did test my speed at Speakeasy...

Last Result:
Download Speed: 14071 kbps (1758.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 3424 kbps (428 KB/sec transfer rate)

But in this im the only one who is on the internet.

And what is ADSL2?

Im sorry, I feel really inadequate.

 

As digitallocksmith says, it's unlikely that your problem is with your router.

Assuming it's working right (unfortunately rare with a wrk54g) a single wireless router like the WRK54G can usually easily handle everything you can put through a single household internet connection. Your main problem if downloads are slowing down is the bandwidth from your ISP.

It goes like this:
unit refresher: Megabit (Mb) = 1000 Kilobit (kb), MegaByte(Mb) = 8Mb. 1 Mb/second = 1000 kb/sec.

Router: Wireless G at 54 Mb/sec to each user = 216 Mb/sec to 4 users going through the linksys router to all users (you never really get this, but it's a ballpark number).

Your current connection: 14000 kb/sec = 14 Mb/second maximum coming into your router. Much faster than mine, for sure.

Ethernet connection to your internet modem: probably 100BaseT, or 100Mb/sec maximum (again, one rarely gets near that).

Unless I've done my math wrong (which is possible) your router isn't the problem right now. The bottleneck is with your ISP connection.

You need to:
1) look at the advertised bandwidth for your current connection (it will be a lot higher than what you're ACTUALLY getting). Then find out how much they are lying by given that you have actual numbers.
2) look at what all the other ISP providers and internet access plans in your area are advertising.
3) Assume that they all lie by about the same percentage.

Then you can either post the numbers here and have someone suggest what you might want to do, or you can just decide to get the fattest (in terms of bandwidth or Mb/sec) connection you can afford.

There are other issues of course, such as cable vs DSL, congestion, local DSL quality, etc. In my area, for instance, even with cable congestion it's miles better than the crappy DSL that's offered. These issues might or might not impact your decision. One thing you could do is post the providers and city (assuming forum rules allow it) then someone else from the area might be able to pipe up with recommendations.

Hope that helps.