Maximum speed of wireless and modems?

Answer 1

my internet plan is At&t dsl and it says that my download speed is up to 3 mb, but my download speed is actually 2.5 mb. maybe it will increase if i get a new modem with wireless n router built in.

Answer 2

The answer is no, your download speed will not increase dramatically (if at all) even if you replace your ADSL modem. The offered 3Mbps speed will probably top out to a practical 2.2 to 2.5Mbps due to network overhead and any interference on the line. Also, if you have a longer loop (round-trip distance from the DSLAM in your neighborhood to your home), that will interfere with the service speed that you see. If you are able to get into the modem's diagnostic statistics, you should see various numbers there that indicate the quality of your connection. One of the most important is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This is a logarithmic number expressed in decibels. If it says that the SNR is at 0, then you have a very low quality signal as the signal and interference are equally strong and you should have your line checked for water, insulation breaks, or other issues, all of which should be resolved at no charge to you since they are part of the cable plant owned by AT&T. However, if you see a number of 10 or 20 (or higher) then that means that the signal is 10 or 100 (or more) times the strength of the interference and, as such, you should be getting plenty of clear communication to get yourself to the Internet.

Given the fact that you are getting about 83 percent of your subscribed speed, I would wager that your SNR is just fine and that the only way that you will get more speed out of your service is to go up to the next level of 6Mbps.

One other tidbit: any ADSL modem that you have should be capable of handling either 3Mbps or 6Mbps because both the ADSL and ADSL2 standards have a maximum speed of 12Mbps. ADSL2+, however, doubles that capability to 24Mbps and the forthcoming ADSL2++ (or sometimes referred to as ADSL4) standard is rumored to increase that further to 52Mbps though this is still in development.

Answer 3

56 kb