Identify the constraint in the process
Identify the constraint in the process
I'm trying to figure out what's slowing down my desktop PC. On my mobile devices, speeds match the plan rate, but on my computer everything feels much slower—only a few megabits per second instead of the expected 30 Mbps. I have a TP-Link WN881ND PCIe Express Wi-Fi card installed. My mobile connection works fine, even over long distances, and I haven’t noticed any changes recently. I ran a traceroute to google.com.au, but it timed out multiple times. The logs show several delays and timeouts, which is confusing. Can you help interpret this data or suggest possible causes?
They ignore ICMP Echo requests, which means the idea that traceroute behaves differently isn't as clear as many think. It simply sends an ICMP packet and increases the TTL until a router replies with an error. If no response comes, you see * * * request timed out.
You need to ensure N operates at higher speeds. The next action should be checking for interference and retransmissions across the network. Tools like Wireshark can help, or you can simply ping your router. Determine if the /f switch in Windows is causing issues or if it's the /t option. Send around 50 packets to your home router and observe if any pings appear above single digits. This could signal a network-level problem related to interference, weak signal, or noise.
Here are some suggestions to improve your setup:
- Switch to single-channel mode for better stability, even though it’s slower.
- Turn off unused channels; if all clients are G+ set to G+, or N+ set to N.
- Locate a channel with minimal interference—use an Android app that shows Wi-Fi channel availability.
- Opt for less crowded bands like 1, 6, or 11, though they may not penetrate walls well.
- In urban areas, finding a completely free channel is usually not feasible.