linksys wireless router internet connection

Is my wireless router making my internet connection slow?

I have a pretty old Linksys wireless router (says its a Wireles-B 2.4 GHz model BEFW1154). When I’m connected, the signal strength is usually fine, but its pretty slow and Windows says I’m only connected at 5.5 Mbps. When I connect to a neighbor’s connection, it usually connects at 28+ Mbps. Do I need to get a new router? If so, anybody have a recommendation on a good, relatively inexpensive option? Thanks!

That will definitely slow down your connection. Many new broadband connections are faster than 5.5 mbps, so right off the bad, you’re capping your connection there. But even more than that, the 5.5 indicates you have slow/poor signal strength meaning packets are probably being lost/corrupted and having to be resent (slowing everything down even more), it should be at 11 mbps.

Even upgrading to a b/g router (which is now outdated technology) will increase your connection bandwidth to 54 mbps, there are new wireless technologies which can increase bandwidth into the hundreds of mbps range.

Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router

router