Motorola 2210 DSL Modem with WRT54G Linksys

My son's uses AT&T (SBC) dsl for his high speed internet connectivity. He eventually came into possession of two PCs, a desktop that he used for school and a laptop that his son used for school - BUT he was setup to only get out to the Internet via one PC at a time. In other words, the 'in use' PC was connected to the Motorola 2210 dsl modem via an ethernet cable. When he wanted a PC to browse the internet he was constantly switching that ethernet cable - unplugging it from one PC and plugging it into the other PC.

He lives in a two story house - and neither of the computers were in the same room, much less on the same floor. So, he was using a 100 foot ethernet cable to connect the PC 'in use' to the dsl modem.

Eventually a time came when it became a battle of who was going to be able to get out to the Internet - i.e., sharing the same connection just wasn't an option anymore as more and more of the classes that he and his son were taking was via the Internet. In addition, he decided that he wanted to get a ROKU Netflix box so he could watch netflix movies (via a Internet connection) on his television.

I decided to try and help him set up a wireless network in his home. I didn't figure it would be a lot different than the sort of network I have here. My 'input' to the outside world is via a Motorola cable modem supplied by Time Warner. It is connected to a Linksys WRT54G wireless modem. Off that wireless modem I am gaining access to the Internet for 2 PCs, 2 laptops, 2 ROKU Netflix boxes and 3 TIVO boxes. In addition, I have a vonage modem connected to the WRT54G via an ethernet connection.

So, I purchased for him a Linksys WRT54G wireless router and a Linksys Wireless-B adapter - he only needed one adapter as the Dell laptop already had wireless 'built in'. While I was still at my own home, I configured his WRT54G router to the exact same settings as I had for my house - and to test it out, I switched my existing with this new one and everything still ran smoothly. Additionally, I set up the wireless on his Dell laptop at my home so there would be no problem with it making connectivity to the Linksys wireless router when he got it to his home.

Then I set out for his house with the new Linksys WRT54G router. Leaving everything 'as is' on his Motorola 2210 dsl modem I simply connected that Ethernet cable coming out of it from his PC into the 'Internet' ethernet connection on the back of the Linksys WRT54G router.

My first test was to see if the Dell laptop could get out to the Internet. Well, the Dell had no problem getting to the Linksys router, it had a very strong signal - but it couldn't get out to the Internet.

Baffled, I then connected the desktop PC to the Linksys via an Ethernet cable from the desktop to Ethernet slot 1 on the WRT54G. The desktop PC had no trouble getting to the Linksys, but couldn't get out to the Internet.

I then plugged the Linksys Wireless B adapter into the desktop PC, removed the Ethernet connection between the desktop and the WRT54G router, rebooted everything - and now I could get to from the desktop PC to the Linksys wireless router - but could not get to the Internet.

More baffled than ever, I then changed the connectivity between the Motorola 2210 dsl modem and the Linksys WRT54G wireless modem by removing the plug going into the 'Internet' slot of the WRT54G and plugging it instead into ethernet 'slot 1' of the WRT54G. Then, of course, I could get out to the Internet via the Dell laptop and via the desktop PC - but NOT AT THE SAME TIME. Which wasn't too surprising.

So, I went home and read up everything I could find and just 'didnt see the light' if you know what I mean. Obviously a dsl modem didn't seem to speak to a wireless modem in the same manner that a cable modem did.

In all that reading, which was mostly other people grasping to find answers and very few if any people who were giving them solutions, I read something that made ABSOLUTELY no sense to me - but I decided to give it a try. The next day I drove back to my son's house and made this one change. I changed the IP address of the WRT54G from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.2.1. And it worked - I could then bring up browsers on both the laptop and the desktop AT THE SAME TIME. Everything seemed to be working just fine so I packed up my gear and went home.

Several days later, their new ROKU Netflix box arrives and they connect it up to their PC and have no problem getting it connected to their network. BUT, the response time is poor which is reflected in the quality of the picture they are receiving - and the movie keeps having to load and reload. When they finally get annoyed enough, they call me. So, via the phone, we did some troubleshooting.

First I had them shut everything down - and then just bring up the laptop. Then run a speed test to see what kind of speed they were getting (http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/) - and it was 2565kbps. Well, since their sbc provider says they should get UP TO 3000kbps I figure thats no so bad - but not so great either.
Then I have them bring up netflix via the IE browser so they can watch a movie on the laptop - and they say the picture is ok and it starts up pretty quickly and keeps running.

Next, I have them start up the HP desktop and run the speedtest. Now the speed is down around 700kbps. They bring up netflix via the IE browser and when they try to start a movie it says that is is going to take about 45 minutes to buffer the start of the movie rather than the one minute that you would expect.

Then I have them start up the ROKU Netflix box connected to the tv. Well, that fails miserably.

Bottom line, it is now apparent to me that the 'supposed' 3000kbps signal is being split between all three scenarios they have going on - and since 3000 isn't a lot, this is going to be a real challenge.

At the end of 'night one' of trying to get Netflix working on both the ROKU Netflix box connected to the television and yet another movie running at the same time on the Netflix browser windon on the desktop PC - I tried one last thing and had them connect both the ROKU Netflix box and the desktop PC to the WRT54G linksys wireless box via ethernet cables. So, we're back to running 100 foot ethernet cables throughout the house. They were getting great reception on both movies then. But this is certainly not the 'solution' we are hoping for! And does this mean that if you connect to a linksys wireless router via ethernet your signal DOESN'T get split?

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So a new day starts and I decide to run some tests on my own network in my home - using my 6000-7000 kbps cable modem connected to a Linksys WRT54G wireless modem. And running http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ periodically as I start things up or shut them down.

1) One desktop PC turned on
Speedtest result - 6869 kbps

2) Two ROKU Netflix boxes on, 1 PC on, 2 laptops on
started both ROKU Netflix movies at approximately the exact same time
picture was ok on both Netflix ROKU, but one ROKU had to do a quick reload about one minute into the movie
Speedtest result - 2172 kbps


3) Two ROKU Netflix boxes on, 1 PC on, 1 laptop on
movies playing smoothly and with excellent picture
Speedtest result - 4739 kbps


4) Two ROKU Netflix boxes on, 1 PC on
this time I did four 'tests' several minutes apart since I started to realize that the movies aren't doing their 'read ahead' and buffering at the same time once the movie gets started, so the speeds are going to vary - at no point thought did the ROKU picture ever get worse and never did it need to do a reconnection
Speedtest result - 2897 kbps
Speedtest result - 2173 kbps
Speedtest result - 3251 kbps
Speedtest result - 6900 kbps


5) One ROKU on, 1 PC on
Speedtest result - 3702 kbps
Speedtest result - 6870 kbps

I guess the only main thing these tests really proved to me is
1) the devices are sharing the approx 7000 kbps that I have available
2) BUT, they aren't all 'using' bandwidth all the time
3) AND, if my bandwith available goes below 2500 kbps I start having a 'mild' problem when trying to show a netflix movie at DVD quality

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I know it took a long time to get to this point, but my questions are:
1) Do I have his network configured correctly?
2) Will we ever be able to get enough bandwidth using the SBC dsl connection or should he switch over to a high speed cable connection?
3) Why the heck is everything working so great when using ethernet cables to connect the devices to the linksys wireless router?

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to offer!!

Configuration: Windows XP
Firefox 2.0.0.16