NTV200 Wireless rate very low

[charriso]

I just bought a NTV200 hardware version v1, updated the software to the latest version (1.01.12) and tried to stream CNN. It never displayed; it just spun. I looked at bandwidth and was getting 1.8 mbps. Support suggested some changes to my wireless router (use channel 11 and set the mtu to 1300) that got me up to 2.5 mbps. However, with other devices, like my phone, in the same location as the NTV200 I get 5-6 mbps. Anyone have the same experience and have a fix for it?

[Dogbert]

I haven't had the same experience, but I can say I wouldn't trust the default speed test in the NTV200 to give you accurate values. i.e. I had my NTV200 hard-wired and ran the speed test multiple times on a Internet connection that gets 12-16Mbps download, and the default speed test results gave me ~2.6Mbps. I then went to the Vudu channel and used their speed test (through the same NTV200) and got >9Mbps. So either there is a bug in the NTV200 default speed test, or the site that it is connecting to for the speed test is very slow.

From your description it still sounds like it's a wireless throughput issue, so whether the default NTV200 speed test is inaccurate probably doesn't matter. I'm assuming you are connecting to an N router set to "up to 300Mbps", if so then the best firsrt test is to temporarily hardwire the NTV200 to your router and test. If it works fine on the hardwired connection, then it is definitely the wireless causing the issue. The next thing to test is if the router and the NTV200 aren't in the same room, try them while in the same room.

[charriso]

Thanks Dogbert for the reply. I ran the tests you suggested. Whether wired or wireless I get the same behavior, launching CNN News Update causes the cursor to just spin forever. So it seems to be something to do with that NTV200 client for that service. On a computer the url (http://rss.cnn.com/services/podcasting/newscast/rss) that i think the client uses is just audio with no video. I wonder if that has something to do with the issue.
A couple other points. I believe you are right about the default NTV200 speed tests. The difference between wired versus wireless when the NTV200 is inches away from the router is .1 mbps (2.5 wireless vs 2.6 wired). So there is a bug there that Netgear should fix ASAP given many bad reviews point to bandwidth as being the reason they returned the device.
I'm using a linksys wrt54g v5 router so it is not a N router. I have a tendency to gravitate toward low-end hardware e.g. NTV200 :-)