[mikester]

You have a lot of stuff going on there that could be causing your slow speeds.

First and foremost are you testing the connectivity at the ends with the same computer? If not you could simply be seeing the end results on slow computers are different than faster ones.

After that - the hubs. Hubs are repeaters. They basically allow you to plug a bunch of computers into a single wire. All of those computers/devices share that one wire's bandwidth AND hear all that talk and if it is a FULL DUPLEX hub the other devices will only talk when nobody else is talking (otherwise that collision light will go off a lot).

Get rid of that hub and in its place put a switch. The difference is that the switch will not repeat everything on all ports. The Switch will keep each device's traffic separate upstream. Downstream of course it's still that long 100mb connection. HAve you tested BEFORE the hub at the end of that long cable? I think you said you did - at that point I would question the integrity of that cable. On a real router I would be looking for errors on the interface but on these home use devices you usually can't see that.

Consider replacing the long cable - I see you're already doing that - test it first.

Regarding the 'N' wireless device - there you may simply have a quality issue. Something can be labeled 'N' and support the standard easily but not actually be able to do it. What are your expectations on that wireless? I wouldn't expect more than 20mbps down in the best of conditions from a home use device. The best APs I am familiar with (though I'm biased of course) are the Cisco 3500 series which I have personally tested at about 70mbps up/down. I'm testing the 3600s now and am hoping for better.

I would first concentrate on the wired speeds and get that worked out and then focus on the wireless issues.

Do I have a home use device that I recommend? Not really - it seems to be a 'crapshoot' on that front though I do like the Linksys gear (again, biased...).