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Tom · #1 11-10-09, 17:42

Right let me explain what's happening..

Was sitting quite content, playing COD4 on my PC, when suddenly my ping rockets from 39, right upto 600!!

I've never seen that before.. even when I'm downloading 'things' when playing COD, it still never goes over 150.

So a quick look in my netgear admin panel shows me that my parents laptop's connected via wireless, as well as a Blackberry phone.

So I changed the password on the wireless settings to something different, which got rid of the Blackberry, and then gave the laptop the new code.

OK good.. only my PC and the laptop now sharing the connection.

Anyway to cut this long story slightly shorter...

Turns out my dad was trying to upload a 104MB video to Facebook, and it's only when uploading this, that the ping rockets to near 600ms.

Is it just me, or is this rather unusual?

I thought maybe there's a problem with the laptop, so transferred the vid to my PC, and am now uploading it from here, but just checked the ping again, and it's sitting at roughly 220ms... which is a vast improvement!

Any ideas what the problem could be? Or is there no problem, and I've just never seen anything like this before?

Leeky · #2 11-10-09, 19:43

I've noticed network transfers between computers using wireless causes it to hang, and slow down my wired computers.

Because of the way I centrally store my files, if I stream media across my network using wireless, or I am updating folders, or installing software from network locations my wired network pays a penalty price for it.

Sometimes, I've found when transfering large documents from my laptop to my central documents storage, its even prevented Donna from even connecting to the internet... It just hangs the connection and times out on every IE request. A good example was the other day, when I rather stupidly decided to try and send 50gb of data from my laptop through wireless to my central storage drives... I didnt realise I hadnt connected the cat 5 to my network switch, and as such it used wireless. Donna couldnt do anything network related using wireless until it finished, yet if I plugged in a network cable, it worked moderately ok.

Its really odd, so I try to keep any transfers through CAT5 now, which doesnt then make any difference to the wireless connection performance. Its really odd though, because I can still use the internet whilst using wireless to upload, yet it stops Donna using it.

I always assumed it was down to wireless network traffic, and my files being transfered across the wireless network using all the bandwidth up.

Tom · #3 16-10-09, 12:02

What's CAT 5?

Leeky · #4 16-10-09, 12:07

	Quote:
	Originally Posted by Tom What's CAT 5?

Sorry to confuse you, I should really have said network or wired instead of CAT5...

Cat 5.. category 5 ethernet (network) cable. It comes as cat 5, cat 6, twisted and untwisted I believe.

Its used to connect the network ports of PC's to network infastructures, like routers, network switches, firewalls, servers etc etc.

Tom · #5 16-10-09, 12:14

Ah right...

So in short, I should just be puting it down to the fact that Ethernet cables allow a faster connection than my wireless?

Just a little brain wave.... If I'm paying damn good money each month to have a fiber-optic cable connection all the way to my router- Isn't the Ethernet cable I'm running from my modem->Router, then Router->PC limiting my speeds?

Leeky · #6 16-10-09, 13:00

	Quote:
	Originally Posted by Tom Ah right... So in short, I should just be puting it down to the fact that Ethernet cables allow a faster connection than my wireless? Just a little brain wave.... If I'm paying damn good money each month to have a fiber-optic cable connection all the way to my router- Isn't the Ethernet cable I'm running from my modem->Router, then Router->PC limiting my speeds?

Cat5 used between your router and PC is quite happy with the 100MBit/sec maximum speed of your router and pc.

That is assuming that the network switch built into your router is 100Mbit/sec rated. Your PC connection will be. Make sure any network switches are also able to run 100MBit/sec speed as well.

Excluding draft N, Wireless running full speed can transfer 54Mbit/sec maximum - This speed however is dependant on network traffic, distance from the router e.g. signal strength and quality. So sat right next to the wireless source you might get max speed,but its doubtful if your the other side of the house or outside etc.

Then you also need to consider network demands. If you have 2 pcs and 2 wireless devices all using network resources, say transfering files between computers, uploading to FTP and using the internet/downloading online, then you want to say transfer a 1gb .avi from your laptop to your pc by wireless - Its going to be slow and suffer due to demands on the router.

After all of the above you then need to consider your computers actual speed. An old computer will never react as quickly to network actions as a new one. My Quad core does everything quicker than the Dual core Athlon laptop does. The read/write speed of your hard drives have limitations too.. Its doubtful your be able to read/write anywhere near those speeds on a normal compter. So to be fair, its a bottle-neck before it even leaves one computer and starts going to another.

Added to which, you wont be able to transfer 100MB a second from even two interal SATA drives, never mind across a 100MBit/Sec network. It will however, allow you the maximum speed your device can manage.

I find if I'm transfering large files from my laptop to my central storage drives, I always use a direct cat5 connection, and never do it through wireless as it takes forever. I do however use wireless to access my central documents when using the laptop, and it makes very little difference to having the same files on the physical disc of the laptop - Which is why I keep everything in one location.

.NEIL. · #7 16-10-09, 14:14

ye as above lol

Tom · #8 16-10-09, 14:16

Thanks, but my wireless router is 108MB/s.. it's a Netgear one, and not sure about the laptop, but it's a high-spec Toshiba that's less than 2 months old, so may well have the higher spec wireless too.. will need to check this out.

Leeky · #9 16-10-09, 15:17

	Quote:
	Originally Posted by Tom Thanks, but my wireless router is 108MB/s.. it's a Netgear one, and not sure about the laptop, but it's a high-spec Toshiba that's less than 2 months old, so may well have the higher spec wireless too.. will need to check this out.

That sounds like Draft N wireless speed. But remember it is only that fast when your pairing it with a draft N wireless capable laptop.

All wireless devices, whether phones, PDAs, laptops, PCs, games computers all have a classified speed, usually 54MBit/sec... Those will never be able to communicate at 108Mbit/sec with a draft N router because they dont comply with it.

Something to also watch are speed boost advertising that states you can get a "super G" connection. For that to work, you MUST use the wireless router with a compatable Wireless stick/card in your computer device.

Tom · #10 16-10-09, 16:01

	Quote:
	Originally Posted by Leeky That sounds like Draft N wireless speed. But remember it is only that fast when your pairing it with a draft N wireless capable laptop. All wireless devices, whether phones, PDAs, laptops, PCs, games computers all have a classified speed, usually 54MBit/sec... Those will never be able to communicate at 108Mbit/sec with a draft N router because they dont comply with it. Something to also watch are speed boost advertising that states you can get a "super G" connection. For that to work, you MUST use the wireless router with a compatable Wireless stick/card in your computer device.

My router's a G series iirc.. will find the model number and post it up so you can see it.

Will need to have a look and see what spec the laptop is too.