Slow wireless transfer speed PC to PC

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

I've had this issue for some time, and haven't really cared enough to address it until now.
I have a desktop PC running XP SP2 wired to the Linksys E1000 router (DDWRT). I have my laptop running Windows 7-64bit. The router is in "mixed" mode and my laptop is connected "N". Doing various internet speed tests, I can pull about 28Mbps (or 3.5 MB/sec). However, when transferring files to or from the desktop PC, I can barely get over 2.0 MB/sec. I figured this should be MUCH higher being on a local network. My laptop is about 20-25 feet from the router and shows "Excellent" signal strength.

Is this just an issue between the two operating systems?

spdragoo · Dec 10, 2013

Could be an issue between them, but could also be an issue with drive speeds. You're not just looking at how fast the PC-to-PC connection is, you're looking at how fast each hard drive connects to that connection. A slower hard drive (i.e. 5400 RPM vs. 7200 RPM, IDE vs. SATA, SATA I/II vs. SATA III, etc.) for one end -- or even on both ends -- means the full LAN connection won't be used.

RealBeast · Dec 10, 2013

phuz :

I think it more likely a wireless issue. Set your laptop a foot from your router and see what you get. Also, run the free wireless analyzer inSSIDer from HERE to insure that no other networks are on the same channel, which would cause interference and require that some data be resent.

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

Our property is pretty isolated and the only network visible is ours.
Hard drive in desktop is 7200rpm SATA (not sure if its I, II, or III). Drive in laptop is OCZ Vertex 4 SSD (one of the fastest on the market). I am banking more on wireless, too, than drive performance.

One thing I haven't done, but will do, is wire my laptop connection to see if it improves over the wireless.

I think, no matter what the drive is, 2 MB/sec is slow.

I have a 2nd drive in my laptop (5400rpm SATA), and I transfer large data files between the two drives at ~90 MB/sec.

RealBeast · Dec 10, 2013

Run the isSSIDer program and move around the area to see how your wireless area is configured. You may well need an additional access point at a weak location. You also may want to try running channel bonding if you use N only (that is set in your router configuration and gives you a 40MHz wide rather than 20MHz wide channel that is faster and goes further but is only useful if you are isolated).

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

Thanks, but as previously mentioned, signal strength is NOT the issue. I can pull faster transfer rates from the internet than I can from my own desktop PC. That should show that the wireless is capable of higher speeds than what I am currently experiencing.

I also don't want to lock it down to N since I believe we have at least one device which requires G.

RealBeast · Dec 10, 2013

phuz :

So how many -dB do you get in the good and bad locations? Number of colored bars gives no information. And since G legacy limits you to 54Mpbs, which in the real world is more like 5Mbps 20 feet from a router, it sounds like you are doing well.

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

RealBeast :

-49db at the present time.
But I am on N, not G. I can easily do a speedtest, in this very moment, and pull 28Mbps downstream and then I can go to the desktop and pull the same speed downstream, which tells me that I am losing little to no bandwidth over the wireless connection.

RealBeast · Dec 10, 2013

Agreed, at -49dB you should achieve very good speed even on G. When you transfer the files are you using homegroups (which has severe speed limits over wireless, a bug that MS never addressed) or are you using a mapped network drive?

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

I hard-wired to the router and was able to transfer at 12 MB/sec. Since the LAN card in the desktop is 100Mbit, I'd consider that pretty acceptable.

RealBeast :

Mapped network drives...ONLY.

RealBeast · Dec 10, 2013

phuz :

Which would disappoint me severely on a gigabit network at over 100MB/s, but you may have some Fast Ethernet (100Mpbs) segments. With the wireless though are your transfers over homegroups?

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

RealBeast :

No, I always use mapped drives (to the IP directly).

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

With the laptop right next to the router, then 5' away, 10' away, (you get the idea), the speed did not change and was capped at about 2 MB/sec.

RealBeast · Dec 10, 2013

phuz :

If you have run inSSIDer and are sure that there are no interfering networks, I would look at local interference in your house, wireless phones, headsets, baby monitors, IP cameras, and microwave ovens to start.

If all else fails, upgrade the G adapter and try a channel bonded N 40MHz channel.

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

You mention G adapter. There is no G adapter in play here. Laptop is N. Router is N. Desktop is wired 100mbit.

There are no interfering networks, confirmed. Even if I did have interference, that would affect all transfers (including internet speed test), not just my local network file transfers.

I would expect that I could transfer a file from my local network AT LEAST as fast I can pull a file from the internet, right?

RealBeast · Dec 10, 2013

"I also don't want to lock it down to N since I believe we have at least one device which requires G."

From your earlier post. If you don't make it N only with WPA2-AES encryption you may be handicapped, I would try out N only with good encryption required to hit the high speeds at least as a test.

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

I tried two other computers in the house that run XP and neither one of them can transfer higher than 2-2.5 MB/sec. So it appears that maybe the issue is with the main desktop housing all these files.

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

RealBeast :

Switched router to N-only. Speed actually dropped to about 1.5 MB/sec. Not sure that makes any sense.
Intel PROSet/Wireless shows connection of 144.0 Mbps during this time.

Switched back to Mixed mode and speeds have returned to 2-2.5 MB/sec.

RealBeast · Dec 10, 2013

You have done a great job of troubleshooting and it may be related to mixed OS issues, but I am going to mark this as solved by you, please start a new thread as things progress -- it helps get more folks in on newer shorter threads. Thanks.

phuz · Dec 10, 2013

Thanks for your help.

RealBeast · Dec 10, 2013

My pleasure!

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