Gigabit Ethernet network throttled at 15mb/s

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510
So I'm very new to setting up my own home server and I've become stuck and looking for help.

I have Mac mini 2011 with a USB 3.0 5TB drive hooked up, acting as my server.

I have this hooked up to my TP-LINK TD-W9980 router using a thunderbolt to gigabit/USB 3.0 adapter.

Also from the router is my PC which is connected via TP-LINK TL-PA8010PKIT AV1200 Gigabit Passthrough Powerline Adapter. It has a Asus M5A97 R2.0 which windows tells me has a gigabit lan port.

All cables use are CAT5e.

I have updated all the drivers I can find on all of the equipment above, but still when I'm transferring from my PC to the mac It goes to 15mb/s and no further!

I have also done speedtests on all the drives, and all are around 100mb/s+

I've tried changing properties on my PC for the Lan port such as Jumbo frame and speed/dulex

My PC is running on Windows 10 and Mac on OSX El Capitan.

Is there any way of boosting the speed from this or have I missed something which maybe throttling the speed.

Hopefully someone can shed some light on what's happening.

Cheers.
 
You have a very complex setup and it can be any of the many things. You need to simplify stuff to try to narrow it down. The easist will be first to try a ethernet cable directly to the router rather than the powerline. From what I can tell you have 2 USB3 devices on your mac mini. Is there anyway to use the gig ethernet port instead.

Does your tplink allow you to hook the USB drive to the router and use it as the server.
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


Yes I know, that's why I'm struggling to fix it. Only problem is I can't get an ethernet cable from my PC to the router as it is in the other room which is a close as it can be because of the telephone port being there. I will try hooking up a laptop and see what I can find. Unfortunately the Mac mini 2011 has USB 2.0 ports so the thunderbolt adapted does both USB 3.0 and the gigabit ethernet port. I shall try pulling the ethernet cable into the mac mini itself as I didn't realise is was gigabit.

Yes my router has 2 USB 2.0 ports allowing for external drives to be attached, which I shall also try to see any difference in speed.

Thanks for the ideas.
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


So after doing all of the above options, I have diagnosed the problem. I attached my macbook the router, and it transferred at 100mb/s! So cleary my gigabit powerlines are not set up properly... I have no idea how I can change it. I have installed the drivers on my pc but no luck. Should I change something on my router?
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


Sorry but how do such a thing with the router? I am using Cat 5e cables for all connections.

Okay, but there isn't a lot around it, only maybe a telephone and the mac and router.
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


I can't find any Cat e5 cables, and armound Cat 5e are way to expensive. I have done that, but what should I do with this information?
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


Okay I'll look into those more. There is a lot of wifi routers around me on my street which I guess maybe affecting it.
But wouldn't it be more random not just a constant 15mb/s?
 

McHenryB

Admirable
What protocol are you using to transfer data? In my experience, SMB on the Mac Mini is extremely slow (it's not a fast protocol anyway, but the OS X implementations seems to be particularly slow when talking to a Windows computer). Try FTP and see what speeds you get there. You could also try enabling Jumbo frames on all devices.
 
WiFi has no effect at all on ethernet....if it did a wifi router would disrupt all its own cable when you figure the cable are only inches from the radio antenna near the router. This would mean no router would work with standard ethernet cable and we know very well that is not true. The twists in the cable protect you from almost all forms of external interference.

Using shielded cable unless you can prove a source of interference is a stupid extra cost to incur. In most cases of home installation it is actually installed wrong because you must have the shield grounded on both ends and this must be a isolated ground from the power ground. You can actually get interference from the power ground......powerline network devices uses the ground to send signals. If you do not ground the shield it act as a antenna and actually increases the chance of interference although the twist in the cable still mostly protect against event this.

Using shielded cable is mostly a myth and the vast majority of people only think it improves things when they actually had no interference issue in the first place. Only a professional installer with the proper meter can detect interference on ethernet and show the need for shield cable.


......So to get this thread back on track.

Powerline units unfortunately are a form of radio waves they just use electrical wires instead of air. The work well in most houses but some houses are the exception. The units you have are the most advanced on the market and tend to work better than the older models. In most cases the source of powerline problems is interference with something with a motor. Some vacuum cleaners tend to kill it anywhere in the house.

There is not a lot you can do. You can try other outlets, maybe in a different room if possible. Make sure you have them plugged directly into the wall outlet. If you could find the offending device in your house that is causing the issue you could try putting that on a surge protector and hope it filters the interference. But if it is something like a refrigerator or air conditioner there is not a lot you can do.

There are no setting on powerline units they pretty much either work or they do not.
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


Okay, so lets say something is making the powerlines throttle. TP link have this program which allows you to see your network speed and the powerlines say they are working at around 700mbps. Also everything else such as internet speed and ping is fine. Would it just be easier to buy a 25m ethernet and find some way of making it to the router?

 
"easier" is very subjective and based on your skill level of getting it run without destroying your house. Ethernet cable is always the best choice. Once it is functional you never worry about it again.

Maybe you could plug both powerline units in the same room by the router and see if you can transfer data across them like that. There is a tiny chance they are defective.
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


Okay so I've taken my hole PC into the room my router is in an plugged it in directly, and boom, its still at 15mb/s... so not the powerlines after all... I did try transferring files from the mac to my macbook pro which was 100mb/s+ so clearly it either my pc or the way the mac is transferring files to it. Any ideas?
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


I'm using SMB at the moment. Okay that could be the problem. How would I set up an FTP protocol on my mac?

I have already enabled jumbo frames on all devices.
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


Okay, thank you very much for help.
 

Stop spreading misinformation. This cable will make NO difference. The speed is controlled by the port you attach it to. If you were to hook this cable to a 100m port it will still run 100m and on a gig port it will run gig. The interference numbers mean nothing unless you actually have the interference to start with.

This is the standard trying to confuse people with statistics that they don't understand hoping that they just think bigger number is always better.

This is like a tire salesman in southern Florida talking about how much more traction snow tires have and talking about how much better the rubber holds up in cold weather. Sure its nice statistics but you have to have the snow in the first place to get any benefit.

I will agree on your comment that jumbo frames provides little benefit on most transfer protocols.
 

McHenryB

Admirable

http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/29/start-an-ftp-or-sftp-server-in-mac-os-x-lion/

I agree with the comments that Jumbo frames make no difference over the Internet, but on a LAN they can make a big difference to the speed of file transfers. Anyway, it's worth trying FTP if only to help determine whether the problem is with your network or with the transfer protocol.
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


Okay, after a struggle I manage to connect using STFP and still only 15mb/s... Could it be something to do with my PC then?


 
Not sure if it is available for the mac but there is a old time line mode testing tool called IPERF. It runs completely from memory and put almost no load on the cpu. It is the best test of the network portion of your machine. It eliminates most file system and disk issues on both ends. It must be run on both ends of the connection.

 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510


I have looked into Iperf but I wasn't entirely sure how to install it, do you know anywhere with a good tutorial I could follow?
 
It really isn't "installed" Pretty much you get the file and unzip it but all you actually need is the iperf executable. Unfortantly this is one of those old line mode command that have lots of silly "-" before letter options. It is pretty much like any cmd windows command built like many unix commands. There is a help option but it is easier to read the online docs.

In the simplest case you run one in server mode and it will sit and wait. The other in client and you key in the ip of the server when you start the client. It will then run its standard test. There are lots of option to change things...including stuff like packet sizes. In general the default test should tell you a lot.

There are examples on the iperf site that show how to do the simplest form of the test.
 

Bruhhhh

Commendable
Apr 18, 2016
13
0
1,510
Okay, I've tried everything here and still no luck. Everything reads to work 1.0 gigabit, but still stuck at 15mb/s... It works fast with my macbook pro, but not well with window machines. I also tried another netgear readynas server to see if that worked but still my PC wouldn't allow it over 15mb/s... Is there something on my router I should do?