Connecting 2 PCs on 1 router

[trashr0x]

Supposedly I have a 20mbit connection and I have 2 PCs connected to it via a router.

If the one pc is downloading mp3's (for example) and he is using 15mbits, does this mean that the other pc will only have 5mbits to use?
What happens if one is using all 20mbits? None for the other? ;p
I still cant understand how the connection is distributed.

 

[El0him]

No... Not really...

 

[gstrother1]

The router will process packets as they come in. If one person is downloading a file at 20Mb/s and person 2 starts downloading another file, it does not have to wait for the other person to finish downloading. The 2nd download will consume a portion of the bandwidth (the router does this automaticaly) and the first download will slow down as a result.

 

[trashr0x]

thanks i got the point now, is there a cheap way to distribute bandwidth to each pc? (for example, the 1st only consumes 15mbits and the other only 5?)

 

[El0him]

rate limiting but your router/network device has to support it.

The router will process packets as they come in. If one person is downloading a file at 20Mb/s and person 2 starts downloading another file, it does not have to wait for the other person to finish downloading. The 2nd download will consume a portion of the bandwidth (the router does this automaticaly) and the first download will slow down as a result.

 

[calyn]

Rate-limiting will always cause one to have a max of 15 and the other max 5 if set as such. Using QoS you can set it to actually use the full 20Mb on any connected PC unless there's congestion in which case it will start to throttle where needed. Routers capable of this are more expensive than the basic home routers though.