Slow data transfers in home network

[avillabon]

I have 2 desktops (windows 8) and one laptop (windows 7) in my home network. I setup the homegroup following tutorials online and i am able to see the other computers in the network and share files among them. The problem is that it is too slow. Transfer speeds range from 250 KB/s to 750 KB/s and that is just unbareable. I have at&t uverse which came with its own highend router (or so they said lol).

What can the real issue here be? My computers, the router, network settings? I have no clue were to start..

Any help from networking gurus would be really appreciated!

Alex

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update: I just found out its a 54 mbps router, so much for high end! Whats speeds should i expect?

 

[Tom Tancredi]

The speed of the wireless does not determinte the speed of your Internet (transfer speeds) experiance, it can only be a problem if it is slow / narrow pipe. Your speeds for AT&T you pay for per month is what speeds your garunteed. The first solution is to connected with a Ethernet cable to the modem/router, what speeds do you get then? If your speed is still slow, then you need to talk to AT&T.

Also you need to be careful when understanding the 'numbers'. When it says 250KB, that is KiloBYTES not KiloBITS. A bit is one single piece of data, a BYTE is 8 of these grouped together. So when you say 250KB/s you mean 2Mb/s . That is where the 54Mbps comes in, as it is measured in bits not BYTES.

Now if your speed is better with a wired connection but slower on a wireless, there is alot of reasons, most notably how many other 'wireless' connections do you 'see' nearby? It could be like trying to talk to someone at a club, everyone is there talking 'wirelessly' and making alot of noise, so it is hard to 'hear' your connection for your laptops.

Lastly, is the router 'secured' with a password? If not then maybe someone is sharing the bandwidth (you know Bob the neighbor just got free internet from you) and slowing things down. If it is secure, you sure someone else in your home isn't 'hogging' the internet watching all those Cat Videos on Youtube? (LOL).

 

[avillabon]

The speed of the wireless does not determinte the speed of your Internet (transfer speeds) experiance, it can only be a problem if it is slow / narrow pipe. Your speeds for AT&T you pay for per month is what speeds your garunteed. The first solution is to connected with a Ethernet cable to the modem/router, what speeds do you get then? If your speed is still slow, then you need to talk to AT&T.

Also you need to be careful when understanding the 'numbers'. When it says 250KB, that is KiloBYTES not KiloBITS. A bit is one single piece of data, a BYTE is 8 of these grouped together. So when you say 250KB/s you mean 2Mb/s . That is where the 54Mbps comes in, as it is measured in bits not BYTES.

Now if your speed is better with a wired connection but slower on a wireless, there is alot of reasons, most notably how many other 'wireless' connections do you 'see' nearby? It could be like trying to talk to someone at a club, everyone is there talking 'wirelessly' and making alot of noise, so it is hard to 'hear' your connection for your laptops.

Lastly, is the router 'secured' with a password? If not then maybe someone is sharing the bandwidth (you know Bob the neighbor just got free internet from you) and slowing things down. If it is secure, you sure someone else in your home isn't 'hogging' the internet watching all those Cat Videos on Youtube? (LOL).

Thanks for your quick reply!

I understand the bits and bytes difference, i'm just unsure what my expectations should be on this router. I may not have been clear enough but the slow speeds are when transferring files from one pc to another. To put this into perspective when transfering a 220mb file it takes approximately 10 minutes which in my mind is not normal (i could be and probably am wrong... am i?). Also, both desktops and the laptop are connected through the wireless network which i know is not ideal but none of them are close to the router.

I like the analogy of talking in a club! Didnt know that could be an issue!! You learn something everyday thx for that. And to answer your question, yes, i do see other wireless networks in the area, about 10 to 15 more. I guess this is very bad and out of my control :s

The router is secured and i believe it is with wpa. All i see connected on the rotuer settings are the 3 computers, 3 cel phones and 3 tablets. Not sure this is an issue.. Oh and btw i read somewhere that wpa might make file transfers slower than wep? if so, how much more? should i switch?

Thanks again!

Alex

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Always use WPA2, never WPA nor WEP (EWWW!). Uhn yes that many devices are constantly talking over the network (do I have the latest patch, is java updated, what time is it, is there new email) even when you don't tell the stuff to be doing it by clicking on the app (like your cell phone and tablets autodo that in the background and you get 'buzzed' when you get a new text, IM or email).

Okay I HOPED it wasn't that problem, which I am very aware of. Okay first your going wireless 54Mbps for file transfers, MUCH slower than a USB Thumbdrive or such to 'move' data. Secondly the computers on each end are trying to pull data from the hard drive then put it over wirelessly, the other pulls it down and then stores it, then turns around and tells which ones it received, which it stored and asks the first computer what is next, - slow slow slow!-.

This isn't even including making the connection encrypted to send over WPA and back and forth for tht process. So this isn't the ideal method to transfer large files (over 100MB). It is even worse with the new Win7 file system which was noted right off causing alot of these 'delays' doing reading and writing files (no clue Win8 performance I avoid it like Black Death).