VERY slow file transfer over wireless network.

[Phree]

Hi,

new to the forums and I am so glad I found you guys! I really hope someone can point me in the right direction. I have spent the past week or so searching everywhere on the net for the answer and I can't seem to nail it anywhere.

My main pc at home, is an Elonex Exentia - Exentia Spec (http://www.elonex.co.uk/exentia/). It has "built in Wireless LAN PCI 802.11b/g". So a couple of weeks ago, I bought a Belkin 802.11b/g pcmcia card for my laptop. I managed to get the 2 pc's 'talking' quite quickly and I can browse the net, send/receive emails yadda yadda yadda quite happily on the laptop (using the Elonex's internet connection) although a quick speed test shows it only running at 320Kbps. I have a 1.1Mb line. My problem, is transferring files between the 2. I can do it, but it takes an excruciatingly long time. It runs at about 1Mb per MINUTE. It's also impossible to play games between the 2 as the lag makes the games totally unplayable. My wireless connection (on both) tells me the signal is excellent and running 54Mbps but I'm sure this isn't the case? The network is set up as an adhoc network peer-peer & both are running WinXP SP2.

I don't know what else I can tell you guys at the moment - having never set up a network before (not even a wired one) I'm not sure what other info you would need...Obviously I'm quite happy to tell you anything else you may need to know.

Today I tried a wired network & the speed difference was almost immeasurable. A 30Mb file transferred in under 4 seconds, whereas over wireless, it was going to take 28 minutes! My internet connection was also up at 1.1Mbps when I performed a speedtest on the laptop...

If anyone can give me any tips or pointers, I would REALLY appreciate it :cool:

Thanks a lot!

[deddard]

Hi
There are many things that can be wrong, including interference, malware running on the PCs etc.

I couldn't see the specs of your Elonex from the link, and their website doesn't seem particularly well laid out, so finding the manual for your PC isn't easy.

Before going any further, please answer a couple of questions:

How do you connect to the Internet? do you use a Router, or connect one of the PCs directly to your cable modem?
Do you use a firewall such as Zone Alarm?
DO you have Antivirus installed?
How did you set the wireless system up? did you use XPs built in wireless configuraiton or the software that came with your equipment?

This will give us a bit more info to help us proceed.

[PrntRhd]

I would add a few observations to what Deddard said:

The data transfer rate for wireless can vary widely and the stated rates for wireless are for ideal circumstances, and may be overly optimistic for real world deployment. Any 2.4GHz equipment in the area will cause interference. Building construction will degrade the performance, even the physical location of the equipment on either end is important to stop degrading the signal.

Please read this article regarding the latest wireless equipment and the expected data transfer speed, they say the new one will give 54mbs real world speed, the point is the reasons for poor performance they addressed:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1858802,00.asp

[Phree]

Hi,

many thanks to both of you for the replies. I'll try and answer both posts bit by bit.

Apologies for the Elonex link - agreed it's not very good...I've searched for a decent site on them, but can't find one. Maybe it's time I wrote one myself :cool: Anyway, here's a breakdown of the spec:

Elonex Gold Model
3.0GHz Pentium 4 processor (HyperThreading)
512Mb DDR RAM
200Gb Hard Drive
DVD±R/RW and CDRW Optical Drive
128Mb ATi Radeon 9600 3D Graphics
17" Widescreen Display with 1280 x 768 Resolution
New Windows Media Centre Operating System 2005 with Remote Control
Built-in Memory Card Reader (all types)
2.1 Stereo Sound (including subwoofer)
5 x USB 2.0 / Firewire / InfraRed
Intel 10/100 Networking and & 802.11b/g Wireless LAN (Wifi)

The wireless network adaptor is a Broadcom 802.11g Network Adaptor. I have taken this from the properties of the device rather than the spec sheet. The laptop is an older 1GHz processor and the wireless pcmcia card is a Belkin F5D7010.

I connect to the Internet via the Elonex and my dsl modem is plugged directly into that (and the phone line);
Firewall* - I just use the XP SP2 one;
Antivirus* IS installed;
I also have Microsoft Anti-spyware* installed;

* - I have tried turning all these off, but it made no difference at all.

I have tried both setting up the system using just XP SP2's 'Wizard' and also using the software that came with the Belkin pcmcia.

Whilst digging around tonight, I found this: Seemingly newer driver than I already had (http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=20) even tho I thought I had the latest. I will try updating in the morning as I am now stuck at work on a night shift :(

I've tried placing the 2 pc's right next to each other with nothing in the way. No telephones, no nothing. Still no difference.

Question: Is it worth trying different channels? I think mine is currently on 11 - would it be worth going thru different ones?

If you've made it this far, I thank you once again! Apologies for the essay. Please let me know if you need anything else. I'll post up and let you know if the driver update makes a difference.

[Phree]

Hi,

little bit of info...I've now set my wireless network up - my main pc (Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter) Windows XP SP2 to my laptop (Belkin F5D 7010) Windows XP SP2. Everything works great - I can transfer files very quickly, browse the net, play networked games...Everything runs great!

However, as soon as I try and encrypt the connection, the speed drops down to 1mbps instantly and becomes practically unusable. Moreover, I lose the ability to browse the internet or transfer files between the two...Both PC's still say they are connected to the same network tho. Obviously it's not good to run a totally unsecure network...

Anyone any ideas?? Appreciate some advice!

Thanks.