Increase Network Transfer Speed

T

Tanky

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 12, 2005
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I am having issues with transfer speed on my network. I have a D-Link DIR-655 wireless N router. Two PC's.

My gaming PC is also a server of sorts. E6600, 4 gb of RAM, Wireless N PCI card, Win 7 Pro 64.

I have a small e6400 machine, 4 gb ram, Win 7 Pro 32, 1gigabit connection, hardwired to the router. This one is hooked up to the TV.

I want to stream my movie/tv collection from my gamin PC, which is on the other side of the room to the TV. The gaming machine/server has 4 drives, with a dedicated 1tb drive for video storage. The machine connected to the TV has one 300 gb drive. Right now, I am getting 1.8 mbps transfer speeds. This is causing very choppy playback. I am using VLC for playback. I am using WPA2 for network security.

How can i increase my transfer speeds across the network? Is 1.8mbps as good as it gets?
 
Router is set to wireless g only, as every other wifi device i have is g only. Status says 54mbps, but I am still only getting 1.8mbps transfer speeds.
 
Depends on your area you might get (much) better performance changing the channel to 1 or 13, the 2.4GHz spectrum is fairly congested these days in most areas though but worst around channel 6 since thats what most wireless routers default to, To get good wirelss speed going 5GHz N is really about the only choice
 
build a pfsense router box and use the Dir655 as a wireless AP. You will be amazed on how much better the wireless performance will be when using it as just an AP and not have it routing.
 
54mbps is in theory, you wont ever get it.

also what kind of content are you streaming? HD, wont work well, wireless works in burst for sending data so often "streaming' anything above SD quality wont work well, even on wireless N

720 / 1080 i have had issue with on wireless.

also, what channel is your Wireless on change it from the default 6 for sure if you have not already.
 
123Lanoix said:
build a pfsense router box and use the Dir655 as a wireless AP. You will be amazed on how much better the wireless performance will be when using it as just an AP and not have it routing.
Click to expand...

I second pfsense. I built a pfsense box with an Atom 230 @ 1.6GHz and a gig of RAM and it smokes any consumer router I have had.

You can use inSSIDer to find the best available channel to use.
 
123Lanoix said:
build a pfsense router box and use the Dir655 as a wireless AP. You will be amazed on how much better the wireless performance will be when using it as just an AP and not have it routing.
Click to expand...

Trying not to spend any money. Want to utilize my current equipment to the Max.

MrGuvernment said:
54mbps is in theory, you wont ever get it.

also what kind of content are you streaming? HD, wont work well, wireless works in burst for sending data so often "streaming' anything above SD quality wont work well, even on wireless N

720 / 1080 i have had issue with on wireless.

also, what channel is your Wireless on change it from the default 6 for sure if you have not already.
Click to expand...

Channel 1. I have changed some settings and am getting 3mbps now. Still, I figured I could get closer to 5 or 6. Streaming SD is fine, and 720 works okay if there is no other network traffic, but 1080 anything is stutter city. If I could, I would love to remedy that without having to buy new shit. Would going wired make much of a difference? I could run a line when I'm going to watch something and unplug when done.

IrishMLK said:
I second pfsense. I built a pfsense box with an Atom 230 @ 1.6GHz and a gig of RAM and it smokes any consumer router I have had.

You can use inSSIDer to find the best available channel to use.
Click to expand...

My goal is to spend 0 dollars. Right now's I am streaming from a dedicated video drive on my main PC. If I swap the drive in the htpc for the fastest drive in my main PC, would that make much difference?
 
54mbps is in theory, you wont ever get it.
Click to expand...

True, though the best one will get with 802.11g is about 28Mbps, this includes all overhead and half-duplex on an unencrypted signal. With WPA2, you'll be lucky to reach 20Mbps, or about 2.5MB/s.

You should be able to do SD and 720p just fine, as you have stated.

However, 1080p over any wireless is a no-no. There is just too much bandwidth and ping required for such a transfer. A wired 100Base-TX connection or better is necessary at this point.

Even the best 802.11n in existence has a hard time with 1080p content, regardless of the encoding used.

Is there no way you could order a Cat5e or Cat6 cable from monoprice? After S&H it should only be about $8, depending on your location.


Seriously, if you are planning on watching HD, you need a wired connection. 802.11g just isn't going to cut it, no matter how efficient it is. It just doesn't have the throughput and even 802.11n would struggle at times, it's just too unreliable for streaming such content.
 
Red Falcon said:
True, though the best one will get with 802.11g is about 28Mbps, this includes all overhead and half-duplex on an unencrypted signal. With WPA2, you'll be lucky to reach 20Mbps, or about 2.5MB/s.

You should be able to do SD and 720p just fine, as you have stated.

However, 1080p over any wireless is a no-no. There is just too much bandwidth and ping required for such a transfer. A wired 100Base-TX connection or better is necessary at this point.

Even the best 802.11n in existence has a hard time with 1080p content, regardless of the encoding used.

Is there no way you could order a Cat5e or Cat6 cable from monoprice? After S&H it should only be about $8, depending on your location.


Seriously, if you are planning on watching HD, you need a wired connection. 802.11g just isn't going to cut it, no matter how efficient it is. It just doesn't have the throughput and even 802.11n would struggle at times, it's just too unreliable for streaming such content.
Click to expand...

I can, in fact I have one somewhere. Problem is that the computers are in different rooms, and I rent, so I don't want to cut open walls or anything. I was able to get 3 mbps in bursts, but it would settle at 2.5 mbps wirelessly. Guess I will deal with it. Thanks for the replies.
 
Use iperf to measure your speeds to make sure that everything is working properly.

As others have said HD over 802.11 is absolutely a no no.

Also I rent as well and asked my landlord if I could put drops in for Ethernet so that I could stream. Landlord said it was fine, but had to be done by their electrician, I had to buy all the materials, and when I left I had to give them instructions for the next tenant on how to use the drops. A week later and I have 8 drops and will buy some crappy 10/100 switch to leave for the next person.
 
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