Can a Mac and two PCs coexist on the same network?

[Detlev_73]

Strange thing:

My roommates and I moved recently. We have a cable modem broadband connection, which also handles our Vonage service. I have a G5 with a wired Ethernet connection to our router, and my roommates' PC have wireless connections to the same router. Whenever we receive a call the phone quality sucks bigtime: the listener on the other end only hear the call very choppy and cuts in and out. Whenever the Mac is taken out of the connection, the quality goes to normal-crystal clear. I have also run tests online (Cnet's Broadband Meter) and the connection ranges from 820 kbps-1300 on the PCs. Once the Mac is connected back into the router, all computers including the G5 go down to around 100-180 kbps.

Anyone know what to do to help?

 

[mrichmon]

Strange thing:

Anyone know what to do to help?

Very strange. First guess is that the network address configuration of one of the machines on the network is incorrect. Check that the PCs and the G5 are set to use DHCP to automatically get their network configuration from the router.

Also, you might want to check the router configuration and make sure that none of the computers are set to be in the DMZ.

The cable from the cable modem box should be connected to the "WAN" port on the router and any wired computers need to be connected to the "LAN" ethernet ports on the router.

 

[Detlev_73]

I think I found the culprit...

Very strange. First guess is that the network address configuration of one of the machines on the network is incorrect. Check that the PCs and the G5 are set to use DHCP to automatically get their network configuration from the router.

Also, you might want to check the router configuration and make sure that none of the computers are set to be in the DMZ.

The cable from the cable modem box should be connected to the "WAN" port on the router and any wired computers need to be connected to the "LAN" ethernet ports on the router.

I think it's Azureus, because as soon as I turned it off, all our computers' internet connection shot up to around 1100 kbps. Bummer as I downloaded a lot of cool stuff on that app. There are online wikis to configure it correctly, but reading them is like teaching yourself calculus with only a textbook.

 

[munkees]

Strange thing:

My roommates and I moved recently. We have a cable modem broadband connection, which also handles our Vonage service. I have a G5 with a wired Ethernet connection to our router, and my roommates' PC have wireless connections to the same router. Whenever we receive a call the phone quality sucks bigtime: the listener on the other end only hear the call very choppy and cuts in and out. Whenever the Mac is taken out of the connection, the quality goes to normal-crystal clear. I have also run tests online (Cnet's Broadband Meter) and the connection ranges from 820 kbps-1300 on the PCs. Once the Mac is connected back into the router, all computers including the G5 go down to around 100-180 kbps.

Anyone know what to do to help?

Might have nothing to do with you G5, have a few questions

does the phone run from the same box as the router?

try a different computer on the router and see if it does the same!

the problem could be from the physical ports internally in the router, cheap router, may be lacking some basic line filters, and the interferance is getting passed on through.

is possible that the G5 10/100/1000 generates this extra noise? That why you need to test with another computer.

 

[sk1985]

I think it's Azureus, because as soon as I turned it off, all our computers' internet connection shot up to around 1100 kbps. Bummer as I downloaded a lot of cool stuff on that app. There are online wikis to configure it correctly, but reading them is like teaching yourself calculus with only a textbook.

Torrents kill my internet signal strength. All torrent apps are that way. P.S. if you ever have network problems chances are really high that it isn't the mac's fault. I've never had a problem connecting my mac to any sort of network. My all of my friends' pcs usually need to get configured in some way to sign on in most networks. Macs are excellent machines when it comes to working on a network.

 

[mrichmon]

I think it's Azureus, because as soon as I turned it off, all our computers' internet connection shot up to around 1100 kbps. Bummer as I downloaded a lot of cool stuff on that app. There are online wikis to configure it correctly, but reading them is like teaching yourself calculus with only a textbook.

Azureus, or any torrent downloading software will consume some of your download bandwidth because the software is downloading something. You only have a certain amount of download bandwidth so if Azureus is using part of the bandwidth then any other computers on your network will only be able to use the remaining download space.

This means there is nothing wrong with your G5, nothing wrong with the PCs or the router, just that you are using your allocated download space.

 

[crazzyeddie]

Azureus, or any torrent downloading software will consume some of your download bandwidth because the software is downloading something. You only have a certain amount of download bandwidth so if Azureus is using part of the bandwidth then any other computers on your network will only be able to use the remaining download space.

This means there is nothing wrong with your G5, nothing wrong with the PCs or the router, just that you are using your allocated download space.

Huh? All these answers are only very partially correct. The reason Azureus is making your network so slow is that you are completely saturating your upload bandwidth. You need to cap the upload bandwidth so that it doesn't completely trash your internet connection (and yes, the upload bandwidth will eat away the download bandwidth, especially on cable modems).

In Azureus, the upload bandwidth setting is located in the Preferences under Transfer (KB/s Global Max Upload Speed). If you know how much upload your ISP gives you (ie. 384kbps is a common number), then divide it by 8. This will give you the KB per second that you can upload. 384 gives you approximately 50KBps upload. You want to set the upload lower to make sure it doesn't eat into your total bandwidth. I use a setting of 35KBps upload and I can regularly get 800KBps down.

You also need to make sure that your roommate isn't using too much bandwidth. If you are both uploading files, since you are sharing the connection, your upload will become saturated twice as quickly.

 

[Detlev_73]

At this point I'm just going to nix Azureus completely. Too bad because I used to get great stuff with it.