making my home network faster.

[mrgreeneyes]

hi,

is there a way i can make my home network run faster? like when im transfering files to my apple tv or time capsule or from mac to pc?

thanks

 

[Hellhammer]

What router do you have? Wireless is pretty slow, N (which is the fastest atm) gets ~8MB/s in real world, even USB is several times faster

 

[netdog]

Fast ethernet is your friend.

 

[mrgreeneyes]

What router do you have? Wireless is pretty slow, N (which is the fastest atm) gets ~8MB/s in real world, even USB is several times faster

i have a belkin wireless N.

 

[Hellhammer]

i have a belkin wireless N.

How fast is it at the moment? As I said, ~8MB/s is its real world maximum. Also, how good connection are they getting? If the signal is poor, it will be slower. In addition, does all your devices support wireless N?

 

[JGruber]

You also need to take in to consideration the devices sending and receiving the data. Before we replaced our older G4 XServe, on a Gigabyte network, the G4 would only be able to transfer at 20-25MB/sec. However, transfering data between 2 of our new XServes, they max out around 100MB/sec.

 

[jampat]

Wireless or wired?

Wired:

If your router and devices are capable of GigE, make sure you are using CAT6 cables or things will run closer to 100Mbits. Make sure the cables are well made and with the wires in the correct order.

Wireless:
Use something like iStumbler to see what channel is the least congested and change your router to that channel.
Make sure the antennas on your router and devices are properly oriented.
Switch to wired (biggest speed improvement possible).

Let us know what your current setup is (including rough distances between devices) and we can provide more targeted useful information.

 

[belvdr]

How fast is it at the moment? As I said, ~8MB/s is its real world maximum.

You must be getting some interference or something. I get at least 20MB/s using a MBP, AEBS Dual Band, and a LaCie 1TB disk hanging off the USB port of the AEBS.

You also need to take in to consideration the devices sending and receiving the data. Before we replaced our older G4 XServe, on a Gigabyte network, the G4 would only be able to transfer at 20-25MB/sec. However, transfering data between 2 of our new XServes, they max out around 100MB/sec.

Great point that most people miss. If the write device is really slow, it makes no difference how fast the pipe is to the device.

 

[JGruber]

You must be getting some interference or something. I get at least 20MB/s using a MBP, AEBS Dual Band, and a LaCie 1TB disk hanging off the USB port of the AEBS.

I have the same speeds, it also depends on the files, a larger file will generally transfer faster than a bunch of smaller files.

Transferring from my MBP to my ATV, it's slower, but that's a limitation of the device.

 

[belvdr]

I have the same speeds, it also depends on the files, a larger file will generally transfer faster than a bunch of smaller files.

Transferring from my MBP to my ATV, it's slower, but that's a limitation of the device.

You mean the 20 or the 8? The remaining of what you said applies to me as well.

 

[JGruber]

You mean the 20 or the 8? The remaining of what you said applies to me as well.

Opps... should have mentioned that, the 20 applies to me.

 

[bld44]

Wired:

If your router and devices are capable of GigE, make sure you are using CAT6 cables or things will run closer to 100Mbits. Make sure the cables are well made and with the wires in the correct order.

Just for the record, cat 5e is perfectly capable of running gigabit.
And the network is wireless.

 

[plasticphyte]

Wireless or wired?

Wired:

If your router and devices are capable of GigE, make sure you are using CAT6 cables or things will run closer to 100Mbits. Make sure the cables are well made and with the wires in the correct order...<snip>

Cat 5e is perfectly capable of handling the 10/100/1000 ranges.

To use, you will need all four pairs wired, and if you're needing to recable an existing Cat 5 run to Cat 5e or Cat 6 cabling, you will need new wall patch points to accomodate the thicker wire widths.

Just for the record, cat 5e is perfectly capable of running gigabit.
And the network is wireless.

 

[paduck]

Cat 5e is perfectly capable of handling the 10/100/1000 ranges.

To use, you will need all four pairs wired, and if you're needing to recable an existing Cat 5 run to Cat 5e or Cat 6 cabling, you will need new wall patch points to accomodate the thicker wire widths.

The ATV is limited to 100Mb/s, so that is going to be your limiting factor with a wired connection, but you will get sustained speeds near the spec and no real risk of interference. Using wireless, I have gotten over 100Mb/s on my ATV, but I moved it so it was literally right next to the AEBS which has Gig-E to my computer - thus defeating the purpose of wireless. For practical purposes, 100Mb/s via wired is going to be very, very good. The only issue is if you can run a wire to your ATV. As soon as I can find a path through my walls, that is what I am going to do.