Insanely Slow LAN Speeds

Calibretto

Calibretto

VIP Member
Not sure if this actually slow, but I feel like it's slow. I used LANSpeedTest to test my LAN connection. Here's the setup I have:

The main modem/router is a Frontier/Verizon Netgear 7550. It's the one that gets the internet connection from the wall. I have my MacBook plugged into it back in the home office using a Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter.

Out in the living room is an Asus RT-n56u router that's connected to the Netgear router with MoCA adapters. I have my HTPC plugged into the Asus router via Ethernet.

I used the LANSpeedTest app to test the speed of transferring a file from my MacBook to the HTPC and here are the results that I got:

IGswJFI.png


I don't think that's as fast as it should be. Maybe it's the MoCA adapters causing the bottleneck?
 
Geoff

Geoff

VIP Member
MoCA adapters use coax correct? I have no idea what sort of bandwidth you are supposed to get between them, but ideally you should be using CAT5e/6 between all the devices and be sure all the devices support 1Gbps ethernet.
 
Calibretto

Calibretto

VIP Member
WRXGuy1 said:
MoCA adapters use coax correct? I have no idea what sort of bandwidth you are supposed to get between them, but ideally you should be using CAT5e/6 between all the devices and be sure all the devices support 1Gbps ethernet.
Click to expand...

Yeah, MoCA is over coax and the ones I have are rated up to 270Mbps. As for gigabit ethernet, I'm not sure if my Frontier router has it, but I'd be surprised if it didn't. Even if it didn't, the speeds I'm getting still seem extremely slow than what I should be getting.
 
Cromewell

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
I agree its not as fast as it should be, the coax line itself should have plenty of bandwidth.

The Frontier router is 10/100 I believe.

Does the HTPC have a slow nic?

Can you hook the same 2 systems up to the 7550 and test it there? If that comes back ok, put it on the MoCAs, then add back the asus router (I doubt it's the asus router though). At least that way you can narrow down the slow point.
 
Calibretto

Calibretto

VIP Member
Cromewell said:
Does the HTPC have a slow nic?

Can you hook the same 2 systems up to the 7550 and test it there? If that comes back ok, put it on the MoCAs, then add back the asus router (I doubt it's the asus router though). At least that way you can narrow down the slow point.
Click to expand...

HTPC has gigabit ethernet.

I could try hooking up the HTPC and my MacBook up to the Asus router together and see if the speeds change. It'd be easier that way since I'd have to haul my HTPC into the office in order to hook it up to the 7550.
 
Cromewell

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
That works too, the main thing is adding in layers until you hit the one that makes it slow.
 
Calibretto

Calibretto

VIP Member
Alright, so I connected my MacBook via ethernet directly to the Asus router, which the HTPC is connected to as well. Got much better speeds, but still only 36Mbps write speeds..

c21VhAy.png
 
Geoff

Geoff

VIP Member
Is your router 10/100/1000 or 10/100? If it's 1Gbps then that's awful, but if it's 100Mbps it's not too bad.
 
Calibretto

Calibretto

VIP Member
WRXGuy1 said:
Is your router 10/100/1000 or 10/100? If it's 1Gbps then that's awful, but if it's 100Mbps it's not too bad.
Click to expand...

The router is 10/100/1000 (Asus RT-n56u), so is the HTPC. MacBook is connected to ethernet via a Thunderbolt adapter, but that can easily get 1000Mbps.
 
Geoff

Geoff

VIP Member
Calibretto said:
Connected to the Asus router over WiFi. Better than the original setup, but worse than the second test, obviously.

gR7uo1Z.png
Click to expand...
That shouldn't be the case, as the first test was well under speeds capable of 802.11n. Yes it will be slower, but it shouldn't be THAT much slower.

Try doing an actual file transfer between the two computers, instead of a freeware benchmarking program.
 
Cromewell

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
WRXGuy1 said:
That shouldn't be the case, as the first test was well under speeds capable of 802.11n. Yes it will be slower, but it shouldn't be THAT much slower.

Try doing an actual file transfer between the two computers, instead of a freeware benchmarking program.
Click to expand...

LAN Speed Test is ok, you could try iperf (http://code.google.com/p/iperf/) if you want a bit more control of everything.

Try different file sizes as well. It could be something else is limiting the transfer. As WRXGuy suggested, a real file transfer would be the easiest way to tell (send something of decent size).

The speed while some while low, isn't entirely unexpected. It's about inline from what I'd expect off a G network but depending on the range there's any number of reasons the wireless isn't at the spec'd speed.
 
Calibretto

Calibretto

VIP Member
Ok, I did another round of tests:

Transferring a 577MB file from MacBook to HTPC over ethernet between MoCA adapters:

36.8Mbps

Transferring the same file from MacBook to HTPC directly from the same Asus router over ethernet (shorter route, no MoCA adapters):

44.0Mbps

Transferring the same file from MacBook to HTPC directly from the same Asus router over wireless (MacBook wireless, HTPC wired):

39.4Mbps

Transferring the same file from HTPC to MacBook directly from the same Asus router over wireless (MacBook wireless, HTPC wired):

I didn’t even finish the transfer because it said “15 minutes remaining” compared to the other tests that said “2 minutes remaining”. Not sure why transferring from the HTPC takes a lot longer than transferring to it..
 
Cromewell

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
Can you try <something> to HTPC where <something> isn't the MacBook? I read something about certain Apple network drivers being slow, just wondering if that might be the case here.
 
Calibretto

Calibretto

VIP Member
Cromewell said:
Can you try <something> to HTPC where <something> isn't the MacBook? I read something about certain Apple network drivers being slow, just wondering if that might be the case here.
Click to expand...

Sadly not. The HTPC is the only non-Apple computer in my apartment :(
 
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