35mins to copy 800 meg via wifi?

No-One · 3 Nov 2009 at 18:17

I'm guessing that isn't normal. I was trying to copy 800 megabytes from my laptop (Dell Studio 15 running Vista HP x86) to my desktop (running 7 HP x64). It was actually faster to copy the files to USB stick and transfer that way. Both machines had a strong signal (both within 3 metres of the router).

I also have the same issue when I try to transfer to our other pc in the next room running XP. Could it be through router itself throttling data? (netgear DG834G)

Ross1234 · 3 Nov 2009 at 18:18

Was it lots of little files?

No-One · 3 Nov 2009 at 18:22

Nope. only 2 files

Ross1234 · 3 Nov 2009 at 18:22

Dunno anyway thats faster than I can copy stuff over wifi. A much faster option is to use a LAN cable.

Caged · 3 Nov 2009 at 18:25

What you've discovered is that wi-fi is garbage. There's not really any guaranteed way to improve those speeds, but if you just use it for web browsing it works out alright.

wij · 3 Nov 2009 at 18:29

An 802.11G link will deliver around 22Mbit/sec throughput each way under optimal conditions so 35 minutes is about right.

Want faster then get an N router and adapters for the devices or just use a cable, £45 for a 8 port HP GigE switch and a few bits of Cat5 and you can probably shunt files around at 40MByte/sec without much trouble.

xb8browney · 3 Nov 2009 at 18:42

It takes me 7mins to transfer a 800mb file on my 802.11G network so something isn't right with your setup.

vidda · 3 Nov 2009 at 19:34

I'm so glad I got wired up. Constantly having blips in connection really started annoying me with wireless. The cables certainly don't look the prettiest but the increase in reliability and speed is worth it.

Bloomfield · 3 Nov 2009 at 20:35

wij said:
An 802.11G link will deliver around 22Mbit/sec throughput each way under optimal conditions so 35 minutes is about right.

At that speed it would only take 4.8 minutes to transfer it...

800*8=6400/22=290seconds

So there's definatly something wrong, i dont know much about wireless networks tho, only use wired as i can't stand the speed on wireless.

muon · 3 Nov 2009 at 21:17

Download from the internet at 13Mb/s over a G connection (sync speed is 14Mb/s, so certainly not saturated either). 800MB file would take under 9 mins.

So it certainly is capable of faster transfers.

No-One · 3 Nov 2009 at 21:37

I get the exact same problems between any 2 of our 4 systems. Each system has a different OS and/or wifi adaptor. So I've pretty much ruled out a problem specific to any system. That only leaves the wifi setup itself. Each system reports a strong/very strong signal and they all connect at 54Mbps. Could surrounding wifi points from other houses be limiting the speed? I can't see anything in the router setup that might be limiting speed.

wij · 3 Nov 2009 at 23:22

Hmm well I got my maths a bit wrong there, not sure how I did that but never mind

Could be RF congestion in your area, have you tried changing wireless channel, also though it shouldn't matter operating multiple vendors hardware/adapters etc. can sometimes cause performance hits.

Sorry if this is being condescending, but if both machines are within 3 metres of the router why not just use a bloody cable if you're moving anything bigger than a few small files?

No-One · 4 Nov 2009 at 00:11

lol, by the time I'd dug a cable out i could have just used the usb stick. It's not a major problem for me though since I very rarely need to copy anything large across the network