Wireless Bandwidth and dropped packets

If someone could enlighten me on the following, I would be
appreciative. In moving large files...of any kind...of 100MB or more
across my two computer home wireless network, the recieving PC sooner
rather than later drops it network connection. I have a wireless
Linksys router and wireless linksys cards using the N draft protocols.
Signal to noise is great and "bandwidth" is over 250Mb/sec.

According to Linksys, that extra bandwidth buys me nothing. I get a
range improvement, but the transfer protocols (layers?) have not
scaled. Lots of small files move faster than one large file. Either
the internal bus speeds in the PCs are limiting what I can transfer,
or some setting may be wrong. I download from a cable connection
through the router and can download in excess of 20Mb/s...pretty
swift. It all gets pokey beyond that. Linksys talks about packet
collisions but has no specific way of fixing things other than to
"slow" the rate down to avoid collisions and thereby improve
throughput. Huh???

Any ideas that an ignoramous can understand?

Thanks

Henry

Hi
Did you actually measured 250Mb/sec. (I.e. real file transfer of about
30MB/sec.) or you reporting what the Driver Report statically by default?
These pages include some general info about the issues.
http://www.ezlan.net/net_speed.html
http://www.ezlan.net/Internet_Speed.html
With some Wireless this issue is irresolvable due to quirky hardware driver
combo.
However you can try to increase RCwin to x2 times of what is recommended for
your Internet Connection, it might help.
Use this application to optimized the TCP/IP stack and deal with RCwin. TCP
Optimizer - http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
P.S. While I am aware that you are talking about Local Transfer the TCP/IP
has to be optimized according to the Internet connection otherwise you would
lose Internet bandwidth. Doubling the RCwin might improve Local Transfer and
usually do not affect the Internet connection (YMMV).
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> If someone could enlighten me on the following, I would be
> appreciative. In moving large files...of any kind...of 100MB or more
> across my two computer home wireless network, the recieving PC sooner
> rather than later drops it network connection. I have a wireless
> Linksys router and wireless linksys cards using the N draft protocols.
> Signal to noise is great and "bandwidth" is over 250Mb/sec.
>
> According to Linksys, that extra bandwidth buys me nothing. I get a
> range improvement, but the transfer protocols (layers?) have not
> scaled. Lots of small files move faster than one large file. Either
> the internal bus speeds in the PCs are limiting what I can transfer,
> or some setting may be wrong. I download from a cable connection
> through the router and can download in excess of 20Mb/s...pretty
> swift. It all gets pokey beyond that. Linksys talks about packet
> collisions but has no specific way of fixing things other than to
> "slow" the rate down to avoid collisions and thereby improve
> throughput. Huh???
>
> Any ideas that an ignoramous can understand?
>
> Thanks
>
> Henry

The wireless management client reports this...the popup context window
with the network icon in the tray. I did mean megabits. It is the
potential bandwidth. The "real" transfer bandwidth must be much
smaller. I understand the basic notion of network management, but I
don't really know how the home networks work. In the olden days, with
mainframe network management, when traffic took up about 70% of the
available bandwidth, management issues slowed throughput to zero. It
is how the information flow scales...not truly bandwidth in an
electronic sense.

I will check your links and see if they enlighten me. Like I
mentioned, it isn't download speeds, it is transfer speeds. I can
download to either computer at up to 20 Megabytes/sec but if I take a
large file and move it from one computer to the other, the rates drop
to...lets see...250MB in 2 min...that is maybe 1.5 - 2 MB/sec transfer
rate...maybe ten times slower than I might expect an unused link to
handle. It isn't as though there is a lot of contention for
bandwidth...or maybe there is.

I have tested the transfer speed by turning off my security and virus
protection on the network pc's and all other applications including
downloads. The rate is just pegged at the ~1.5 MB/sec. Seems slow to
me.

Henry

On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:14:15 -0500, "Jack \(MVP-Networking\)."
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi
>Did you actually measured 250Mb/sec. (I.e. real file transfer of about
>30MB/sec.) or you reporting what the Driver Report statically by default?
>These pages include some general info about the issues.
>http://www.ezlan.net/net_speed.html
>http://www.ezlan.net/Internet_Speed.html
>With some Wireless this issue is irresolvable due to quirky hardware driver
>combo.
>However you can try to increase RCwin to x2 times of what is recommended for
>your Internet Connection, it might help.
>Use this application to optimized the TCP/IP stack and deal with RCwin. TCP
>Optimizer - http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
>P.S. While I am aware that you are talking about Local Transfer the TCP/IP
>has to be optimized according to the Internet connection otherwise you would
>lose Internet bandwidth. Doubling the RCwin might improve Local Transfer and
>usually do not affect the Internet connection (YMMV).
>Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)
>
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> If someone could enlighten me on the following, I would be
>> appreciative. In moving large files...of any kind...of 100MB or more
>> across my two computer home wireless network, the recieving PC sooner
>> rather than later drops it network connection. I have a wireless
>> Linksys router and wireless linksys cards using the N draft protocols.
>> Signal to noise is great and "bandwidth" is over 250Mb/sec.
>>
>> According to Linksys, that extra bandwidth buys me nothing. I get a
>> range improvement, but the transfer protocols (layers?) have not
>> scaled. Lots of small files move faster than one large file. Either
>> the internal bus speeds in the PCs are limiting what I can transfer,
>> or some setting may be wrong. I download from a cable connection
>> through the router and can download in excess of 20Mb/s...pretty
>> swift. It all gets pokey beyond that. Linksys talks about packet
>> collisions but has no specific way of fixing things other than to
>> "slow" the rate down to avoid collisions and thereby improve
>> throughput. Huh???
>>
>> Any ideas that an ignoramous can understand?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Henry

I don't seem to have a reason for a slow network. I downloaded the
optimizer, used it on both PCs, and if anything have a slower transfer
rate. I am mystified. I changed the connection speed to reflect my
true internet connectivity..which was initially showing as quite low
compared to 15-20Mb/sec. I also have no idea what RcWin is or where to
find it to check or adjust its setting. Can you help me out there??

Thanks.

Henry

On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:14:15 -0500, "Jack \(MVP-Networking\)."
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi
>Did you actually measured 250Mb/sec. (I.e. real file transfer of about
>30MB/sec.) or you reporting what the Driver Report statically by default?
>These pages include some general info about the issues.
>http://www.ezlan.net/net_speed.html
>http://www.ezlan.net/Internet_Speed.html
>With some Wireless this issue is irresolvable due to quirky hardware driver
>combo.
>However you can try to increase RCwin to x2 times of what is recommended for
>your Internet Connection, it might help.
>Use this application to optimized the TCP/IP stack and deal with RCwin. TCP
>Optimizer - http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
>P.S. While I am aware that you are talking about Local Transfer the TCP/IP
>has to be optimized according to the Internet connection otherwise you would
>lose Internet bandwidth. Doubling the RCwin might improve Local Transfer and
>usually do not affect the Internet connection (YMMV).
>Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)
>
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> If someone could enlighten me on the following, I would be
>> appreciative. In moving large files...of any kind...of 100MB or more
>> across my two computer home wireless network, the recieving PC sooner
>> rather than later drops it network connection. I have a wireless
>> Linksys router and wireless linksys cards using the N draft protocols.
>> Signal to noise is great and "bandwidth" is over 250Mb/sec.
>>
>> According to Linksys, that extra bandwidth buys me nothing. I get a
>> range improvement, but the transfer protocols (layers?) have not
>> scaled. Lots of small files move faster than one large file. Either
>> the internal bus speeds in the PCs are limiting what I can transfer,
>> or some setting may be wrong. I download from a cable connection
>> through the router and can download in excess of 20Mb/s...pretty
>> swift. It all gets pokey beyond that. Linksys talks about packet
>> collisions but has no specific way of fixing things other than to
>> "slow" the rate down to avoid collisions and thereby improve
>> throughput. Huh???
>>
>> Any ideas that an ignoramous can understand?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Henry

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> swift. It all gets pokey beyond that. Linksys talks about packet
> collisions but has no specific way of fixing things other than to
> "slow" the rate down to avoid collisions and thereby improve
> throughput. Huh???

There is no such thing as collisions with wireless. The WAP the nics are
connected to controls the traffic and "who" can "send" and "when". The Nics
(unlike with wired) do not decide "on their own" when to send.

So, whatever the problem is,...it is not collisions.

These are laptops,...this means there are power-saver features on the
nics,...maybe the nics are "going to sleep" and not recovering properly.

--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

Interesting. These PCs are desktops, but I get your point. I have
tried to pause any sleep interuptions like shutting off monitors, etc.
The issue seems to be when I try and move a folder and not just the
files in it...I get a message about the path being too deep, which
tells me it doesn't like folder but then it gags on the files, too.

What about RWin...what is it and where do I find it within XP, etc??

Thanks.

Henry

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:03:32 -0600, "Phillip Windell"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> swift. It all gets pokey beyond that. Linksys talks about packet
>> collisions but has no specific way of fixing things other than to
>> "slow" the rate down to avoid collisions and thereby improve
>> throughput. Huh???
>
>There is no such thing as collisions with wireless. The WAP the nics are
>connected to controls the traffic and "who" can "send" and "when". The Nics
>(unlike with wired) do not decide "on their own" when to send.
>
>So, whatever the problem is,...it is not collisions.
>
>These are laptops,...this means there are power-saver features on the
>nics,...maybe the nics are "going to sleep" and not recovering properly.

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Interesting. These PCs are desktops, but I get your point. I have
> tried to pause any sleep interuptions like shutting off monitors, etc.

Desktops have these features too.

Properties of Network Places
Properties of "Local Area Connection" (or however you have it named)
"Configure" Button next to Nic Name
Power Management Tab
"Uncheck" the boxes

> The issue seems to be when I try and move a folder and not just the
> files in it...I get a message about the path being too deep,

I don't have an answer for that. Maybe it is telling the truth. Maybe the
path *is* too deep.

--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------