Slow LAN transfers over Powerline or Wifi

[orgetorix]

I am trying to diagnose slow file transfers over my LAN through both powerline and wifi.

Here's the setup. My router (Netgear R8000) is in a media cabinet downstairs. It is connected to a TPLink AV2000 gigabit powerline adapter with the other end in my garage. The TPLink app shows that the rate between them is consistently around 715 Mbps.

My main computer is upstairs and until recently was connected with an older TPLink AV500 adapter. This is limited to 100 Mbps.

My file transfers from the NAS to my computer (and vice versa) top out about about 7 MBs and are usually in the 4-5 range. My assumption is that the AV500 could theoretically only top out at about 12.5 MBs, so I decided to try wifi.

I used Smart Connect on my router to use both 5G antennas and it claims ups to 1300 Mbs speed. I figured that at 50% of that I'd be close, but the speed has literally not changed at all. Still 4-5 MBs with occasional jumps to 7 or so.

I was thinking of just purchasing an additional AV2000 adapter but before I did that I thought I'd ask. Any ideas on how to speed this up? One last thing, the network card in my computer is a RealTek Semiconductor RTL8821AE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC.

Thanks in advance for all of your help and suggestions.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Those numbers sound pretty reasonable to me, based on your description. In a perfect world, I still wouldn't expect 12.5 MBs out of a Fast Ethernet connection.

Best I've personally seen wireless do is ~20 MBps, but that was over 2.4 GHz on a 300 Mbps connection, not 5 GHz. 5 GHz is nice in theory, but I've found it's performance falls short in practice, even in quiet environments.

Before you buy another AV2000 EoP unit, why not swap in the one from your garage to your upstairs computer and see what you get? You may find it gives you much better throughput or you may find it doesn't help much at all.

 

[bill001g]

First thing to test is with the pc plugged directly in router and hopefully your nas was directly plugged in during your tests already. This will quickly tell you if you have a network problem or some other strangeness with the nas or maybe your pc.

AV500 come nowhere close to even 100mbits which is why the 500m is such a joke when the vendors put 100m ports on them. It depends on many factors but most the testing sites say you get 40-50mbits. This is pretty close to what you are seeing. The av2000 varies quite a bit because of how different sites are testing. Some say 150mbits and other say 400mbits but it depends if you test upload and download at the same time or if you just look at the more common download numbers.

WiFi actually should get more speed because it starts out with more total bandwidth but it is so dependent on your house and your neighbors using WiFi it is impossible to predict. Now I am talking using it for NAS, most people on this site are asking about online games and that is a totally different story. You will see nowhere near even 1/2 the 1300mbit speeds. It also depends where you are getting that 1300 number from it needs to be the 802.11ac speed only not the total for the 2.4g and 5g band. You would need a nic with 3 antenna not 2 to get the 1300 number.

Still it does not really matter even if you use the highest speed nic and router using 4 antenna you might get 300-400mbits

Still I suspect you have a different bottleneck than your network so I would first test with only ethernet connected devices.

Be careful about running 2 powerline networks in a house they still share the total electical wire thoughout the house and they can interfere with each other. You could run 3 units..1 at the router and 2 remote...this would give you the optimum setup for powerline but it does reduce the maximum total throughput because id does not share well.

 

[BlueCat57]

I've been researching PowerLine issues and WiFi speeds recently. Here's what I've found.

1. The rated speed of the device is meaningless.

2. For PowerLine the main factor in determining how fast it will be is the wiring in the home. I have one computer that gets "full" speed and another on a different circuit that gets "half" speed. There is no practical way to improve the quality of the circuit in your home without rewiring the whole house. Easier to pull ethernet cable.

a. Most manufacturers recommend using only the same model device for all connections. So start there and follow all of their "troubleshooting" tips.

3. For WiFi the main factor is penetration through the walls.

So what does all this mean?

1. The newer the equipment, the better it is likely to overcome the "real" limitations. The raw speed of the newer devices is easier to report in an article. You sell the sizzle (speed) not the steak (penetration, overcoming noise in the wiring). It take too long to explain penetration and noise, and quite frankly, those are negative selling points that manufacturers don't want consumers to think about since the manufacturer has no control over what is in a consumers home and every home has unique problems that can't be fixed. Are you willing to go without a window A/C unit just so your PowerLine connection is faster?

a. You'll need to research this for yourself, but I'm guessing that newer PowerLine units are better at overcoming the "noise" in your home wiring resulting in faster speeds.

b. With WiFi, the newest routers are better at penetrating walls, and probably overcoming interference from your neighbors. (I live in a single family home, so while there are 4 or 5 other routers broadcasting around me, I don't think that is what people consider "interference.")

c. 5GHz WiFi, even "ac" is more hype than benefit. I tested my new "ac" router and while the 5 GHz now penetrates to outside the house, it is still significantly weaker than the 2.4 GHz signal. I still need to test it while gardening since even the 2.4 GHz used to drop off in the front yard. I'm guessing that will no longer be a problem. I'll test it as soon as the rain stops.

So what should you do?

Unfortunately, the answer is to stop wasting time trying to figure the problem out and just throw money at it. I'm going to buy an "ac" dongle for my "half" speed computer and see if that solves the problem. If it doesn't I'll just return it. Unfortunately, as Donal Rumsfeld has said, "There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know." I've spent quite a few hours trying to figure out how to speed things up. I could have relaxed and watched a couple of movies with that time, or more productively, read a book. I'm extremely frugal, but at some point you have to just "spread the wealth" and buy new stuff. I wasted over an hour doing test with what turned out to be a defective "brand new" ethernet cable. I could have spent an extra 20 minutes and $40 buying that dongle when I was less than a mile away from Best Buy while I was out shopping earlier that day.

Oh, and there is a possibility that there are some obscure setting in your router or computer that MIGHT speed things up. And of course, when testing Internet speeds the weather and outages in your general service area might affect the tests. Meaning that what you do today might not get the same results tomorrow.

For you, I'd compare the cost of:

(But first, please clearly define what you want to accomplish. High speed within your home network vs High speed from the internet. Or some other goals.)

1. Enough of the latest PowerLine adapters to connect all your locations.

2. A new standard router with "beam forming" and then try to find an "optimal" location to point it in the right direction.

3. One of the new "mesh" network devices. They use several units spread throughout your property for better WiFi coverage.

4. Pulling ethernet cable.

Hope these thoughts help.

 

[BlueCat57]

So my curiosity has been quelled. I've tested and tested and reconfigured and tested. I've gone nearly bald and gray during the process. Here are my wizened thoughts.

Just throw as much money at the problem as you can! Save yourself the heartache and frustration of trying to be cheap and fix a computer problem! No, not really. Though after writing everything up, analyzing the results and drawing conclusions I made one more test and everything went out the window and then right back in and then out again. I won't bore you with the details but I have a 9 page Word document if you want the gory details.

Short answer: I bought an "ac" WiFi dongle, plugged it in and got nearly full speed for my computer. Even my VPN speeds increased significantly. Those PowerLine adapters will go into the garage sale to help offset the cost of the dongle.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

People who want full speed really ought to look at properly wiring a home for Ethernet. Nothing else is going to do the same job. In the end, you have to ask whether what you are getting from your WiFi or power line Ethernet is good enough.