n00b XP home network questions

jayinhongkong · 12-09-2007, 07:30 PM

I set up a home network yesterday through my Linksys router. I'm very happy with the ability to stream audio and video over wifi, but I was just wondering if there was some way to speed up the transfers between my desktop and our laptops. It takes forever to transfer data (3-4 mins per 100 meg CD, for example). Thanks in advance guys. Going to turn the desktop into our entertainment storage center.

JohanSWE · 12-09-2007, 08:58 PM

encryption of the connection such as WEP slows down the network, and the higher the encryption 64bit/128bit etc the slower it gets.
Also Linksys don't have a good average transfer rate, they kinda suck big time in that area.
And if you use Linksys you better use linksys network cards also on your notebooks etc.
To avoid using encryption for security and spped it up a little, you can just set network access to only allow selected mac addresses that you can sett in the admin page of the router.

jayinhongkong · 12-09-2007, 09:17 PM

Thanks Johan, I'll do that. Only one of the machines has a Linksys card unfortunately. I'll change the network settings later this week to only allow the 4-5 MAC addresses we'll be using.

JohanSWE · 12-09-2007, 10:19 PM

One more thing, don't use windows Zero config for network access, use the software provided with the network card etc if any.
Since Win Zero software continuously scans for networks even when your already connected.

aussben · 13-09-2007, 11:47 AM

Unfortunately wifi is not all it's cracked up to be. If you have 54Mbps connection that is shared between the sending and receiving, plus interference from another wireless devices as well and other computers. Where as 100/1000 at full duplex allows that amount of bandwidth for each computer.

If you router supports channel hopping that is a good feature as it will jump between channels if it gets interference. The latest 108Mbps connections just use multiple channels. Hard wired LAN is the go if you want good speeds though, but not always convenient. If you get inference or a bad single you can greatly increase you connection strength by getting a large gain antenna for both the adapter and the router. Do a channel scan make sure there are no other wireless devices using the same channel as you are.

Good luck.

JohanSWE · 13-09-2007, 01:25 PM

Yeah but buying a booster antenna is ripoff, you can triple your gain just by wrapping ordinary tinfoil around your current antenna, so instead of forking out 500+HKD you can get a better effect for less than $10.
But it doesn't look as pretty though :P
But if you can hide it then its a sure cash saver.

JohanSWE · 13-09-2007, 01:46 PM

well to be more precise you can take a tin can or a bowl of some sort wrap the tinfoil around it, make a hole in the bottom, and place it over the antenna and there you go, instant low tech super gain boost antenna that can rival any high priced manufactured antenna.

aussben · 13-09-2007, 03:05 PM

haha good idea, not sure on the cost of them in HK but here in Aus they are on $12 77HK I would assume they would be cheaper there.

JohanSWE · 13-09-2007, 04:24 PM

$12 or 77HKD how many dBi boost will that get you?
Cant be more than 1-2 i suspect, while the home made tinfoil one will get you maybe 7-10 for maybe $0.5 and 5min of labor :P
But enough about this now, either option is fine and im getting off topic.
And to get a bit more off topic, they have developed a Gbps transfer capable wireless system already they can send at 15-20Gbps but its limited to 1meters at a distance of 2-10m the transfer drops to 5Gbps, but i wouldn't mind even if it dropped to a "mere" 1Gbps:P