Download speed suffereing-router, or throttling?

[Redfoot]

Howdy all. Here is my setup.

Dell XPS 420 (I know, I know, but it was a q6600 system for about $500)
Fresh (less than day old) install of Windows XP, patched.
All drivers updated.

Broadcom NIC chipset, 100 Mbs

50 Ft. cable

Linksys WRT54G v.5, newest firmware (considering micro WRT)

Comcast Cable

3 users, I do the heaviest downloading. I am wired, the other two are wireless G. The computers should be clean of spyware and viruses.

The current issue is this. I have a great connection for surfing and gaming. However, the minute another program is using the connection as well, speeds suffer. Example. New OS install, and I am downloading my games from Steam. 774.1 KBs DL rate quoted. I pull up firefox, and start to surf, and Steam DL rate drops to 114KBs. Speakeasy test from San Fran gives me about a 6000 kbps DL, and 1350 UL. Other times when I am playing online, another user in the house will hop on to surf, and they complain of "lag" in the connection. When Auzerus is active, utilizing only 150 Kbps, the surfing lags as well. Surfing alone is pretty quick, unless opening 8-10 tabs. The tests were done when I was the only one using the router at that time.

I am going to try to hook up directly to the cable modem to take the router out of the equation, but we rely on the internet for classes and whatnot, so that is not possible at this time.

So what do you think? Newer Router perhaps? A new Linksys is on the way to replace a WRT54GX that was cooked during a manufacturer firmware upgrade.

Over at Tom's Hardware they have an interesting test on the best routers for filesharing, and I was looking at perhaps an upgrade if needed. I would like to stay away from Linksys hardware for a while, due to many issues with various models from a few of my friends.

So, what do you guys think so far? Router, or pipe throttling?

Thank you for your assistance.

-Redfoot

 

[spidey07]

That's normal behavior, upload and download are related. TCP is designed to try to adapt to network conditions and when you've got other stuff going on it will change as will your thruput.

Plus that virus protocol call torrents isn't very network friendly.

 

[Redfoot]

Hmmm. I just find it odd that an HTTP request would have such an impact on downloading. I expect their to be some, but I found that a little extreme.

I will see about taking the router out of the equation later on to see if there is a difference with and without it. I am probably just looking for a reason to dislike the Linksys hardware even more!

 

[spidey07]

HTTP is very back and forth, it's not a simple "gimme a webpage"

It's more like "gimme the code", then gimme each and every single object on the page each with it's own request. It's not pretty.

The other thing is your 50 foot cable, that's out of spec. While normally not a concern it's the first thing to look at.

 

[htne]

Originally posted by: spidey07

The other thing is your 50 foot cable, that's out of spec. While normally not a concern it's the first thing to look at.

Sorry, wrong answer. Cat5 is spec'ed to 100 meters, or about 328 feet.



http://www.cat-5-cable-company...ength-cat-5-cable.html