Question for networking guys.
 

I just switch to cable modem and get 23mb downloading speed on my desktop, using speedtest.net, but only get between 11 to 13 mb on both of my laptops. I did try to disable wireless and cable is plugged in. I don't think the network card on my desktop is anything fancy. Any thought?

There are many issues that could affect speed. I would guess the cable modem that you purchased is good upto 23MBPS, but that is not guaranteed. They cannot guarantee it because there are many things that happen between when the information you request is sent to you, and when you receive it. The information that you request is broken up into small packets. Those packets are then sent to your computer. Each packet may take a different route to get there, but due to address tables built into routers, they are supposed to all get there eventually (eventually can be a very short period of time). Due to the nature of how this happens, sometimes, information may travel on quicker 'pipes' and sometimes slower. While your cable modem is capable of receiving information at a given speed, not everyone can deliver at that given speed.

I would expect wireless to laptops to be slower. Couple of obvious reasons for it but a big culprit for wireless is the capability of ALL the wireless devices. The router will default to the slowest device, so if you have a B and G wireless device everything will get B speed.

If you plugged the laptops into ethernet then I assume they are simply older machines with lower capacity cards.

802.11b would explain those speeds, but that can't be the cause of the wired speed. You said you tried to disable wireless - are you not sure? The NICs in the laptops are probably 100Mbps, which shouldn't be the limiting factor keeping you to 11-13Mbps. Were these results repeatable several times? Did you test when no other devices were connected? If so, I'm suspecting performance of the OS itself. Are they running lot's of software? Look in your system tray (next to the clock in the lower-right corner), are there a lot of icons there?

Head416,
They are all XP pro. Yes, I did disable wireless and used the cable plugged in when running speedtest.net, on different days with nothing running beside the test site, same result (twice the speed on desktop). One of the laptop doesn't even have additional apps. installed except those manufacture stuff. My desktop has lot more icons.

Hmmm, my wireless (7.5mbps) varied from 2.1 to 6.5 when I've tested it...

Don't really get an answer from Qwest as to why.

a) The list of potential reasons for the speed difference is long.
b) The speeds you are talking about are so insanely fast (historically anyway....), that I don't see how it warrants discussion. I mean, how much smut do you really need? :)

I would give my left nut for that speed.

I'm getting 1.25 Mb/s for download and .2 Mb/s for upload on a bellsouth DSL line. That and we are constantly having to reboot the wireless router when there is a problem/no access.

Bellsouth is about as helpful as a kick in the nuts to resolve it.

guys, I know speed varies base on multiple matters but this is diff. My desktop is getting constantly 23-24mb and both of my laptops are getting constantly 11-13mb, usually late at night. All are testing without any other apps running, plugging into the same rounter at the same distant. using the same website (speedtest.net) Don't you see there is the diff between my desktop and laptops? This is not the usual variation between diff computers.
Anyone with both can run similar test?

Hardrive, I am working from home and dealing with a lot of data down/up load. Every bit count for me.

A930, I had similar problem with ATT&T years ago. Calling them mill times with no help, even though they worked on it multiple times. When I switched to a third party, they treat the third party better. The third party support people figured out that they need to reboot their card, and it did solved the problem.

What are the ages of the laptops, are they the same model and brand?

Check hardware profile, what NIC is in them?

Same questions re the desktop.

For the download portion speedtest.net will simultaneously dump two 7.5 MB files onto your machine.

Laptops typically have slower drives than desktops. Difference sounds too large for that to be the entire issue but that in combo with other factors may give you your answer.

10mb card in the laptops?
NICs set to Half duplex? The default is usually auto-negotiate, which doesn't always give you a 100/Full connection to the switch, especially on older equipment. Sometimes you have to force a 100/Full connection in the property window of the NIC.

I'm not a networking expert, but these are things I've found when trying to troubleshoot throughput issues.

--Jim

i just did the speedtest and got:
21.76 download
5.52 upload

Must be a lot of people on tonight or something.. a little on the slow side..

I would check to make sure that the nic drivers on the laptops were current (updated); check the laptops advanced nic settings and make sure they are autosensing to 100MB and full duplex; make sure you are using known good cat5 cables with the laptops and in addition make sure you are testing apples to apples (same time of day, same sites, etc.) Cable modem bandwidth is "shared" and can vary based upon number of users, upstream traffic patterns, etc.

Also might want to try some of the other "speedtest" sites:

Speed Test : upload and download | DSLReports.com, ISP Information

:eek:

For the record, on a good day I get ~5Mbps down, .8Mbps up. Your "slow" up is better than my best down!

If your laptop is getting significantly slower speeds than desktops connected to the same router, then it leads me to believe it is the NIC. In the past, there certainly were differences between a 3Com NIC and an SMC NIC and a MiTAC NIC or any NE2000 NIC for that matter. I would suggest that this is where your problem lies.

Thanks guys, I will play with the device manager area.

What NIC they have does matter more than you'd think.

Granted, this test was on wireless, but swapping out my 802.11g card for an 802.11n card, with the same laptop antenna, and same 802.11g Wireless access point (so no speed boost at the source), at the same distance, doubled the speed.

Still seems way too low to be a NIC bottleneck, but could be some not so great drivers or something. Hard drive on the notebook would be much slower, but shouldn't be *that* slow by a long shot.

It is an Intel(R) Pro/Wireless 2200BG. Does it matter any?