Internet Speed Differences

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Not sure where I should ask this question. I have friends who have their systems networked for internet connection sharing. They are using a Linksys Router with their DSL modem. The husband’s system is much faster than the wife’s system. His system is within arms length of the DSL modem and router. He is also running WIN XP with 512 MB ram. The wife’s system is about 25-30 feet away – hardwired from the router. She is running WIN 98 SE and has 192 MB ram. Her downstream speed is about 1/2 of her husband (600 vs 300) – upstream is about the same (210 vs 205). The wife’s internet speed has diminished from whtat it was originally. I do not have exact speed test results but she says it is much slower than before. What could be causing this disparity? Thanks for any and all suggestions.

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The speed of the processor and the OS will affect the Internet speed.
When I was running machines with earlier versions of OS than my main machine, the Internet speed was quite different. I am on a cable connection with 4 machines. Now all running XP but different processors and they are all have different download speeds.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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The speed of the processor and the OS will affect the Internet speed.
When I was running machines with earlier versions of OS than my main machine, the Internet speed was quite different. I am on a cable connection with 4 machines. Now all running XP but different processors and they are all have different download speeds.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Since you didn’t say how they’re checking the speeds, Trebor, how about passing this link along to them to see what results they get. It’s free. I’m sure you’ve asked them about antivirus and spyware detection, right? I guess there’s a possibility that something could have crept into her machine and be chewing up CPU (or something). Other than the built-in differences mentioned by Dave, if her machine really has degraded lately, it may involve the laborious task of check as many settings as possible to see if something has gotten changed recently. This could be a tough nut to crack.

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Since you didn’t say how they’re checking the speeds, Trebor, how about passing this link along to them to see what results they get. It’s free. I’m sure you’ve asked them about antivirus and spyware detection, right? I guess there’s a possibility that something could have crept into her machine and be chewing up CPU (or something). Other than the built-in differences mentioned by Dave, if her machine really has degraded lately, it may involve the laborious task of check as many settings as possible to see if something has gotten changed recently. This could be a tough nut to crack.

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I would add to the existing comments that Windows 98 is nowhere as efficient at handling networking as its NT based brethren, from which XP springs. My first suggestion would be to connect the PCs in reverse order to see if the speed follows the computer, which I suspect that it will.

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I would add to the existing comments that Windows 98 is nowhere as efficient at handling networking as its NT based brethren, from which XP springs. My first suggestion would be to connect the PCs in reverse order to see if the speed follows the computer, which I suspect that it will.

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It may be a silly question, but what Ethernet card (or motherboard?) connection is each PC using to connect to the LinkSys router? In the olde days of serial connections, the type of UART (don’t ask!) could have a very significant effect on data throughput, so it may be that the Ethernet hardware could have a similar effect? (That’s once you’ve satisfied the previous posting persons…!)

John

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IMO the key here is the statement that the speed has changed. I pretty much agree about the CPU, OS, NIC, RAM, etc. affecting download speed, but it doesn’t appear that any of these have changed-at least not deliberately. (Hardware degradation over time does occur, but I don’t think I’ve seen it more than once or twice in 20 years where the hardware slowed down rather than breaking down.)

Check for spyware, virus, etc. Also might try another cable & port. I’ve seen those go bad without failing outright (particularly cables). Sort of a long shot though unless something’s been moved/changed recently.

How is overall performance on the PC? If that has also decreased then I’d definitely suspect spyware/virus. Note that the reverse isn’t necessarily true-some spyware isn’t ‘active’ except when you’re using the Internet. Could also be overheating? (Particularly if it’s a P4-IIRC those have builtin thermal protection that slows the processor down when it overheats.)

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IMO the key here is the statement that the speed has changed. I pretty much agree about the CPU, OS, NIC, RAM, etc. affecting download speed, but it doesn’t appear that any of these have changed-at least not deliberately. (Hardware degradation over time does occur, but I don’t think I’ve seen it more than once or twice in 20 years where the hardware slowed down rather than breaking down.)

Check for spyware, virus, etc. Also might try another cable & port. I’ve seen those go bad without failing outright (particularly cables). Sort of a long shot though unless something’s been moved/changed recently.

How is overall performance on the PC? If that has also decreased then I’d definitely suspect spyware/virus. Note that the reverse isn’t necessarily true-some spyware isn’t ‘active’ except when you’re using the Internet. Could also be overheating? (Particularly if it’s a P4-IIRC those have builtin thermal protection that slows the processor down when it overheats.)

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John, I forgot about the NIC, they are a BIG influence of the speed.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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John, I forgot about the NIC, they are a BIG influence of the speed.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

It may be a silly question, but what Ethernet card (or motherboard?) connection is each PC using to connect to the LinkSys router? In the olde days of serial connections, the type of UART (don’t ask!) could have a very significant effect on data throughput, so it may be that the Ethernet hardware could have a similar effect? (That’s once you’ve satisfied the previous posting persons…!)

John

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