Test the speed between computers in LAN

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I have three Windows XP Home SP3 computers in my LAN. All three are gigabit network computers connected with Linksys WRT54G 10/100 Wireless G router.

I am considering upgrading to a Belkin N+ gigabit router. I would like to test the actual network speed between computers before and after installing the new gigabit router. Is there a simple and cost effective way to do these tests?

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I would like to test the actual network speed between computers before and after installing the new gigabit router. Is there a simple and cost effective way to do these tests?

Create a folder with a few thousand files in it. Time how long it takes to copy this folder in each direction.
Create a single very large file. Time how long it takes to copy this file in each direction.

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I have three Windows XP Home SP3 computers in my LAN. All three are gigabit network computers connected with Linksys WRT54G 10/100 Wireless G router.

I am considering upgrading to a Belkin N+ gigabit router. I would like to test the actual network speed between computers before and after installing the new gigabit router. Is there a simple and cost effective way to do these tests?

Presumably the ‘gigabit’ to which you refer relates to the speed of the ethernet connection between a PC (with a 1 Gbit NIC) and an ethernet port on the router? So this is irrelevant for your Wireless G / Wireless N tests.

If I understand you correctly, you wish to determine the data transfer rate between a wireless-card-equipped PC and a folder share on a second wireless-card-equipped PC, transferring data via the wireless router. Testing both before and after the change to the Wireless-N router?

Stuart’s suggestion is the accurate way of determining this, and it will be interesting to see what differences there are between transferring many small files, and one large file…

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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Presumably the ‘gigabit’ to which you refer relates to the speed of the ethernet connection between a PC (with a 1 Gbit NIC) and an ethernet port on the router? So this is irrelevant for your Wireless G / Wireless N tests.

If I understand you correctly, you wish to determine the data transfer rate between a wireless-card-equipped PC and a folder share on a second wireless-card-equipped PC, transferring data via the wireless router. Testing both before and after the change to the Wireless-N router?

Stuart’s suggestion is the accurate way of determining this, and it will be interesting to see what differences there are between transferring many small files, and one large file…

Hi BATcher,

There is only one wireless G computer, the notebook, in my house. The other three desktop computers are all Gbit NIC. I want to determine the data transfer rate between Gbit NIC computers connected by ethernet ports, not the wireless transfer speed.

I find it is relatively slow to play the 1080p videos pulled from one Gbit NIC computer to another Gbit NIC computer. The video will delay. I am not sure what the cable is inside the wall of my home network. Maybe it is cat 5 or 5e. I want to do the test to see if it is worth to spend the $90 to upgrade the router.

If the data transfer speed increases two, three or four times after the upgrade and the video still play delayed, it proves it is not the problem of network speed. If the data transfer speed does not increase over 100M after the upgrade, the network cable need to be evaluated.

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Hi BATcher,

There is only one wireless G computer, the notebook, in my house. The other three desktop computers are all Gbit NIC. I want to determine the data transfer rate between Gbit NIC computers connected by ethernet ports, not the wireless transfer speed.

I find it is relatively slow to play the 1080p videos pulled from one Gbit NIC computer to another Gbit NIC computer. The video will delay. I am not sure what the cable is inside the wall of my home network. Maybe it is cat 5 or 5e. I want to do the test to see if it is worth to spend the $90 to upgrade the router.

If the data transfer speed increases two, three or four times after the upgrade and the video still play delayed, it proves it is not the problem of network speed. If the data transfer speed does not increase over 100M after the upgrade, the network cable need to be evaluated.

Ah!

It sounds to me that there is something badly wrong. There would be nothing gained on spending $90 (or whatever) on a new router before you’ve eliminated other possibilities.

I can’t see any reason why changing to a Wireless-N router would have any effect on the Gigabit Hub which you say both the current Wireless-G router has and the new Wireless-N router will include! Are you sure they have Gigabit ethernet ports? Much more usual would be 100 Mbps ports. I would obtain two Cat 5E (or even Cat 6) patch cables of appropriate length and connect them between each PC and the router “over the floor and up the stairs” or wherever they need to go, and do the tests with these, and with the current cables.

If the tests come out with similar data rates, then the problem might relate to the configuration of the ethernet ports on the PCs – Stuart knows more about full- and half-duplex, fixing speeds rather than allowing them to be negotiated, and so on, than I do!

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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Ah!

It sounds to me that there is something badly wrong. There would be nothing gained on spending $90 (or whatever) on a new router before you’ve eliminated other possibilities.

I can’t see any reason why changing to a Wireless-N router would have any effect on the Gigabit Hub which you say both the current Wireless-G router has and the new Wireless-N router will include! Are you sure they have Gigabit ethernet ports? Much more usual would be 100 Mbps ports. I would obtain two Cat 5E (or even Cat 6) patch cables of appropriate length and connect them between each PC and the router “over the floor and up the stairs” or wherever they need to go, and do the tests with these, and with the current cables.

If the tests come out with similar data rates, then the problem might relate to the configuration of the ethernet ports on the PCs – Stuart knows more about full- and half-duplex, fixing speeds rather than allowing them to be negotiated, and so on, than I do!

Hi BATcher,

The current router, Linksys WRT54G, is a 10/100 router, not a Gbit router. The reason I chose Belkin N+ gigabit router for upgrade was this wireless gigabit router was cheaper than other gigabit routers with no wireless function.

If the upgrade will not help me as DaveA said after I have run the tests, I still have the opportunity to return it to the local store.

Since the entire network cables are running inside the wall and the attics buried under the insulation, to run a new cable or change the cables is not an easy job.

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Ah!

It sounds to me that there is something badly wrong. There would be nothing gained on spending $90 (or whatever) on a new router before you’ve eliminated other possibilities.

I can’t see any reason why changing to a Wireless-N router would have any effect on the Gigabit Hub which you say both the current Wireless-G router has and the new Wireless-N router will include! Are you sure they have Gigabit ethernet ports? Much more usual would be 100 Mbps ports. I would obtain two Cat 5E (or even Cat 6) patch cables of appropriate length and connect them between each PC and the router “over the floor and up the stairs” or wherever they need to go, and do the tests with these, and with the current cables.

If the tests come out with similar data rates, then the problem might relate to the configuration of the ethernet ports on the PCs – Stuart knows more about full- and half-duplex, fixing speeds rather than allowing them to be negotiated, and so on, than I do!

Test results report:

The delay of playing 1080p video files through 10/100 LAN was not caused by the LAN transfer speed. It was caused by the underpowered PC. The WinXP Home PC (E4500 CPU, 2GB Memory and Intel 82945G (128MB) video card) was not power enough to process the 1080p video. If I used a Vista 64-bit Home premium PC ( Intel 8200 CPU, 4GB Memory and Intel G45/G43 (1759MB) video card, it played the 1080p movie over the 10/100 LAN with no delay.

There is no need to replace the 10/100 router with the 10/100/1000 router for my application. However, a better computer is needed.

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I think to get the speeds that you are looking for, you are going to need to replace the “Wires” with “Fiber”.

But, I have been known to be wrong before.

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

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