wireless network problem

[paulee]

I have a cable modem hooked up to wireless d link 614+.

two computers (both win xp) and connected via dlink wireless cards.

we can surf and transfer files fine.

my problem is.. when one user begins to download, the ping spikes and it becomes unusable for the other. ie he dl's using direct connect, i play diabloii on battle.net

This is my first wireless network. The settings seem to be all correct, I just was wondering if anyone knew an obvious answer to this problem.

Is this a bandwidth issue with the router? Perhaps some interference from an outside source? Or is it more likely a signal leak with the cable modem?

replies appreciated,

paulee

 

[ZeroNine8]

Short answer: Your wireless network is probably not the problem.

There is almost certainly more bandwidth available on your wireless network than on your broadband connection, meaning that your cable modem is the bottleneck. Whoever is downloading is probably using up most of the bandwidth of your cable connection and causing your pings to suffer because of it. You can either use a router/switch that supports bandwidth throttles or traffic shaping, or, the cheaper and easier solution, have each user install and use bandwidth limiters when downloading from the internet. This way the other guy can download at 80-90% of the previous speed and you can still play with little increase in pings. If he is sending files, that will hose the connection even more than downloading for asynchronous connections, but this can still be solved by throttling each computer's bandwidth.

 

[Zelmo3]

I wouldn't be so quick to point at the cable modem as the problem. That router is an 802.11b type, and although the data rate is 11Mb/s, my experience is that the wireless overhead is so high that actual useable data transfer rate is around 1Mb/s (in informal tests transferring files between two computers on the same wireless LAN). Chances are the cable modem has a higher data rate than that, so the wireless is probably what's getting in the way.
Also, from what I've read, ping and throughput have nothing to do with each other. I would guess that it's the limited available throughput that's getting in the way, so in that regard a bandwidth limiter is still the way to go.

 

[ktwebb]

Throughput on an optimally setup WLAN will be in the 4-6 Mbps range for 802.11b. Your problem is at least in part to the fact your using consumer wireless, which is half duplex and shared bandwidth. Only one PC can use the pipe at a given moment, and only in one direction.

 

[paulee]

Originally posted by: ktwebb
Throughput on an optimally setup WLAN will be in the 4-6 Mbps range for 802.11b. Your problem is at least in part to the fact your using consumer wireless, which is half duplex and shared bandwidth. Only one PC can use the pipe at a given moment, and only in one direction.

Thanks for the replies guys.. I think this was the info I needed. I'm going to try to cap his bandwidth and see what happens.

Do you guys think that upgrading to a faster router (not changing the cards) would increase the potential throughput?