Hello. My first post - I have already found a lot of useful information on the website, but i have an unusual network problem which i can't figure out. Maybe someone can enlighten me.
I recently changed my home network from a dying wireless Belkin G based setup to a gigabit wired network (based around a new Billion 7800), thinking a wired network would be more solid. My ADSL service is currently a fixed rate 2Mb, which i want to regrade when i have sorted my network out. On the LAN, i have 4 PCs (3 desktop, 1 laptop) all with gigabit network controllers (all different makes). All cables are rated Cat5e. My problem concerns the download speeds i am experiencing on 3 out of 4 network computers - which are below even the wireless G network i had before. The only PC which downloads properly, has a Marvell 88E1111 controller on an NForce 4 (fairly old now) motherboard. This quickly tops out at around 250-260k/s when downloading files and is pretty stable. The other PCs have the following LAN controllers:
VITESSE VSC8201RX (MSI K8NGM2FID)
Broadcom 5787M (Laptop)
Netgear GA311 PCI Card
All of these controllers exhibit the same behaviour when initiating a file download: A delay of a couple of seconds, followed by a slow crawl up to a speed of just under 200kb/s, and very inconsistent speed between 150-200kb/s. Clearly this is not right for supposed gigabit controllers. I could understand a poorly performing controller transferring at below even 10mb/s, but not below 200kb/s.
I have tried swapping ports on the Billion to no avail, so i think its an issue with the network controllers. Is there any recommended setting either on the Billion adsl router or on the network controllers to stabilise internet file transfer speed? Are some gigabit controllers simply unsuitable for the kind of data transfer which takes place on an ADSL line?
One thing i haven't explored is the file transfer performance between the PCs themselves. I have XP on all machines which doen't give any info on transfer speed when copying files. Any recommended (free) software to monitor LAN performance / file transfer speed?
If a regraded my ADSL to say an 8mb ADSL2 service, do you think the flakey connections would top out at the same speed or at a speed just below the proper transfer speed of an 8mb line? (ignoring ADSL attenuation, SN ratio etc..)
Thanks in advance to anyone who reads through my post without falling asleep and replies.