problems transfering files over wireless network

[Rc mayhem]

I am having problems transfering files over my wireless network from my laptop through my wireless router to my desktop. Both of the computers connect wirelessly to the same network. The router and laptop are B grade (so 11 mbps max) and the desktop is fitted with a G card (54 mbps max), however I seem to only be able to use 22-23% of the network capacity (around 2-3 mbps). This means that transfering files is extreamly slow. Does anyone know why this is happening or know how I can get it to transfer at the full rate?

Thanks
Cm

[Phil^]

is the cpu of one of them maxed out?
just a theory, as i have a similar problem over a 100mbps wired lan to a p2-450. except i get 4-10% utilisation

[Rc mayhem]

I dont think so. I have now got the theory it may be my hard drive speed at the fact it really needs to be defragged.

[meglamaniac]

TBH that's not far off what you can expect for a wireless 11b network.

First of all, you will never ever see 11mbps even if both machines are sat right next to the access point. 11mbps is the theoretical max and does not account for carrier signal, flow control, error correction or contention.
8mbps is a more realistic target IF both machines concerened have a perfect signal to the AP and IF there are no other machines on the network. Wireless is a shared bandwidth technology, so the more machines you add, the less speed you get - especially if more than one machine is talking at once, although there is still a speed degredation even when they're 'idle'.
Obviously speed drops off as the signal does - what signal strength are the machines getting? If both are on, say 50% signal strength you have to take the added delay for a 50% signal and then double it, as packets have to go over both degraded links so loss can occur on one or both sides.

Also, please bear in mind that 8mbps = 977kB/s - less than a megabyte per second. Most modern harddrives should not have a problem sustaining 10 times that, so I find it unlikely that the harddrive is the issue. As a guide, at 977kB/s you can expect to wait ~13 minutes for a 700mb movie to transfer.

[Rc mayhem]

Ok thanks. That makes more sense. The hard drive idea came from the fact my had drive was over 50% fragmented so would have to keep going back and forth. What you said sounds right.

Thanks again

[Luckeh!!!!]

btw, the best yo ucan hope for is around 5.5Mbps of actual transfer, much bandwidth is lost due to overheads with wireless

[flapjack]

on my Wlan, with both machines giving 100% signal and speed 11mbit, I generally manage around 600kb/s when transferring files over FTP.

Just the 2 machines on it and no CPU use of any (other) kind on the server side, or the client for that matter.