Home wifi slow transfer problem
 

Transferring a 30gb file from one machine to another over my home lan.

Time showing is 31 hours.

Any ideas why it is so slow?

What type of wifi? 802.11a, b, g or n?

If you are using 802.11n make sure you're using WPA2 for encryption. Or you'll never get the improved speeds.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3361

also if you have a wireless phones in the house, change the channels around and see if your transfer rate picks up...

No wireless phones.

How do I check which wifi I have?

Thanks guys!

What hardware do you have?

MBA, iMac C2D and a Billion brand router.

You could try running iperf, which is a bandwidth measuring tool. There are Mac versions available here: iperf3 and here: jperf

Even though you don't have a wireless phone, one of your neighbors might. Or, someone nearby might have a wireless network on the same channel. Have you tried changing channels? Have you verified that you're using WPA2 for encryption?

Also, the time shown is often incorrect. As the transfer progresses it will get more accurate.

Now set to WPA2-PSK. Is that correct?

Wifi is shown as b & g.

SU is finding Java Runtime, so that jperf can work.

What do I put in the Client Server address box please?

Forget jperf for now. You definitely do not want b & g combined. Does your router not do n? If not, then set for g only. I doubt you have any b-only devices around.

Get a router that does 'n' networking. Very inexpensive now and much faster than g.

OK, set to g only.

Can you recommend a router? There are squillions of them.

BTW, I assume I want "Firewall on" in the router setup?

Thanks!

How's the throughput since you switched to g only. Any improvement?

Yes, turn the firewall "on".

You're right, there are many router choices. Can you tell us what sort of devices are on your network and what you do with them? Do you expect the router to do anything but simple routing? (eg DDNS, static IP addresses, QoS, etc.)

Difficult to tell on throughput. I'll find a big file to tfr and report back.

iMac C2D, MBA 11", 2 ipads and an iPhone. Occasionally a Samsung netbook that my daughter owns.

Just routing as far as I know.

Last time I researched routers was about a year ago. I ended up with a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH. I bought it because:

• It was available locally.
• The price was right.
• It runs the DD-WRT firmware.
• It got decent reviews in terms of signal strength. (The signal has to go through two concrete walls to get to my bedroom, home of an AppleTV2.)

The version of DD-WRt that came with it was awful. I installed v24. It's still not very good. I'm a tyro at this sort of thing, but it took me an entire day to configure it. I wouldn't buy one again.

You could start by looking here:

cNET Best Networking Devices

or here:

cNET Networking and WiFi

Thanks for those links.

Any idea what the functional difference is between a single and a dual band router?

"Available locally". No kidding. Why do we always get fed garbage, like this place is the forgotten a***hole of Asia?

Dual band routers use both the 2.4 Ghz and 5 GHz bands for WiFi. Useful if you have a lot of interference on the lower band which is also used for devices like cordless phones and microwave ovens. The lower band may have better range.

This place has a fair range of products and they do business online. I've ordered a few things from them:

Invade IT Wireless Routers

.

What about the B3,600 Buffalo does-everything one? I know sfa about specs and what I ought to look for, I am afraid.

Well, I have the single band version of that router and I'm not thrilled with the ease of setup. If it were me I'd probably go with the LinkSys E3200. But, maybe that's more than you need.

My Linksys WRT610N works really good.

Here's a Thai online order link for it. A bit pricey.

LINKSYS WRT610N DUAL 2.4/5 GHZ 4 PORT GIGABIT ROUTER 300 MBPS

Looks like a very nice router, though. Never seen it in a shop here.

Interference from other WIFI networks ?
 

Hi,

Been having problems with my home WIFI at home too. I eventually tried "Kismac" to see if there were any other networks around causing interference. Using Kismac, I detected 44 WIFI networks in range. As there are only 11 channels available in the UK, that means on average there would be 3 other people using any channel I chose.

Luckily, none of the 44 were using channel 1, so I switched to that. Problem solved.

Of the 44, 4 had no encryption at all, and 4 had WEP which can be cracked in around 10 minutes as demonstrated on Youtube.

Kismac - free download from:

http://trac.kismac-ng.org/

By the way, Kismac is illegal software in Germany, as described on their site.

Regards,

Nick

Thanks again all.

The WRT610N is not dual-band, though, I believe?

It is dual band.

Yup, sorry. Got my 160 and 610s mixed up.

That site has no stock and, to make matters worse, won't accept my email address.

My guess is that the 610 is not built for the Thai market, so availability might be problematic. You could try these guys:

Shop 4 Thai - Linksys by Cisco WRT610N Dual-N Band Wireless Router

I've bought stuff from them before. Note that their online stock availability information is not very reliable.

That KisMac si DITW in Lion.

Works fine here. It needs WiFi to be turned on.

Wifi is on?? Clicking the Start Scan did nothing??

Anyway, I ordered the E3200 from Invade. Tomas, the Danish proprietor, could not have been more helpful.

My only issue now, or when it arrives, will be extracting the dsl password from the current POS router. Obviously it is not in my keychain, so how can I get the router to give it up?

Tx,

Gavin

That probably just means that it didn't find any wireless networks. Is your router on with wireless on?

Is you Mac's WiFi on?

My router has an 'unmask' checkbox which reveals the ADSL password.

And, I just checked my keychain and the ADSL username and password are both there.

Yup, all on.

No unmask option. I'll call 3bb.

Not in KC either.

The best of luck to you! They are my ISP as well. Or, is it MaxNet, or Jasmine, or Triple T Broadband?

Gotit. That was pleasantly easy.

3bb. Asked them why we are less than dial-up speed ATM, too.

All I can say is:

ปากหวาน

No need - did it all in English. They seem to have recorded my number and they knew I wasn't Thai.

But, yes, they don't call me the Silver Tongued Devil... at all!
:-)

Just received the E3200 and set it up.

Will I be better off buying a dedicated modem, or staying with the original wireless modem router that the ISP supplied?

If you can manage, it would probably be best to put the modem in bridged mode and let the router do the PPPoE connection and all the routing.

PS - What kind of modem is it?

So, on the 3bb modem router, switch off DHCP and go from PPPoE to Bridge mode?

Then re-run the Cisco setup app?

It's a Billion BIPAC 5200G R4.

Yes, but you should also put the modem on a different subnet from the router. For example, if the router is 192.168.1.1 then put the modem at something like 192.168.0.10. That way you should be able to configure the router to "see" the modem setup page.

After you finish configuring the modem in bridge mode, then put the router back in the loop and run the configuration for the router. I'm assuming that the configuration software will let you setup the router to do the PPPoE stuff?

I don't have a "Billion", I've got a Huawei, so I won't be of much help there.

Billion BIPAC 5200G R4.

Well, having run the setup software again, on my iMac, the iMac is happily online using the new SSID. When I try to connect this MBA to it, it says the password is wrong, which it clearly is not, as the iMac is using it??

I can get on, as now, using the Guest Access??

Well, the original modem router AND the new Visco are both running DHCP.

Which one do I turn off?

Are both the iMac and MBA connecting via WiFi?

Well, the iMac is on the new SSID. No problem.

The MBA was on the guest SSID of the new SSID, BUT, that guest access now no longer works, since I went out to eat.

The MBA cannot get on the new (let's call it "main") SSID. As mentioned, the password is refused, even though it is correct.

Your Caps Lock key isn't down on the MacBook Air, is it? Sorry to ask, but I think that's the most common reason why 'correct' passwords are refused.

Trevor

How many characters in the password?

Capslock not on.

10 characters.

??

Can you turn on verbose logging on the router?

Can you try to copy and paste the password?

Can your iPad connect?

I have enabled the log. It doesn't specify verbose, or otherwise. The log display offers in, out, security and dhcp. Which one?

The pwd is copied and pasted.

Pads and phones and all other devises cannot connect to Tiger (main SSID). MBA was on Tiger Guset, but that will not connect now, even though it remains enabled. MBA now on the old Billion SSID.

So, both routers are transmitting SSID and doing DHCP.. Surely, one of them must have dhcp turned off, yes?

Tx.

When you talk about two routers are you talking about the Billion modem/router and your new LinkSys router? If so, the Billion should be in bridged mode with everything else off. DHCP off, etc.

Does the Billion box do WiFi? Is that where the second SSID is coming from?

Only one router should be broadcasting an SSID and only that router should be doing DHCP.

The Billion is still there because it is the modem.

So, for the Billion box, turn from PPoE to Bridge.
Disable DHCP.

ANything else?

Tx.

That should do it.

Now posting from iPad tethered to iPhone...

OK, now all devices can get on Tiger that emanates from the new Cisco.

However, there is no Internet connection and I now have no way of getting into the Billion settings to make any further changes. I have tried an Ethernet cable from the Billion box into the back of the iMac, but no dice.

The guy who sold me the Cisco actually said to leave dhcp on in the billion and off in the Cisco???

Did you change the IP address on the Billion to be in a different subnet from the rest of your LAN? You should be able to connect the Billion via an Ethernet cable and access the web setup using whatever IP address you gave to the modem.

I've attached screenshots of my modem setup. As you can see, bridged mode, no DHCP.

I don't get the advice of having the Billion do the DHCP. Why buy a robust router if you're going to leave the routing to the modem?

So how can I get back into the Billion now?

Turn off the LinkSys.

Connect the Billion with an Erhernet cable.

Type the IP address of the Billion into web browser.

You should be connected.

Did that. Entered 192.168.1.1 and nothing. "Server isn't responding".

In network preferences, the ethernet link is showing "self-assigned IP".

Restarted the Billion. No change.

Try manually assigning an IP address to your Mac. 192.168.1.10

Can't see where (under which heading/setting) to do that.

Here is the current position:

iMac is connected to wireless Tiger and has (according to system preferences) IP 192.168.0.137

In the Cisco settings, the router is listing 192.168.0.1 as it's IP, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0

The Billion box is set to Bridged (therefore PPoE is off) and DHCP is disabled.

In the settings on the new Cisco router, should Internet Connection Type be PPPoE, auto-DHCP, Bridge, or what?

At this stage, I cannot load any browser pages/ get email.

Thanks for sticking with me here.

Forgot this:

If I do try and load a web page, I get an ISP branded message that my login name is either incorrect, or expired???

I'm a little lost here. I thought you wanted to get in to the Billion box so you could turn DHCP back on?

If so, turn the new router complete off and disconnect it.

Go in to System Preferences > Network > Ethernet > Configure IPv4 Manually and then input an IP address for your Mac that is in the same subnet as the Billion box. You should then be able to connect to the Billion box through its web interface using its IP address. Did you change the IP address of the Billion box or just leave the default?

---- or ----

If you want to leave things as they are and work on the new router then the connection type should be PPPoE. Once you select that it will ask for the username and password assigned by your ISP.

That really should be all you need to do.

Thanks for that, you are quite right. Out of desperation, I called back 3BB and rechecked my logins. (pleasantly WHAT did I say?) The first rep had given me completely erroneous information.

It was just a case of turning off the DHCP on the Billion box, putting it into Bridge mode and then inputting the correct username and password on the Cisco box.

All up and running now. Many thanks for sticking with me through that walk in the dark.

Lunch on me if and when we catch up.

I'll be down tomorrow!

Just kidding. I'm off to the Similans for a dive trip next week. So close...

I'm glad you got it sorted.

Always welcome here any time!

I do need to get down south again one of these days....

KisMAC does not work in Lion. If you select Airport Extreme, passive mode, and scan all channels 1-11, and then start the scan, it will freeze after a while.

If You have the capability, then connect your devices to a switch (go wired instead of wifi) and see if that helps. It may not be a wifi issue

With 802.11g 2.4ghz band (in north america) , there are only 3 non overlapping channels (channels that can exist in the same area and not interfere with each other). These channels are 1, 6 & 11. Therefore, if there are other networks in your area using ch 1, switch to 6 or 11.

If all your devices are 802.11g devices, then disable 802.11b compatibility on your router, that will disable the protection mechanism in 802.11g that forces it to 802.11b speeds for backwards compatibility.

Dual band routers A & B/G (combined 2.4ghz & 5ghz bands) will not help if your devices (MBP or iPad or laptop) don't support 5ghz (802.11a). if they do, then switching to 802.11a (5ghz) will help you avoid noise on the 2.4 ghz band (microwave ovens, other wifi networks etc). Please note that there are some 5ghz cordless phones that may cause you problems on the 802.11a band.