AC66u Lan Network Speeds Low

[Wytao]

Hi!

Been reading for a while but first time I've had the need to post, this problem seems to be out of my hands! So any help would be much appreciated!

The situation is i have a Asus AC66u router, and for the first time recently have attempted to transfer files from one computer to another via my network. The average transfer rate is around 4-10Mbps, which on average is lower than my actual download speeds. Both computers are hooked up wirelessly using AC adapters which boast speeds of ~600Mbps for one and ~850Mbps for the other. Both are running Samsung SSD Pro's so i don't believe that that is the bottle neck in the system. Have also tried hooking one up to the router via a CAT 5e cable with no help.

One computer is windows 8, while the other is windows 7. The firmware on the AC66U is 376.47 Merlin Build.

The SSID for both my 2.4 and 5GHz are different. No one else in my area has a 5GHz connection, and the settings for the 5GHz connection are as follows.

Wireless Mode Auto
Channel bandwidth 20/40/80 Mhz
Control Channel Auto
Extension Channel Auto

Any help would be great as this has been killing me slowly! If i missed any information that is needed let me know!

Thanks a ton

 

[ChuckT]

Wytao how are you doing the transfers? I want to do that also and have yet to wade thru the verbiage sucessfully!

Also I bought new wireless adapters with our 66U but they are USB3 and we don't have '3 on any of our computers (I knew that). Point is - I would not expect to get the advertised speeds cause they're Ad brags not real-world.

 

[jegesq]

Chuck:

You will never actually get the theoretical maximum speeds in the real world. Not even if you are using Cat7 cabling and a Gigabit Ethernet connection. There are a plethora of threads here at SNB that discuss the speeds one can expect for throughput (which is different than download speed from your ISP) both wired and if using a 2.4 Ghz, or 5.0ghz wireless, and depending on the various flavors of 802.11, e.g., a/b/g/n/ac you are using.

If I recall correctly, the theoretical maximum throughput for a wired 1Gb Ethernet connection using Cat5e is somewhere around 125MB/s, but in the real world (my experience) is that you'll top out at about 45-50 MB/s (Edit: But see Merlin's comment below). Wireless is obviously lower.

A good place to start learning about this is in the "Basics" section of the main portion of this site. Tim Higgins has written some excellent articles. I suggest you start with this one to gain an understanding of the differences between speed and throughput: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-basics/32175-how-fast-can-your-wi-fi-go

Also, you should know that the AC wireless adapters, at least based on the tests done here at SNB, don't seem to negatively affected whether one uses a USB 3.0 or 2.0 port. This seems counterintuitive, but as the test results for the most recent batch of AC adapters showed (see http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32545-ac580-usb-wireless-adapter-roundup), there was little to no performance drop between 3.0 and 2.0 ports for the adapters that were tested (ac580 class).

Wytao:

Same advice re: speed vs. throughput. Your download speed is clearly different than your LAN file transfer throughput. That said, without knowing what equipment you're using and what software or processes are running, it's probably not possible for anyone here to help you really isolate what the bottleneck may be. 4-10 Mbps isn't horrible, but you can probably improve it. Others here will know far more about that, and hopefully someone will chime in to assist.

 

[RMerlin]

Gigabit Ethernet has no problem hitting 80-100 MB/s, provided quality cabling.

 

[jegesq]

I obviously stand corrected. Thanks Merlin.