Wireless read speed is slooooow.!

bigfal · 11-20-2006, 03:50 AM

Hello, I'm hoping someone can help with this problem.

I've just added a Netgear SC101 network storage unit to my Netgear WGR614v5 wireless router. The installation ran without any problems and when installed, I was able to archive data from my PC to the network storage without any problems. The problem is when I read data back from it....it is painfully slow.!
At first I thought it was a problem with the network storage so I wired my PC into the router to test it and hey presto, lightning fast read speeds. I'm guessing this proves there's nothing wrong with the network storage and that the problem must lie with the wireless capabilities of my router, my wireless adapter (a usb Netgear WG111v2) or within the network settings of XP.
I had a quick look on Netgear & Microsoft's support sites but haven't been able to find anything. I'm going to try raising it with Netgear's tech support but though I'd try you guys first.!

The result of my test was as follows.....
I tried copying 100mb of mp3's back and forth between the pc and the network storage, wired and wirelessly, timed how long it took and noted the network bandwidth usage during the job.

Wired write test - It took 22 seconds to copy the data from the PC to the SC101
Wired read test - It took 17 seconds to copy the data from the SC101 to the PC

This resulted in a read speed of approx 6mb per second and write speed of approx 4.6mb per second. This is pretty much in line with Netgear's performance claims of the SC101 so confirms that it works without any problems.
Task manager reported network usage of my 100meg network card of between 40% and 50% for the duration of both read and write tests.

Wireless write test - It took 55 seconds to copy the data from the pc to the sc101
Wireless read test - It took 4 minutes to copy the data from the sc101 to the pc

This resulted in a read speed of 0.4mb per second and write speed of 1.9mb per second. The write speed is acceptable as it's slightly less than half the speed of wired...pretty much what I'd expect going from 100meg wired to 54meg wireless. The read speed is the obvious problem.!
Task manager reported network usage of my 54meg wireless card of between 40% and 45% during the write test and between 5% and 10% during the read test. The Netgear meter reported a wireless signal strength of between 94% and 96% for the duration of both tests. (the router and wireles adapter are both sitting on the same desk).

Does anyone have any ideas.?

Network storage device - Netgear SC101
Router Netgear - WGR614v5
Wireless adapter - Netgear WG111v2

**johnwill** · 11-20-2006, 10:53 AM

Yep, welcome to file sharing using WiFi.

Due to the half-duplex nature of 802.11b/g connection, and the high overhead of the SMB protocol, file sharing over wireless connections is pretty painful. I'm not entirely sure why the read is so much slower than the write, using WiFi for file sharing is so painful for me that I don't do it unless there's no other way.

bigfal · 11-20-2006, 04:43 PM

Thanks for your comments.

I always knew wireless networking would be a fair bit slower but until now all I had on my network at home was a 4meg cable modem so couldn't really notice how slow my network actually was.

I'm still at a loss as to how my write speed can be 5 times quicker than my read speed though...I'm convinced there's definately something wrong.! Maybe Netgear's tech support can throw some light on the situation

Not too worried though, new mobo and processor is arriving this week so full rebuild should be taking place this weekend. It should give me a chance to try a Belkin PCI wifi card I've had lying around.....couldn't get that thing installed for love or money on my current system because of an irq conflict with my RAID controller.

Cheers

**johnwill** · 11-21-2006, 11:16 AM

I also don't understand why the reads would be slower, I'd expect the writes to be slower. I'll have to try some wireless transfers...

Well, I was able to read a 207mb file in 100 seconds and write it in 85 seconds, so your read times are certainly out in left field. It is curious that even in my environment, the write times are slightly faster.

This is with a PCI 802.11g adapter sitting 6 feet from the wireless router with perfect signal strength.

11-20-2006, 03:50 AM	#1 (permalink)
bigfal Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Scotland Posts: 5 OS: XP Pro	Wireless read speed is slooooow.! Hello, I'm hoping someone can help with this problem. I've just added a Netgear SC101 network storage unit to my Netgear WGR614v5 wireless router. The installation ran without any problems and when installed, I was able to archive data from my PC to the network storage without any problems. The problem is when I read data back from it....it is painfully slow.! At first I thought it was a problem with the network storage so I wired my PC into the router to test it and hey presto, lightning fast read speeds. I'm guessing this proves there's nothing wrong with the network storage and that the problem must lie with the wireless capabilities of my router, my wireless adapter (a usb Netgear WG111v2) or within the network settings of XP. I had a quick look on Netgear & Microsoft's support sites but haven't been able to find anything. I'm going to try raising it with Netgear's tech support but though I'd try you guys first.! The result of my test was as follows..... I tried copying 100mb of mp3's back and forth between the pc and the network storage, wired and wirelessly, timed how long it took and noted the network bandwidth usage during the job. Wired write test - It took 22 seconds to copy the data from the PC to the SC101 Wired read test - It took 17 seconds to copy the data from the SC101 to the PC This resulted in a read speed of approx 6mb per second and write speed of approx 4.6mb per second. This is pretty much in line with Netgear's performance claims of the SC101 so confirms that it works without any problems. Task manager reported network usage of my 100meg network card of between 40% and 50% for the duration of both read and write tests. Wireless write test - It took 55 seconds to copy the data from the pc to the sc101 Wireless read test - It took 4 minutes to copy the data from the sc101 to the pc This resulted in a read speed of 0.4mb per second and write speed of 1.9mb per second. The write speed is acceptable as it's slightly less than half the speed of wired...pretty much what I'd expect going from 100meg wired to 54meg wireless. The read speed is the obvious problem.! Task manager reported network usage of my 54meg wireless card of between 40% and 45% during the write test and between 5% and 10% during the read test. The Netgear meter reported a wireless signal strength of between 94% and 96% for the duration of both tests. (the router and wireles adapter are both sitting on the same desk). Does anyone have any ideas.? Network storage device - Netgear SC101 Router Netgear - WGR614v5 Wireless adapter - Netgear WG111v2

11-20-2006, 10:53 AM	#2 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,983 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Yep, welcome to file sharing using WiFi. Due to the half-duplex nature of 802.11b/g connection, and the high overhead of the SMB protocol, file sharing over wireless connections is pretty painful. I'm not entirely sure why the read is so much slower than the write, using WiFi for file sharing is so painful for me that I don't do it unless there's no other way. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

11-21-2006, 11:16 AM	#4 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,983 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	I also don't understand why the reads would be slower, I'd expect the writes to be slower. I'll have to try some wireless transfers... Well, I was able to read a 207mb file in 100 seconds and write it in 85 seconds, so your read times are certainly out in left field. It is curious that even in my environment, the write times are slightly faster. This is with a PCI 802.11g adapter sitting 6 feet from the wireless router with perfect signal strength. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

11-20-2006, 04:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
bigfal Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Scotland Posts: 5 OS: XP Pro	Thanks for your comments. I always knew wireless networking would be a fair bit slower but until now all I had on my network at home was a 4meg cable modem so couldn't really notice how slow my network actually was. I'm still at a loss as to how my write speed can be 5 times quicker than my read speed though...I'm convinced there's definately something wrong.! Maybe Netgear's tech support can throw some light on the situation Not too worried though, new mobo and processor is arriving this week so full rebuild should be taking place this weekend. It should give me a chance to try a Belkin PCI wifi card I've had lying around.....couldn't get that thing installed for love or money on my current system because of an irq conflict with my RAID controller. Cheers