upload/download speed slow only over WAN? Help Please

slack_usr · 12-06-2004, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MagicMan
I think that you are getting confused between the speeds of your Internet and your Intranet. The easiest way I can think of, at the moment, to explain this is that the Internet is the WAN part of your network (your ISP) and the Intranet is the LAN part of your network (your computers/router). There are many variables that affect your WAN connection, way too many to list them all, that make your connection to the NET seem slow. On the WAN side, one of the biggest factors for speed, especially on a shared bandwidth connection such as cable, is how many people are connected at the time you are using it. The more people using it, the slower it will seem. Another would be the distance a packet of information has to travel to reach your network, usually a great distance. Now on your LAN side, the variables are usually fixed. You know that you have the same amount of computers/router on your LAN and that your packets travel the same distance every time, usually feet. This makes for a much faster connection. These are just a few simple points as to why your connection to your WAN seems slower than when you just access a computer on your LAN.

MagicMan

Edit: For those that do not know:
WAN = Wide Area Network, LAN = Local Area Network

Thanks for the info, but I am not confused about the WAN vs. LAN. My wording may be a little misleading, but here is what is confusing me. If I exclude the router completly, by connecting the slack box up directly to the modem. Logging into the slack box and downloading from some ftp source say slackware.mirrors.pair.com for example, the download speed is ~400+kb/sec [ observed from ftp output (3.9e+02 Kbytes/sec) ]. Now, with the slack box still connected up to the Modem, if I log into a PC located remotely ( say work or friend's house) and download a file from the slack box, the speed just hovers around 30kb/sec.

The connection speed on the LAN ( slack box -> router -> PC on the same router ) is fast as expected since only the router has to deal with the connection and no bandwidth from the modem is needed.

Does that help?

pitt30 · 12-06-2004, 05:21 PM

i had a feeling you were on comcast (like me).
ok if you brought the slack server to work and you left it there and went home and pulled a file from it from behind your cable modem you should see 3-400k. thats because your download speed is 3 meg.
however, with the same seup i just mentioned, if you send a file to the server, again, from behind your cable modem you will see that 30k transfer speed.

so to sum it up, from behind your cable modem, you can pull 400k but you can only send at 30k. remember to multiply each by 8 (bit to byte conversion) so 400*8=3200 (3meg) and 30*8=240 (close to that 256kb speed). so i think what you are seeing is normal.

ringwraith · 12-06-2004, 05:49 PM

I think that is fairly typical. My downstream speeds will run in the area of 170 k/s, but my upstream speed is only 35 k/s. Most dsl is actually adsl and will have the same setup, a higher down than up.

fcaraballo · 12-06-2004, 07:26 PM

It could also be a limitation on your friends or your works ISP bandwidth. I would be curious to know what kind of transfer rate you would have if you tried getting files off of your computer from your friends or a work computer. At least then you would know what side the limitation is on, theirs or yours.

MagicMan

slack_usr · 12-07-2004, 10:03 AM

Ok, I would first off like to thank everybody for their input. You are all fairly right, as I forgot about the upload/download bandwidth limit, mostly upload, placed by Comcast (3 Mbps/256 Kbps). I also forgot about the bit to byte conversion, thus giving me the 30kb/sec rate I was seing. Comcast does offer a higher limit for $10 bucks more (4 Mbps/384 Kbps) but I'm not sure if it is worth it. I guess I'll try and get them to give me some sort of promotional offer

Once again, thanks all!