Just switched to WNDR3700, getting extremely slow wireless data transfer

[HungryPillow]

I just switched out my old Belkin N1 router to the Netgear WNDR3700 and I'm getting very slow transfer speeds over wireless between computers.

My setup is 2 Win7 64-bit PCs connected via ethernet cables to the WNDR3700 and a 2009 MacBook Pro connected through the 5GHz band wireless. I also tried connecting through the 2.4GHz band but still get the same problem.

When I try to copy files from the PCs to my MacBook Pro, I get ridiculously slow speeds - a 110MB folder of MP3s takes an estimated 50 minutes to transfer. It wasn't like this with the Belkin router... For comparison sake I get about 7.45MB/sec when transferring between the 2 PCs.

The way I connect to the PCs from the Mac is Go > Connect to Server then login as a Guest to the shared folders. This is how I also did it with the Belkin router and it seemed to work fine.

Am I missing a setting somewhere in the router? This is my first time using a Netgear so I'm hoping I just forgot to set something. The firmware version is V1.0.4.68.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions. Aside from this issue I'm really quite happy with this router

 

[thiggins]

I'd first try the transfer with everything connected via Ethernet to see if it's a Windows / Mac OS issue.

7.45 MB/s for an LAN-to-LAN Ethernet transfer is pretty slow.
If both your Windows machines have 10/100 Ethernet, you should get near 12 MB/s. If you have Gigabit, you should be getting much higher.

 

[HungryPillow]

Thanks for the reply Tim.

I just checked the specs for both PC's motherboards and they both support Gigabit. Here are the specs:

PC 1 - abit AB9 QuadGT - On board PCI Gigabit LAN controller supports 10/100/1000M Ethernet

PC 2 - abit IP35-E - On board Gigabit LAN controller supports 10/100/1000M Ethernet (MARVELL 88E8056)

The way I got 7.45MB/s was just by dragging a folder from PC 2 to PC 1 and taking the number Windows 7 was showing. Is this accurate or is there a better way to test the speed? Actually I just did some more testing and if I just transfer one big file between the 2 PCs then the transfer rate shown by Windows hovers around 9-10+ MB/s.


As for the Mac I connected it via Ethernet and it's still extremely slow. Does this mean it's an issue between Mac/PC and the new router? Seems odd the Belkin worked fine and I didn't change any settings, just the router.

 

[thiggins]

The Win 7 drag and drop speed indicator is a pretty accurate indicator. Does the folder you're copying have a lot of small files, large files or a mix?

If you're getting slow Mac transfers via Ethernet, then there is something else going on. Check to see what the Mac thinks its connection speed is.
Other than a switch incompatibility or broken switch, I can't think of why changing the router would kill transfer speed.

Are your two Windows machines transferring at the same speed as with the Belkin?

 

[HungryPillow]

The folder I was copying between the 2 PCs that gave me 7.45MB/s was a bunch of small files. Yes I was getting about the same speed with the Belkin between the 2 Windows machines.

The folder I'm trying to copy between Mac and PC is just an album with 12 MP3s in it with the file sizes being around 7MB-10MB each. I tried to copy just 1 large 700MB+ file but it is also extremely slow (it's showing about 5 hours to complete right now).

The Mac shows its connection speed as 300 Mbit/s when connected via the 5GHz bandwidth.

I was really hoping it might have been a setting I missed somewhere in the Netgear menu but I've gone through every section and can't seem to find anything

 

[thiggins]

I'm trying to get you to do an apples-to-apples comparison between transferring Windows-Windows and Windows-MacOS. Use the same connection method (Ethernet) and transfer the same folder/files. That's the only way to do a fair comparison.

If you do find that transfer is slower between Windows and MacOS via Ethernet, you need to solve that problem first.

I'd also recommend you switch back to the Belkin and run the same exact transfer experiment using Ethernet. Again, to make sure that you are chasing the right problem.

 

[HungryPillow]

Tim, I understand. I just completed the tests with screencaps below. Just to make sure it was completely fair I updated both routers to the latest firmwares and then did a hard reset on both. The only settings I changed was to add WPA2 passwords to the wireless. For the WNDR3700 I connected at the 2.4GHz band to keep the comparisons even.

I noticed something odd when testing the WNDR3700. When I copy from PC1 to PC2, the speed is extremely slow, but PC2 to PC1 seems to be more normal. For the Belkin it seems normal both ways although I only managed to get a screencap of PC1 to PC2.



Belkin Ethernet - PC1 to PC2:

Netgear Ethernet - PC1 to PC2:

Netgear Ethernet - PC2 to PC1:

Belkin Ethernet - PC to Mac:

Netgear Ethernet - PC to Mac:

Belkin Wireless - PC to Mac:

Netgear Wireless - PC to Mac:

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for doing the work and posting the captures.
Something very odd going on.

My guess is that something in the Netgear is causing very high packet loss, which is killing your throughput. Could be just that it's busted.

Try running a long ping over Ethernet using the Belkin and the NETGEAR and look for lost packets. Use the -n switch to set the number of pings, i.e.
ping -n 100 IP address of target machine

 

[HungryPillow]

Hey Tim,

Thanks for all your help so far, I really appreciate it. I'd be totally lost at this point without your feedback

I actually need to sleep now (it's 3AM and I have work tomorrow) but I just did one quick test using the ping method you posted. Here are the results, does it look normal? I'll try to do more tests with the Belkin as well tomorrow after work. Thanks!

This is PC1 to Mac. PC1 is Ethernet Mac is 5GHz wireless.

Quick Edit: Tomorrow when I do the tests with the Belkin and Netgear, should I be doing it all over Ethernet or both Ethernet and Wireless?

 

[thiggins]

Looks pretty normal for wireless, although times seem high.

Just do the tests tomorrow over Ethernet. Once we get that sorted, we'll worry about wireless.

Get some sleep now.

 

[HungryPillow]

haha, I have a hard time sleeping when I can't figure something out

Anyways here are the results of the Ethernet tests. I grabbed the wireless ones as well since the routers were all plugged in. How do these look?


Belkin Ping (Ethernet) - PC to Mac

Netgear Ping (Ethernet) - PC to Mac

Belkin Ping (Ethernet) - PC to PC

Netgear Ping (Ethernet) - PC to PC

Belkin Ping (Wireless) - PC to Mac

Netgear Ping (2.4GHz Wireless) - PC to Mac

 

[thiggins]

Those all look normal. There is virtually no packet loss in the Ethernet pings.

I'm out of ideas. Anyone else?

 

[HungryPillow]

Does it sound like I have a faulty router? Could it be an issue with the latest firmware?

Could it be something to do with the wireless channels? I'm in Asia (Singapore) if that matters. For the 2.4GHz channel I have it on Auto and the 5GHz channel it's on 36 (I think).

 

[thiggins]

You could have a bad router. I am not even looking at the wireless issues at this point. The first problem to solve is why Ethernet speed changes when you swap routers.

 

[HungryPillow]

Hmm OK. Maybe Macs just don't like Netgear?

I guess next week I can go and try to exchange it for another set and see if it solves anything.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[HungryPillow]

I haven't returned the set yet, but while doing the testing I totally forgot that my Mac can boot Windows 7 as well (I rarely use it).

So in Windows 7 I am still getting extremely slow transfer speeds between computers (both Ethernet and wireless). Internet speeds are fine and very fast, it's just file transferring.

Does this make it more likely to be an issue with my router?


Edit: Also tried on PS3 and it's extremely slow as well. Will be going down to exchange for a new one tomorrow so I'll see how that goes.

 

[HungryPillow]

I returned the router for a new one, but my issues still seem to be there.

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[HungryPillow]

Quick summary of the transfer speeds to clarify for anyone reading:


PC1 to PC2 via Ethernet = Extremely slow
PC2 to PC1 via Ethernet = Fast
PC1 to Mac via Ethernet = Extremely slow
PC1 to Mac via 2.4GHz Wireless = Extremely slow
PC1 to Mac via 5GHz Wireless = Extremely slow
PC1 to PS3 via Ethernet = Extremely slow
PC1 to PS3 via Wireless = Extremely slow

 

[beatphreek]

Have you looked at the NIC settings on your computers? A couple of things I've found that makes a big difference is the Port Speed/Duplex setting and whether or not Large/Jumbo frames support is on.

It's possible that one of your NICs has the Jumbo frames support on and the other's don't or they aren't matched up. You might start by making sure they are all disabled.

As far as speed/duplex go I've found that with the consumer grade switches that have no management capabilities, its best to go with Auto/Auto non your NIC's since your switches will be set to that setting.


Additionally, I notice all of your Mac and PS3 tests were done from PC1. And all tests from PC1 were slow. Have you tried testing the PC2 to Mac/PS3 transfer? You might be able to pinpoint an issue with the settings on PC1 that way.

 

[HungryPillow]

Ahhhh, now we're getting somewhere!

I just tried PC2 to the Mac and PS3 and it's FAST!!!

So that means it's an issue with PC1, but what could it be? I have not changed any settings at all when I was testing both routers, so I'm not sure where to even begin to look.


As for NIC settings I just did a check.

Jumbo frames on PC1 is disabled. Options are 2KB-7KB MTU.
Jumbo frames on PC2 is set to 1514 Bytes. It can also be set to 4088 Bytes and 9014 Bytes. No option to disable.

Speed & Duplex on both computers are set to Auto-Negotiation.