Desktop pc using wired, and wireless connection simultaneously

Missli

As the title. I set up wireless on my desktop using an Edimax 150Mbps wireless nano usb adaptor for a new phone/broadband provider (I plugged my router into my Sky+ box to access Sky+ anytime, which worked fine).

It didn't work very well on my desktop, was only connecting at 24 mbps (painful), with a weak signal, although my netbook picked up speeds of 135 mbps, so I've re-set up as wired.

Its working well, but is connecting both ways, 100 mbps wired, and 54 mbps wirelessly (netbook is still picking up a strong signal 135 mbps wirelessly).

I tried disabling the wireless adaptor, but then just picked up wired connection of 100mbps, and slower browsing. When I re-enabled my desktop connection was back to picking up both signals, and fast browsing.

Is this usual, and is it ok to leave both wired & wireless running?

closed

24mbps is painful, how fast is your broadband connection to sky?

If you plug in an ethernet cable, the machine should stop using the wireless connection

Missli

closed wrote: »

24mbps is painful, how fast is your broadband connection to sky?

If you plug in an ethernet cable, the machine should stop using the wireless connection

I'm not with Sky. I changed from Virginmedia to Primus. I've now set up wired to my pc in another room (will use a box to connect anytime+). Its picking up wired 100mbps, plus wireless 54mbps, but when I disable wireless the wired still picks up 100mbps, and is slower. With both turned on (after re-enabling) my browsing is speedier, as both connections are being used.

Is this normal, and does it matter to keep both connections simultaneously running to connect to the internet?

closed

On the same machine, a wired 100mps connection should always be faster than a wireless (upto) 54 connection, if it's not, there is a problem with the machine setup. Both connections won't be in use at the same time - they will be allocated different ip addresses by the router.

If your primus speed is lower than 54, then it shouldn't make any difference to your download speed - the speeds you're quoting are the speeds between pc and router, not usually the limiting factor of download speeds unless you are on cable or fibre.

Do a speedtest, wired, then wireless on the same machine, post results.

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

repeat on netbook

What security software and firewall are you using.

bazster

Just a minor thought, maybe worth checking, with respect to this and other problems people might have: a while ago I had two computers side-by-side, and one was getting a much, much faster wireless connection than the other. Running a few diagnostics showed that the slow machine was running very hot, and pulling it apart revealed that the CPU fan was clogged with dust. Cleaned it all out, and it now runs sweet and fast.

Missli

closed wrote: »

On the same machine, a wired 100mps connection should always be faster than a wireless (upto) 54 connection, if it's not, there is a problem with the machine setup. Both connections won't be in use at the same time - they will be allocated different ip addresses by the router.

If your primus speed is lower than 54, then it shouldn't make any difference to your download speed - the speeds you're quoting are the speeds between pc and router, not usually the limiting factor of download speeds unless you are on cable or fibre.

Do a speedtest, wired, then wireless on the same machine, post results.

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

repeat on netbook

What security software and firewall are you using.

Thanks, I'll have a look into, then post the results.

Missli

I use Avast free, with weekly thorough scans, Windows firewall, Spyware Blaster (old I know, but uses negligible resources) plus Anvir task Manager (instead of WinPatrol). For on demand, MBAM free, and SAS free.

My results are as follows:

Both wired + wireless enabled desktop : 14091 download, 756 upload

Wired: 14110 download , 819 upload

Wireless:14071 download 783 upload

Netbook (wireless):14445 download, 798 upload


I've just re-tested my wired, and it has gone up to 14638 kbps. It could be my router is on a learning curve as only recently changed my provider, and router.

I have disabled my wireless for now as per my results.

Toxteth_OGrady

Those results are all the same within contention/congestion tolerance. As previously stated having both wired and wifi enabled will make no difference, the PC will still only use one of the connections.

If you perceive your browsing speed to be different it will, as already stated, be another reason.

If you want to repeat the above tests but checking your browsing speed rather than file download speed use:

http://www.numion.com/YourSpeed3/Run.php?QuickStart=SelectDefaults

To put it into context, you are concerned about the difference between a 100mbps and 54mbps internal network connection when the choke point is your modem/router speed of 14.6mbps.

Missli

Not really. My original problem was my desktop wireless was only receiving speeds of 24mbps wirelessly. This has changed since moving my router next to my desktop, and is where I got my results from. It was different before, and was very painful browsing.

I really just wanted to know whether I was receiving both signals now registered on my desktop (wireless & wired), and whether it was ok to leave as such. I'm happy with my speeds now.

Since there is now no difference, I have disabled the wireless from my desktop, and will probably unplug, and remove the software for it.

bazster

Missli wrote: »

Not really. My original problem was my desktop wireless was only receiving speeds of 24mbps wirelessly. This has changed since moving my router next to my desktop, and is where I got my results from. It was different before, and was very painful browsing.

I really just wanted to know whether I was receiving both signals now registered on my desktop (wireless & wired), and whether it was ok to leave as such. I'm happy with my speeds now.

Since there is now no difference, I have disabled the wireless from my desktop, and will probably unplug, and remove the software for it.

There is no problem whatsoever with having wired and wireless both enabled at the same time.

Missli

bazster wrote: »

There is no problem whatsoever with having wired and wireless both enabled at the same time.

Thanks. My old desktop has had everything replaced at some stage, but have never bothered with wireless capability before for it, so wasn't sure.