Older computer slow speed on fibre

Corners

Hi, I have recently switched over to fibre broadband, the speeds are good, 20-30mbs, on my laptop but when I connect my older desktop I get speeds of 1-2mbs via wireless and 7mbs via LAN. The desktop is a Packard Bell Imedia, I bought it refurbished about 10yrs ago. it runs xp home, 2.00ghz and 1gb ram.

Please can advice be given if I can do anything with the computer to increase the speed, eg clean install of xp, or will I have to buy a new computer? If its a new computer, can anyone recommend any desktops under £200 or even under £150 which would be a good replacement, I don't mind if they are refurbished.

Any advice gratefully received.

Thank you.

Toxteth_OGrady

It's possible that you have an old 11b wifi card and an old 10 Mbps ethernet card in there so the speeds you are seeing would be about right.

If that's the case you would need to swap out for a 10/100 Fast ethernet card or an 11g wireless card. You don't need both. If you're happy to use a wired LAN connection forget about the wireless.

Corners

Thank you for your reply and advice. Is this the correct sort of wireless card; TP Link TL-WN781ND 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter currently under £10 at amazon.

Thanks

Lifeforms

I would say as a desktop try and go wired if it's not too much trouble.
Also make sure your MB can take PCI-E cards before you buy one.
Post your motherboard model number or check the specs/manual to say which card fittings you need.

Toxteth_OGrady

Corners wrote: »

Thank you for your reply and advice. Is this the correct sort of wireless card; TP Link TL-WN781ND 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter currently under £10 at amazon.

Thanks

PCI Express was introduced in 2003 so I very much doubt it. As Lifeforms has already said, for a desktop, you'd be better going wired. You will need a 10/100 fast ethernet PCI card (not Express or PCI-e).

You can usually get them on ebay for a couple of quid delivered.

Corners

Thanks again for the replies and advice. I doubt my motherboard has PCI express, I take it that I cannot get high speeds on the fibre without it?
The only issue with wired is that the computer is a distance from the computer. Can you advise me if the powerline adapators could be used inconjunction with the Ethernet card? Would the speed be similar to wired?

Toxteth_OGrady

Corners wrote: »

TI take it that I cannot get high speeds on the fibre without it?

Yes you can with a PCI fast ethernet card

The only issue with wired is that the computer is a distance from the computer. Can you advise me if the powerline adapators could be used inconjunction with the Ethernet card? Would the speed be similar to wired?

Homeplug/powerline adaptor will probably be a better solution than wifi for your set up but you'll still need to change the ethernet card in the PC.

Toxteth_OGrady

If you open your computer and look at your existing pci network card it should look like this (unless your motherboard has integrated ethernet):



The motherboard connectors on a PCI Express card are completely different and look like this:



As I mentioned earlier you can get a 10/100 PCI fast ethernet card cheaply on ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-100Mbps-Fast-Ethernet-Network-PCI-LAN-NIC-Card-Realtek-RTL8139D-For-MAC-Linux-/250918069931?pt=UK_Computing_NetworkCards_RL&hash=item3a6be1e6ab

Corners

Many thanks for that, I will get an Ethernet card and powerline set up.

aerostar

To really check you speeds you need to do the test without all the crxp that other programs load.

Start your computer in SAFE MODE with Networking, this will not work with wireless as it will not load the drivers, then connect your network cable and run your speed test.

Then repeat the test with normal windows start, and see if there is a large difference in speeds.

TimothyEBaldwin

The default TCP receive window is too small in Windows XP, and may be adjusted with DrTCP.

With a typical round-trip time of 20 milliseconds, typical of VDSL (used in fibre to the cabinet broadband) and ADSL, the default value will result in a maximum throughput of 7Mbps.