How fast should files be moving between two computers over 802.11g?

Lord Jezo

From my main pc to my laptop over my home's wifi network file transfer speeds between two Windows 7 machines max out about 900KB/s

Is this a normal speed or should it be going faster?

DarkZ

It really depends on the signal strength and the distance between the PC and WAP. But from my experience that speed is a little slow, I usually get about 2mb/s at about 25ft through 2-3 non insulated walls.

bowen

You're looking at a maximum theoretical output of 54 Mbit/sec which roughly equates to 6.75 MByte/sec. 2-3 MB isn't out of the question, but, you're at about 1, so, I'm guessing there's a wall or two or something else in the way?

Lord Jezo

Wall, yes, the router is the next room.

So if I put the laptop right next to the router it should run faster? I'll test it tonight.

bowen

It should, not a guarantee though. Could be a bad router/bad card/interference/solar flare/goblins/tooth fairy.

electricitylikesme

I've never managed to get my in house network above about 2 - 2.5 mbytes/s on 802.11g with the AP in the same room.

I suspect the spectrum is just too crowded these days.

bowen

Yeah populated neighborhoods are common for that too.

electricitylikesme

It really sucks when you go from a desktop copying at 70-80 mbytes/s to 2.5.

Tofystedeth

Could be worse. You could be getting about 333kB/sec over wired ethernet. Because despite your objections they are running it between buildings.

mcdermott

How many devices are on your network? I believe bandwidth also gets split between devices. I've noticed, at least, that even if my wife's laptop is just sitting idle on the network, my max throughput between the two desktops (connected through a wireless bridge) is cut; close the lid, it goes back up.