slow network

[enhanced08]

i have noticed that my network is running very slow! i downloaded a bandwidth monitor which tells me the current upload and download speeds in KB/s. when i first installed the program a few weeks back i transfered about 10GB of music files over the network and looked on the monitor which said it was transfering at about 7000KB/s. i looked on a website and it said that the max a 100Mbit network can transfer is 12.5MB/s. i know there is a lot of overhead and that speed will never be reached. 7000KB is pretty good for what i'm doing, but it has gotten a lot slower the past week or so. like 500KB/s!! i even saw it as low as 130! what could cause this? i reloaded XP and it still has the same slow speeds.

any ideas? thanks!

[enhanced08]

^^bump^^

[enhanced08]

anyone?

[glc]

Have you rebooted your router and switch?

[enhanced08]

hmm... actually that never even crossed my mind! is this something that you should do on a regular basis? i didn't think it could cause problems like that.

[glc]

I'd reboot them at least once a month.

[enhanced08]

alright, i'll give that a try. post back in a few to let ya know how it went.

thanks for the info!

[enhanced08]

wow!! i'm back up to about 8000KB/s again! thanks a lot glc :) you wouldn't happen to know why i can't transfer at the full 12.5MB/s would you? i know there is a lot of "overhead" but enough to cut the speed almost in half? isn't it something to do with the wiring? i'm just starting my Net+ class and i think i read that as i was skimming our book.

[ZYFER]

the 100Mbit or 12.5MB/s you are mentioning is a theoretical maximum, you can get that under perfect conditions, with excellent grade shielded cable and an extremly good network card,
its like trying to get the speeds your isp says you can get, it might be close, but not just as they said. You might want to take a look into your book about Interferences such as EMI :)