I'm running a 2 computer home network on Windows XP. I've had NTL install a 750k broadband. This works fine on both PC's, however the client (laptop)machine has much slower internet access than the host, even if the host is not using any bandwidth. Does anyone know of any way to allocate bandwidth to the client machine?

Your assistance would be MOST appreciated (as it would stop the other half nagging the hell out of me!!!!)

Thanks
Steven

from your post i'm guessing that the 750k line is connected directly to one pc (the host) & then the 2nd pc (the client) is connected to it (the host)? If not please describe exactly how the pc's are connected to your isp.

also, how is the client pc connected to the host pc?

Thanks for the response. The host PC is connected via USB modem, the client is connected using (terminology fails me!!) a cat 5 (peer to peeer?) connection. Does this help??

Thanks

Steven

from your post i'm guessing that the 750k line is connected directly to one pc (the host) & then the 2nd pc (the client) is connected to it (the host)? If not please describe exactly how the pc's are connected to your isp.

also, how is the client pc connected to the host pc?

Thanks for the response. The host PC is connected via USB modem, the client is connected using (terminology fails me!!) a cat 5 (peer to peeer?) connection. Does this help??

Thanks

Steven

ok so u've got a 750K USB modem connected to the host pc via a usb cable & the host pc connects to the client pc via a cat-5 cable (aka an rj-45, rj-45 patch, patch, ethernet or network cable), correct?

thats really not the best solution bcs the host has to maintain focus on both a software oriented connection (usb) & a hardware oriented connection (network interface card (NIC) in the pc connected to the cat-5 cable); most of the time its not an issue & can work quite well, but it can be quite difficult to troubleshoot when things arent workin, which can get REALLY involved.

does the 750K usb cm also have an rj-45 opening on it?

(for reference trace the cat-5 cable to where it plugs into either 1 of the pc's & unplug the wire to take a look @ the port - ur looking for the same kind of port to be on the (back?) of the modem)

what i'd like u to do is to to connect each computer directly to the usb modem and see if there's any difference in the speed, & if so, what r the speeds that ur seeing (whenever u switch whats connected to the modem u have to power down (not hibernate) the modem before u make the change & power it up after u've made the change)

preferrably i'd like to c u connect each pc to the modem by using the cat-5 connection if both pc's have them, otherwise use the usb connection.

i need to know the following b4 we can get this fixed:

1) does the modem have the rj-45 (cat-5) connector on it?
2) can you connect each pc, 1 @ a time, directly to the modem using the same port (ie, can you connect each pc, once again 1 @ a time, directly to the modem using either the usb connection, or, preferrably, the cat-5 connection)?
3) assuming that u were able to complete 2) above, was there an appreciable difference in speed?

ok, let me know this much & we'll go from there - good luck! :D

ok so u've got a 750K USB modem connected to the host pc via a usb cable & the host pc connects to the client pc via a cat-5 cable (aka an rj-45, rj-45 patch, patch, ethernet or network cable), correct?

thats really not the best solution bcs the host has to maintain focus on both a software oriented connection (usb) & a hardware oriented connection (network interface card (NIC) in the pc connected to the cat-5 cable); most of the time its not an issue & can work quite well, but it can be quite difficult to troubleshoot when things arent workin, which can get REALLY involved.

does the 750K usb cm also have an rj-45 opening on it?

(for reference trace the cat-5 cable to where it plugs into either 1 of the pc's & unplug the wire to take a look @ the port - ur looking for the same kind of port to be on the (back?) of the modem)

what i'd like u to do is to to connect each computer directly to the usb modem and see if there's any difference in the speed, & if so, what r the speeds that ur seeing (whenever u switch whats connected to the modem u have to power down (not hibernate) the modem before u make the change & power it up after u've made the change)

preferrably i'd like to c u connect each pc to the modem by using the cat-5 connection if both pc's have them, otherwise use the usb connection.

i need to know the following b4 we can get this fixed:

1) does the modem have the rj-45 (cat-5) connector on it?
2) can you connect each pc, 1 @ a time, directly to the modem using the same port (ie, can you connect each pc, once again 1 @ a time, directly to the modem using either the usb connection, or, preferrably, the cat-5 connection)?
3) assuming that u were able to complete 2) above, was there an appreciable difference in speed?

ok, let me know this much & we'll go from there - good luck! :D

thanks for this. The modem does have a RJ45, however, the host has only 1 rj45 connection, currently being used to link to the laptop. Individually the internet speeds are fine. There is a huge difference on the client when connected directly.

Do you think this is something rectifiable? If not someone has suggested a hub would work beter, is this the case?

thanks for your help on this :-)

thanks for this. The modem does have a RJ45, however, the host has only 1 rj45 connection, currently being used to link to the laptop. Individually the internet speeds are fine. There is a huge difference on the client when connected directly.

Do you think this is something rectifiable? If not someone has suggested a hub would work beter, is this the case?

thanks for your help on this :-)

dont get a hub but i would recommend that you get a home/small office router which run from $50 or so for a wired LAN setup (where your using the ethernet cables - u may need to get 1 more cable routers dont typically come with one), to around $80 or so if u want to go wireless (plus a wireless adapter for the laptop, around $40 on sale). btw, thats why i had u check connection speeds directly to c if it was an issue w/the laptop itself - glad there wasnt one! :) hth!

dont get a hub but i would recommend that you get a home/small office router which run from $50 or so for a wired LAN setup (where your using the ethernet cables - u may need to get 1 more cable routers dont typically come with one), to around $80 or so if u want to go wireless (plus a wireless adapter for the laptop, around $40 on sale). btw, thats why i had u check connection speeds directly to c if it was an issue w/the laptop itself - glad there wasnt one! :) hth!

ok, so been a while. This problem still lingers on. I have bought a router now, so have improved stability on the internet as the host pc was prone to occasional crashing. The best solution we have is to use the internet at different times. this agreement was only recently made and is the source of conflicy. Hopefully i find a piece of hardware capable of splitting bandwidth at some point in the near future.

Cheers for all your help people.
Steven

Hi folks,

From now on, please use the "Advanced Reply" or "Quick Reply" button instead of the "Quote Reply" button when you post. As you can obviously see, the "Quote Reply" button includes the entire text of the other person's previous post in your post, thereby doubling the length of the thread and making the thread rather tedious to scroll through and difficult to follow.

Thanks. :)

St3v3boy,

A broadband router should share the Internet connection pretty evenly among the computers connected to it, unless one of the computers is engaged in massive BitTorrent downloads or other bandwidth-intensive activities.
In other words, unless there's a critical piece of information that we don't have concerning your setup, one computer should not be slower than the other when both are connected to the Net through a router.

A couple of thoughts:

1. In your original configuration, the CAT5 Ethernet cable connectiong the laptop to the desktop machine would (or at least should) have been a specially-wired "crossover" cable. Now that you are using the router, the cables between the router and each computer should be of the normally-wired, non-cfrossover type of CAT5 cable.

2. Please do the following on each computer in order for us to at least see a bit of your baseline IP configuration info:

* Click on the "Run..." option in your Start menu. In the "Open:" box of the resulting window, type "cmd" (omit the quotes) and hit Enter. This will bring up a DOS window

* At the DOS prompt, type the following command and hit Enter. You won't see any result from the command, but when it completes a second prompt with a flashing cursor will be displayed; close the DOS box once that happens:

ipconfig /all >ipconfig.txt

* The above command will have created a text file on you desktop named ipconfig.txt; double-click on the file to open it in Notepad, and then cut-n-paste the file's contents in your next post.

** When you post the contents of the text files, please indicate which file came from which computer.

Hi, This is the ipconfic from the desktop. I'll need to wait for the laptop, but will post shortly. Cheers

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SN030566220147

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Network Bridge:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : MAC Bridge Miniport

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : F2-D3-A5-31-29-17

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.3

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 15 May 2006 14:57:11

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 19 January 2038 04:14:07

I'll need to wait for the laptop, but will post shortly.

Ok- post when you can; we'll be here...

commented: Thanks +3

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : MAC Bridge Miniport

I'd avoid using a bridged connection.

Let us know what you see listed under Network Connections (click Start, Control Panel & then Network Connections if your in Classic View, otherwise click Start, Control Panel, Network and Internet Connections & then Network Connections).

Good Luck,
Paul

Guys, been a while again. Solved the problem....


dumped the band width guzzlin ex and got a bigger connection and new router.

Problem solved :-) lol

thanks for your help on this everyone. seems like there is no easy fix on this

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