1 computer has very low speed on shared network

[bfromcolo]

I'm stumped. We have a 7Mbps connection. My computer's network connection works fine normally. If my son downloads from Steam or streams Netflix on his computer, the network on my computer becomes so slow it's nearly unusable, but my wife's seems to continue to run fine at least for general internet usage. It's like the router will share the connection with my wife's computer but not with mine. My son has a n adapter and my wife and I are both using g adapters. The router is a Rosewill RNX-EasyN4. I don't see any options to prioritize connections in the router. Any ideas?

 

[s44]

Wait, are you looking for an answer *besides* "get a new router with QOS"?

Because that's the obvious solution. Oh yeah, and pick up some cheap N adapters.

 

[bfromcolo]

Absent QOS I assume all connected devices should have similar priority? If it was because my son's system is n and I'm on g, that would not explain why my wife does not have the same problem.

 

[s44]

Actually, your Rosewill has QOS functions. Check the manual.

 

[Ghiedo27]

Is your wife's connection actually affected less or were you comparing your perception of the connection speed with hers? Some people are just more patient with delay than others. Steam is especially bad about eating available bandwidth, so for me it would be surprising that her connection is really responsive.

I'd look into something like the free version of Netbalancer. You'd install it on your sons computer and then throttle steam / netflix until you get an acceptable connection for you and your wife. I'd only consider spending money on new adapter cards if that doesn't work.

 

[bfromcolo]

Thanks! I didn't even know what I was looking for. I set the download rate to 4Mbps for all IPs and it seems to be working much better for me.

 

[bfromcolo]

Is your wife's connection actually affected less or were you comparing your perception of the connection speed with hers?

Yes her computer was definitely working better than mine while his download was running. She has a 100% signal to the router, but mine is still 80 - 90% most of the time.

QOS seems to have improved things.