USB 2.0 to Ethernet Adapter slow speeds

[JumBie]

I just got a USB 2.0 to ethernet adapter for my desktop as the ethernet port has failed on me. My internet speeds are 250/20, I plugged the usb adapter in and ran a speed test and I am only getting around 70-100mbps. Is this normal? Or should I be expecting more? I turned the setting on to 1 gigabit full duplex from the normal auto negotiate.

 

[postmortemIA]

I just got a USB 2.0 to ethernet adapter for my desktop as the ethernet port has failed on me. My internet speeds are 250/20, I plugged the usb adapter in and ran a speed test and I am only getting around 70-100mbps. Is this normal? Or should I be expecting more? I turned the setting on to 1 gigabit full duplex from the normal auto negotiate.

Can't you buy pci-e ethernet card and install it? according to wikipedia, practical limit of usb2 hi-speed is 280mbps. Your 100mbps speed is indicating that gigabit isn't on. Perhaps even the chip in the ethernet adapter isn't really gigabit...

 

[JumBie]

Can't you buy pci-e ethernet card and install it? according to wikipedia, practical limit of usb2 hi-speed is 280mbps. Your 100mbps speed is indicating that gigabit isn't on. Perhaps even the chip in the ethernet adapter isn't really gigabit...

Direct from the site

"USB to RJ45 adapter supports Gigabit networking over USB 2.0 with up to 480 Mbps of bandwidth"

http://ca.startech.com/Networking-I...gabit-Ethernet-NIC-Network-Adapter~USB21000S2

I got it for free, so I decided to give it a whirl. I have a PCIE 1x slot that I can toss a card into but I was hoping I could get somewhere close to 200mbps with this device.

 

[riahc3]

The USB wont hit full Ethernet speeds even on a LAN. You are better off with a PCI-E card.

 

[azazel1024]

Check under the network properties and see what it is negotiating at even if you forced gigabit. Sounds like it negotiated fast ethernet speeds, not gigabit. A lot of USB2 gigabit adapters actually aren't. They'll only ever negotiate on fast ethernet. The ones that do gigabit, just suck at it. USB ethernet adpaters as a whole aren't all that spectacular, but the USB2 ones tend to be really crappy.

I have a USB3 gigabit network adapter that does true gigabit on USB3 and USB2. On USB3 it can do around 112MB/sec up and down. On USB2 it'll only hit around 25MB/sec though, but it does show as negotiated at GbE rates.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Depending on the usb controller you are working with and the network adapter this could be within reason. Have you tried updating the drivers for your usb controller as well as the network adapter?

 

[wpcoe]

How can a USB 2.0 adapter be advertised as gigabit, when the USB 2 spec tops out at 480Mbps? Wouldn't a USB 3.0 adapter be necessary?

 

[Goblin_King]

I had a USB 2.0 dual band wireless N adapter...and I was getting 125/11.5 speeds wirelessly, which is the same speed as hardwired I get...So USB 2.0 should be able to push well over 100Mb...Either way, with USB 2.0, in real world speeds I don't think you would be able to push more than 150, 160 if your lucky.

I would check all the drivers, and if nothing works, I would upgrade to a USB 3.0 device if your laptop has 3.0 ports, or get a pci-e card like everyone else says.

 

[wpcoe]

I should have clarified that I'm considering this in the context of direct file transfers between two computers, and not for an internet download speed. With a gigabit Ethernet connection on both ends, I get 80+MBps (640 Mbps) transfers. Wouldn't a USB2 dongle make that significantly slower?

The Broadwell gigabit adapter in my notebook is getting flaky and unreliable, and I'm looking for an alternate.

 

[azazel1024]

How can a USB 2.0 adapter be advertised as gigabit, when the USB 2 spec tops out at 480Mbps? Wouldn't a USB 3.0 adapter be necessary?

Because it connects using 1000Base-TX, which is gigabit.

There are plenty of gigabit adpaters connecting with PCIe that can't actually handle full 1000Mbps even when you include overhead, because they are crappy adapters.

With USB2.0 (addressing Goblin_King's comment), unless you have a really crappy controller in the device, you should be able to get up around 350Mbps when you factor in the overhead that USB2.0 has. This is roughly that absolute theoretical max USB2.0 can do. Obviously the controller could be crap (I've certainly seen really bad controllers) and you might also be limited by something else, like wireless radio/controller, etc.

For the laptop, Wpcoe, get a USB3 gigabit ethernet adapter.

For the gigabit adapter in your notebook...flaky how? Tried finding the latest drivers? Who actually made the adapter? I am assuming realtek or atheros (maybe marvel, unlikely to be Intel. Its rare that notebook manufacturers use Intel. Sadly).

 

[wpcoe]

The gigabit Ethernet adapter on my Acer notebook is listed in Device Manager as "Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet." Current driver is dated 3/22/2013, v.15.6.1.3. Latest driver on acer.com is v.14.0.0.7 dated 2010/05/27. Checking for update via Device Manager says "Windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date."

Last week when I synched files between my desktop and notebook via a direct Ethernet connection, after about five seconds of file transfers, the notebook was no longer discoverable by the desktop computer. Reboot the notebook and same: discoverable, but after about five second of transfers, fail. Over and over.

Set assigned IP addresses for each computer. No difference. Used new Cat6 cable. No difference. Ended up synching over WiFi which is only 54Mbps on my notebook – *so* much slower!

When looking at network adapter settings in Device Manager on the notebook, after clicking on OK, the computer freezes Requires a hard reset via the power switch.

That’s pretty much why I say the Ethernet on my notebook is becoming flaky and unreliable.

Since the notebook is almost four years old, I’m not complaining. I’ve been thinking of getting a replacement: either an ultrabook or Win8.1 tablet, and with either of those I’ll probably need a USB-to-Ethernet adapter anyway. I just saw this thread and thought I drop in with my question about USB2 vs USB3.

 

[azazel1024]

Did you download the drivers and try to install them? Checking for an update only checks MICROSOFT for any updates. They rarely have the latest drivers for anything.

Download the drivers off Acer's website and install them. Might not fix the issue at all, but it also might.

If you need a recommendation, try the Anker USB3 gigabit ethernet adapter. It is the white one. It uses a Realtek chipset and seems to be better/faster/more stable than the various other USB3 gigabit ethernet adpaters out there, which almost universally use the same ASIX chipset (or a clone of the ASIC chipset).

I have the Anker adapter and it works great with my windows tablet and I've tested it on my ultrabook and desktop (don't have a need for it on either) and it worked great. I've had a couple of ASIX based USB3 adapters and they ranged from did not perform well at all, to okay, but some serious firmware bugs with certain things like jumbo frames.

 

[wpcoe]

If I can't locate a USB-to-Ethernet adapater here (I'm in Mérida, Mexico for a while) I might try rolling back the drivers and/or installing the four year old WinXP/Win7 driver from the Acer site.

Thanks for confirming that I should be looking for a USB3 adapter.