Home office network tests using Blacknight speed test
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Ironically, the broadband went down as I was writing this post so I have to post using Dial-up.
Almost every day I need to FTP files up to remote servers. For as long as I can remember, files and folders almost always fail to upload correctly. Whats worse is that it can sometimes LOOK like a folder has uploaded correctly but a couple of the files will have swapped titles (or content depending on how you want to look at it). This has gotten me into trouble a couple of times and led to needless reworking.
A few months back, my father and I wired CAT 5e cable around the house from the attic where the connection enteres the house to the office where I work. Before this I was using a wireless connection on my desktop PC. Using a wired connection improved things, but didn’t fully fix it.
My broad band is provided by Airwave Internet. They provide me with a 1 MB upload/download for €60 Euro per month compared to around €45 per month for a 3 MB line from Eircom while living in Cork.
I wasn’t going to mention the broadband providers name, but as a result of these tests I can see they’re not the problem at all despite their service going offline all afternoon today.
I ran the Blacknight speed test in a couple of different scenarios on my LAN between 5pm and 6pm today. (Just before the broadband went down, coincidence??)
From my desktop, using a CAT 5e wired 100 MBPs connection through a Linksys BEFSR41 V3.1 router:
Speed test results:
Advanced Statistics:
Connection Summary:
From my desktop, using a CAT 5e wired 100 MBPs connection through a Linksys WRT54G V4 wireless router (latest firmware)
Speed test results:
(Messed up the Statistics screenshot for this test)
Connection Summary:
From my Dell Vostro 1500 Laptop using 54MBPs G Wireless through a Linksys WRT54G V4 wireless router (latest firmware)
Speed Test Results
Advanced Statistics:
Connection Summary:
From my Dell Vostro 1500 Laptop, directly connected to the connection provided by Airwave Internet
Speed Test Results
Advanced Statistics:
Connection Summary:
So it seems my routers are at fault, both of em. Since I can’t bring my desktop machine up into the attic to work every day, I must go get a new router. I’ve thinking of getting the Netgear wireless router with multiple internal ariels for stonger signal strenth. Anyone out there use one with good results?
