My Kingdom For a Horse (or 6 cats).

So I wanted to transfer 300+ gigs of non critical data from one pc to another, and that would take ages transferring to an external hard drive and copying back.

Wifi networking on my system would do 30 MB per sec at best i.e. approx 3 hours.

So I created an adhoc ethernet network connecting two pcs together with a cat5E ethernet cable.

Both my ethernet adapters were 1 Gbps adapters, all settings were set correctly but no matter what I did, I could only see other laptop if I set laptop speed to 100 mbps (12.5 MB /s approx i.e. 1/3rd of wifi speed via router).

I changed adapters, settings, used usb ethrnet adaptors, etc. etc.

I was determined not to be beaten as I should be able to get close to 125 MB/s.

I googled with the passion of an olympic gold medallist, and I came across a networking site and it said (wait for it), single biggest issue for lack of speed is the cable. Cat 5E are suppose to handle 1000 mbps but expert said they often just do not work at high speeds.

I tried 3 different cat 5E cables - no luck.

Article said using cat6 was much more reliable but I did not have one to hand.

So a quick order on Amazon Prime and I got one in 24 hours for £1.30 with free delivery (I decided I could take the financial risk LOL).

So I connected the two pcs with this mega-expensive cable and BAMMMM!

It transferred at c.110 MB/s i.e. a GB every 10 seconds. Less than one hour, all data transferred.

Of course it took me much longer to solve the problem than just using wifi but hey with CV19, spare time is hardly at a premium LOL).

I then hooked up my cheapo travel laptop to pc (using a usb ethernet adapter as laptop only has wifi) and did a full backup via adhoc network in 6 minutes using Macrium Reflect. Best I had ever done before was around 30 minutes using wifi.

So I am now going to really splash the cash and buy a backup cat6 cable for £1.30 in case I mislay this one.

So guys and gals, if you are having ethernet network speed issues, try using a cat 6 cable!

cereberus said:

So I wanted to transfer 300+ gigs of non critical data from one pc to another, and that would ages transferring to an external hard drive and copying back.

Wifi networking on my system would do 30 MB per sec at best i.e. approx 3 hours.

So I created an adhoc ethernet network connecting two pcs together with a cat5E ethernet cable.

Both my ethernet adapters were 1 Gbps adapters, all settings were set correctly but no matter what I did, I could only see other laptop if I set laptop speed to 100 mbps (12.5 MB /s approx i.e. 1/3rd of wifi speed via router).

I changed adapters, settings, used usb ethrnet adaptors, etc. etc.

I was determined not to be beaten as I should be able to get close to 125 MB/s.

I googled with the passion of an olympic gold medallist, and I can across a networking site and it said (wait for it), single biggest issue for lack of speed is the cable. Cat 5E are suppose to handle 1000 mbps but expert said they often just do not work at high speeds.

I tried 3 different cat 5E cables - no luck.

Article said using cat6 was much more reliable but I did not have one to hand.

So a quick order on Amazon Prime and I got one in 24 hours for £1.30 with free delivery (I decided I could take the financial risk LOL).

So I connected the two pcs with this mega-expensive cable and BAMMMM!

It transferred at c.110 MB/s i.e. a GB every 10 seconds. Less than one hour, all data transferred.

Of course it took me much longer to solve the problem than just using wifi but hey with CV19, spare time is hardly at a premium LOL).

I then hooked up my cheapo travel laptop to pc (using a usb ethernet adapter as laptop only has wifi) and did a full backup via adhoc network in 6 minutes using Macrium Reflect. Best I had ever done before was around 30 minutes using wifi.

So I am now going to really splash the cash and buy a backup cat6 cable for £1.30 in case I mislay this one.

So guys and gals, if you are having ethernet network speed issues, try using a cat 6 cable!

well that saves a bit of trouble for me and errant laptop, I was just considering getting a new
networking card for it.

Hint: the NIC on Notebooks and most Desktop motherboards is soldered onto the board, not easily changed. I have a Dell Inspiron Desktop with the NIC being 10/100 but by adding/using a USB 802.11n Wireless adapter get better transfer speed, it can work the same for older Notebooks. The best speeds for Wireless/Wi-Fi is 802.11n or 802.11ac but there is a newer maybe faster protocol. However the Router has to be the same or better to be useful.

Thanks for the info cereberus. I think I may splurge a few $ and get 4 CAT6 cables to replace my existing CAT5E cables with.

Cereberus,

Please may I have your chosen cat6 cable link for Amazon [UK]. I think it is a StarTech 50cm cable

If you still have a link for your usb ethernet adapter then I'd appreciate that as well. I've never used one and know nothing about them so, since yours obviously works, I can avoid spending a day learning about them before picking one.

All the best,
Denis

Recently (6 weeks or so...), I had my fiber ISP upgraded to Gigabit service. I was surprised to see the tech install a dual outlet plate on my office wall and start re-cabling. I asked, and he said the current coax (from cat5 on outside service box (ONT?)) connects to the MOCA bridge to run the Guide Display on the set-top box. The Cat6 connects to router for Gigabit cause cat5 would cap out on me around 150Mb/s. The tested cat6 peaked at ~960Mb/s.

So the cable does matter.

I ordered 4 of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

xips said:

I did this once long ago. Connecting NIC <-> NIC I recall using a crossover cable to make it work.

Crossover cables have not been needed for many years.