How fast should my gigabit ethernet network be?

Cartoonguy wrote:

So 100mb file copied from my iMac to either my directly connected via ethernet Macbook Pro, or iMac to other iMac via ethernet home network, took 26 seconds. Same file copied to my FW drive took less than one second. That is a staggering difference.

I'm sorry, but this is getting old. Haven't you and a number of other people already done that test? That file should take about a second to transfer. If it doesn't, take the cable you are using and throw it in the trash. Repeat until you either get the correct transfer speed or you run out of cables. I have little confidence in any IT staff, but your home network wasn't even built by IT people, but by a building contractor. Buy yourself a wireless router and be done with it.

Do you experience the slowness just recently or after you made some software update? Or, has any person added new device into your network recently?

What brought your attention to become aware the slowness and made you want to improve the file transferring speed?

If your network has been fast in the past, try to recall what recent changes you made. Did you download something which may be potentially malicious?

Did you upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard, then to Lion, then to Mountain Lion, then to Mavericks? Normally, I recommend fresh clean installation of OS X rather than upgrade from previous version of OS X. This means you should always organize your files well to prepare for fresh installation as Apple is making the OS X version jump sooner than ever before (just my opinion). 1~2 fresh reinstallations of OS X in a year is normal for me because I always like to keep my system clean.

For my first manual IP test, you should get similar result as I did when connecting two Mac directly with a short and new ethernet cable (not routing any switch or router!).

Then from this basis, we can further talk about when a DHCP server is present, should you use a manual IP or DHCP (manual) IP to test local network/the Internet speed test, etc.

It is not unusual that an ethernet cable fails. Three of my CAT5e cables failed in the last 5 years. CAT5e cable is very cheap nowadays. Get a new one to do the test if possible. Finally, if you have done the cross pair test on each of your Mac with this new cable, and the problem persists, it may be the software issue. I trust more on Apple's ethernet hardware life expectancy than OS X software reliailbity (just my opinion).

Solving communication problems is all about divide and conquer. I second Mr. Latte suggestion to attach the two macs with a short CAT5e ethernet cable.

Cartoonguy wrote:

Etresoft, your response is neither helpful or considerate. I still have the problem, so I am looking for some further info. I have tried different cables. You also have no idea who installed my home network. In fact, it was installed by an IT network firm. So really, if you have nothing intelligent to add, please don't bother posting.

You are the one starting week 3 of a 3 minute problem. According to one of your earlier posts, you are getting correct speeds when connecting two machine directly but ten times slower through your house cabling. Ergo, your cabling is junk, regardless of who installed it. You can hire someone else to come in, test it, and maybe fix it. They charge by the hour. Or you can buy a wireless router for $30. This is not an Apple problem.

Cartoonguy wrote:

Nowhere did I say that I got correct speed in any configuration, including directly cabled together.

On Jan 10, 2014 1:25 PM, you said

The 820GB file took 11 seconds to go to FW and 18 to go to directly connected ethernet with a Cat5e cable.

This is well within the range of my 500 MB ethernet transfer in 8 seconds. Gigabit networking is designed for servers. It is just barely faster than a mechanical hard drive itself. If your machine is doing anything else with the disk, then it is going to be slower.

Telling me to use wifi is a very silly comment.

It sure seems like the best, lowest-cost option you have available. You can put the router near the machine that needs the speed the most and get gigabit speed over its ethernet port. Your other machines in the house will still get about double your house-wired ethernet speed. You can even use your house system to connect your new wireless router with your broadband modem, wherever it happens to be in the house. It shoudl be fast enough to support that.

And with that, I am happy to take my leave of this thread. You can take my advice, buy that router for $160, and be done in a couple of minutes. If you don't need 802.11ac, you can save $100, still get gigabit ethernet, and have wireless in your house that is as fast as the wires you have now. Although from your last post, you seem to be satisfied with your 10-100-baseT speed. I am too.

Funny, you tell me to leave the thread but then keep engaging me. i do not want to participate in this thread any longer. 3 weeks is enough. You don't need gigabit ethernet. That $30 wifi will be fine. As I said in my first post, you are going to have nothing but trouble with that NAS device. I asked why you thought you needed one, but you didn't respond.

Your problem is long solved. The wiring in your house was done incorrectly. You can fx it, or not. You can upgrade your wireless, or not. You can get additional gigabit ethernet equipment where you need it, or not. The only thing you aren't ever going to do is get your existing wiring to perform correctly.

etresoft wrote:

Funny, you tell me to leave the thread but then keep engaging me. i do not want to participate in this thread any longer. 3 weeks is enough.

Clearly you need help:

1. Move your mouse until your cursor is over the text in the following image
2. Click your mouse
3. You will get a message putting you out of your misery
4. We will all benefit by having fewer rants in our mailboxes
5. This discussion will benefit by having fewer marginal TOU violations

I keep e-mail notifications turned off. I use dashboard widgets to alert me if there is anything new that merits attention. If there is anything new in this thread that is not a personal attack on me, then I shall certainly ignore it.

My goal is to help people get their problems fixed as soon as possible. In this case, the original poster seems to be heading down a configuration rabbit hole while ignoring the obvious and only solution. I can't imagine how long that forthcoming "My expensive NAS doesn't work on Mavericks" thread is going to last.

If you or anyone else doesn't like what I have posted or feel I am in violation of the Terms of Use, then, by all means, click on the "Report Post" button and take some action. If no such button is available, you can complain about me in the Using Apple Support Communites forum.

I do have a 'Report post' link but your lack of politeness is marginal and you have clearly helped many others so I am reluctant to use it.

Neville Hillyer wrote:

I do have a 'Report post' link but your lack of politeness is marginal and you have clearly helped many others so I am reluctant to use it.

I try harder to be honest and forthright than polite. Some people don't like that, but that's life.

If you feel any particular post (by me or anyone else) is worthy of a report, then do it. Don't let points or levels dissuade you. Let the hosts deal with it. It is always best to focus on the original poster instead of engaging other people directly. I am a special case. While I may be forthright, or impolite, I also don't get my feelings hurt. I will quickly forget about this topic and respond to you or the OP in another thread as if this one had never been. Other people can take things personally and go off the deep end. Let the hosts handle it. That is what they get paid for.

PS: And now I think I will report your reply to me so we can clean up the OP's thread. No offense 🙂

I do see improvement for your 100MB file test:

New iMac to new iMac - 7 seconds

But still I think your new iMacs with SATA3 should be able to do better than that.

Are your new iMacs in SSD or HDD?

Here is the test for my MBPs:

- Early-2007 MBP with a SSD drive

- Mid-2012 MBP with a mechanic HDD drive

- Files were sent from the Early-2007 MBP to the Mid-2012 MBP

- Direct en-connection test was used over the same 260cm Cat5e cable

Results:

- Sending a 104.8MB dmg file would take just about 1.1 seconds.

- Sending a 109.7MB file directory that contains many subdirectories with long filenames and small items would then take about 2 seconds.

Your new iMac may be still underperforming. I don't know how other guys think about your results.