Airport Extreme, wired-LAN and wireless

[Kilamite]

I have a setup where there is a PC connected to my Airport Extreme by wired-LAN connection and my Mac is connected wirelessly. The PC gets IP 10.0.1.2, which is the first available IP address. My Mac's IP is 10.0.1.199, the last available IP.

When downloading torrents, the PC will soak up the whole connection (it is only a 2MB connection I have) and the Mac will only get about 1/4 of the bandwidth (so PC downloads at 175kb/s and my Mac at 25kb/s). If I unplug the PC, my torrents speed up and are usually well over the 100kb/s range.

Why does the PC get so much more bandwidth than the rest of the network? Is it because it is wired rather than wireless? Or because the IP is the first available so it gets first priority?

I'd like all computers to get equal bandwidth when all demanding similar bandwidth.

[aross99]

I think it is because it is wired. The wired connection is so much faster, that it is getting alot more work done, and thus getting alot more bandwidth...

I dont' think TCP/IP has any type of priority based on the the IP address within the subnet...

[Kilamite]

The wired connection won't provide higher speeds on a 2MB connection - 802.11n is 160Mbps.

Must be down to some sort of priority sorting?

Cheers for reply.

[allebone]

Its because of Queuing within the capability of the router portion of the AE. Basically, TCP transactions especially, first-in, first out. The wired connection is going to make its request in less time/faster than the wireless because of radio delay, and overhead (especially with WEP/WPA) of the packets. The PC will always make its request first and recieve priority in bandiwidth. The torrents can over weight it once they are started, but never beat the PC to the first go.

Bryan

[chinarider]

You should be able to change your bandwidth settings in your BT application - Just change the Max Bandwidth to what you want it capped at.

Of course, this wont help your other applications, but at least your torrents wont hog all the space.

Or, to be faster, just run your torrent when you are away or overnight when you dont need the Mac.