Is this normal for routers?

[gravyboat]

I've got an iMac and an eMac connected to a Linksys wired router (BEFSR41). When I'm downloading a large video file (movies and such) on one computer, surfing the net comes to an almost complete halt on the other computer.

Is this normal? I'm using DSL and download speed is around 1.4 mb when I'm not downloading large files on one computer.

I've already returned one router for replacement due to other issues so I'm wondering if I got another lemon.

Thanks very much for any help.

 

[TEG]

It has to do with the router not having a good way to deal with the data collisions. This happens with many routers. There are some that have QoS that can allow you to change priorities of data, but it may be too complicated to deal with.

TEG

 

[Consultant]

I suspect the OP is trying to download via torrents.

If using torrents, then it's not the router.

 

[imaketouchtheme]

Or becasue your internet is CRAPOLA.

 

[Eidorian]

Sounds like your using too much upstream bandwidth.

 

[gravyboat]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Sounds like this is not uncommon and perhaps not so easy to remedy.

These aren't bit torrents, they're .avi files using SpeedDownload.

Yes, my internet speed isn't that speedy to begin with, so maybe I'm out of luck.

If anyone has any recommendations for a router that can resolve such data collisions, I'd appreciate it.

 

[alphaod]

Most N-routers these days will probably provide enough bandwidth. Of course if your internet is slow no router will help with that.

 

[ChrisA]

Is this normal? I'm using DSL and download speed is around 1.4 mb when I'm not downloading large files on one computer.

Yes and no. You internet connection is a fixed speed and when two computers need to use it they have to split the bandwidth. The trouble is most low-end routers don't do a good job of sharing fairly. You need a somewhat sophisticated router to fairly distribute bandwidth between two users. The simple routers use "first come, first severed" and if one computer hitting it hard it is always "first".

The better routers will allocate bandwidth based on rules you specify. So for example you can say that interactive traffic like HTTP (web pages) should jump ahead of file downloads that use FTP or bit torrent.

Your router is not broken. It just lacks this feature. You can buy a different one or you can "build" a router from an old PC and BSD UNIX.

 

[gravyboat]

Thanks for the additional information and suggestions, alphaod and ChrisA. Glad to hear it's not a router malfunction. I guess I'll stick with this one and just limit my large file downloads to off-hours.

I really appreciate the help.