slow file transfer with airport extreme

[soundcat]

I hope you can help me, cause I am close to giving up with this problem.

I have 3 different devices:

1) PowerPC G5 running OS X-tiger
2) Macbook Pro G4 running OS X-tiger
3) PC running Windows XP

The router that connects them is an airport extreme. It also provides the internet connection.

The internet works fine. I have a fairly fast connection 10mbit download and 1 mbit upload.

The network is encrypted with WPA2.

But when I transfer files between the devices or to the drive attached to the airport extreme, then it is very slow.

Very slow means 10 seconds to transfer 2mb. 700 mb takes aprox. 40 minuts. Often the transfer actually crashes, because it kinda gives up.

It is not possible to connect the devices with cables. The distance is to far.

I hope to hear from you.

 

[misterredman]

What kind of wireless connection are you using? Are all computers using 802.11g?
Did you try disaling the WPA2 for testing purpose? Does the speed increase?
Try disconnecting all computers and start experimenting with only two of them.

What kind of protocol are you using to transfer the files between the mac and the PC? SMB?

 

[soundcat]

What kind of wireless connection are you using? Are all computers using 802.11g?

The Airport Extreme supports 802.11n and when I open Airport Utility, it says: Airport Utility found an Airport Extreme with 802.11n network.

But none of the devices support the 802.11n connection. All of them support 802.11g. So I guess the connection I am using is 802.11g.

Did you try disaling the WPA2 for testing purpose? Does the speed increase?
Try disconnecting all computers and start experimenting with only two of them.

I now have disconnected the PC. So I tested the speed transferring files from the PowerBook to the PowerPC.

With WPA/WPA2 encryption the speed is: 700 Mb - 36 minutes
Without encryption the speed is: 700 Mb - 9 minutes

So it seems that the encryption is causing the slow speed. But I would prefer to have the encryption on.

What kind of protocol are you using to transfer the files between the mac and the PC? SMB?

When I transfer files between the mac and the PC i use "Connect to server" and write SMB:// and then the PCNetworkName.