How fast should S3 ToGo speeds be over 802.11g?

[morac]

I have my TiVo S3 hooked up to a 100 mbps switch (via ethernet) which is then connected to a 802.11g bridge which then connects (wirelessly) to a 802.11g router.

I normally ToGo to my laptop which is also connecting versus 802.11g, so basically it's from a 802.11g device to a 802.11g device. The network is all 802.11g (802.11b support is disabled on the router).

In the past I could swear I used to get ToGo speeds of around 11 mbps or more with this set up. Lately I'm finding that the transfers usually start out at around 6 mbps (average) and sometimes jump up to around 10 mbps for a while, but then alternate back and forth between 6 mbps and 10 mbps. Basically the speeds aren't consistent, but if it was interference I wouldn't think the jumps would be so uniform.

The FAQ states the S3 can transfer at up to 18 mbps with 12 mbps being the norm. I can accept that I'm getting around 10 mbps because of the wireless to wireless setup, but I can't explain the 6mbps drops. Especially since I can then run more traffic over the bridge to the laptop, up to around 12 mbps for a total of about 24 mbps of wireless traffic (12 mbps from bridge to router and 12 from router to laptop).

Do these speeds seem normal?

P.S. - I can hook my laptop directly to the switch, but in the past I had found that doing so did not speed up the transfers since the TiVo was the limitation, not the network.

P.P.S - I'm still transferring at the moment, but to give you an average overall speed so far, 5,593,550,328 bytes have been transferred in 100 minutes. So that's about 7.46 mbps (910 KB/s) average.

[Yoav]

I have my TiVo S3 hooked up to a 100 mbps switch (via ethernet) which is then connected to a 802.11g bridge which then connects (wirelessly) to a 802.11g router.



Quick short version: 802.11g isn't a guaranteed bandwidth or latency. It MAXES out at 54mbps. But it can go as low as 1mbps. This all depends on the quality of the signal. And that quality can vary depending on the usual culprits (distance to router, location in home, stuff in between) and some unexpected stuff (other people using microwaves, neighbors running their own wireless, air quality).

Some routers will give you a report on the current 'signal strength' of each device connected, and some will even tell you what is the actual rate to the device.

ADDITIONALLY, wireless introduces a bunch of latency that affects transfer rate.

The final additional culprit is 'how busy your tivo is'. If it's currently taping a show, it slows transfer downs. If it's taping TWO shows, it's even slower. And if you're watching one show and taping two others.. slowest.

Having said that. 7 Mbps is a very normal rate for my S3 going over 802.11n.

If you want to try speeding it up a bit, turn on the tivo, make sure it's not recording anything (other than live tv), AND hit the 'pause' button on the livetv.

[ThAbtO]

I get as high as 900kb/s using wireless/WPA.

[larry99]

I have never gotten above 2 mbps. And the signal strength is reported as Excellent. Interesting to me that your transfer rate is so high.

[westside_guy]

My personal experience - and from what I've gathered here whenever this comes up - is that the Tivo transfer speeds are limited by the Tivo, not by the network setup. But I guess you're really more concerned about the perceived drop in speed?

As others have pointed out, there are a lot of things that can interfere with the 2.4GHz spectrum - microwaves, cordless phones, etc. Something as simple as buying a new home phone can mess up your network. Also remember it's shared bandwidth; so if (for example) you've recently bought a new iPod Touch and have been watching YouTube videos on it, that can have an impact. Heck, if you've recently bought a Wii that could be the problem. :D

Also note that network changes can affect speed. For example, if you've recently added an extra router and set up a WDS (Wireless Distribution System), this will cut your overall max speed more or less in half.

Anyway, I agree with the others - what you're seeing doesn't seem particularly unusual.

I will say that I recently moved our home network over to 802.11n and the 5GHz spectrum, yet the Tivo transfer speeds didn't jump up much (our Tivo HD is plugged into a switch, which itself connects to an 802.11n bridge). I didn't really expect speeds to improve much, actually. BUT I have noticed a decided drop in the number of unexplained network outages I used to see - likely because there are fewer things that can interfere with the 5GHz spectrum as opposed to the 2.4GHz spectrum. But this isn't exactly inexpensive, and I don't think the performance improvement makes this a cost-effective move in its own right.

[ThAbtO]

Interference on the wireless channel can also cause slow transfer rates, you might want to change channels to see if that improves. Try channel 6 or 11.

[morac]

I don't think it was interference since I also have a PS3 hooked up to the switch and ran a speed test while the transfer was taking place and got fairly good speeds (though doing so did interfere with the transfer which I think caused the TiVo to back off on the speeds). I also have a program that can send out about ten 1500 byte pings a second and did so from my laptop to the bridge with only a few drops here and there.

So I think it was the TiVo doing the limiting. Maybe it was busy doing something since subsequent transfers seemed a bit faster.

I guess it's just normal.

[muerte33]

I gave up on wireless and went with the NIM100 solution like many people.
This guy has 10 of them for sale on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Motorola-NIM100-Cable-Modem-Router_W0QQitemZ220370121167QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC_Modems?ha sh=item220370121167&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318 %7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Tivotogo (or Tivoplaylist, PYtivo, KMTTG, etc) is going to be MUCH slower than MRV because TIVO has to encrypt the file before it sends it down to the PC.
This is another reason why it would be nice if Tivo would release a PCI card that accepted Cable cards so we could use our Modern Quad core PCs (or Dual quad cores) to process all this. The Nero LiquidTV does not accept cable cards, so it is not a solution for me.

[larry99]

I already have a coaxial cable run so that modem sounds interesting. Can it convert in either direction so that two of these would be all that is needed? (Ethernet to coaxial and coaxial to ethernet)

[Yoav]

I gave up on wireless and went with the NIM100 solution like many people.
This guy has 10 of them for sale on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Motorola-NIM100-Cable-Modem-Router_W0QQitemZ220370121167QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC_Modems?ha sh=item220370121167&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318 %7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Tivotogo (or Tivoplaylist, PYtivo, KMTTG, etc) is going to be MUCH slower than MRV because TIVO has to encrypt the file before it sends it down to the PC.
This is another reason why it would be nice if Tivo would release a PCI card that accepted Cable cards so we could use our Modern Quad core PCs (or Dual quad cores) to process all this. The Nero LiquidTV does not accept cable cards, so it is not a solution for me.

It is a complete violation of the cablecard security requirement to allow you to use cablecards on usecured/unverified computers. Unless Cable Labs changes its tune, there will never be any legal device that you can stick into a normal PC that accepts cablecards. This has nothing to do with tivos, and everything to do with the mpaa.

It took tivo quite a long while to even get the regular Tivo 3's 'valid for cablecard'. And for a LONG while, tivo 3's had no TivoToGo because cablelabs was dragging its feet on certifying it.