Thread: Network speed testing

Originally Posted by jmw_man

Yea, I've been reading the Wireshark user guide trying to figure out how to interpret the info...

It is not for the faint of hearts. It is something that you just have to get used too. Once you learn how to use it, it is a great tool.

Originally Posted by Partyball

It is not for the faint of hearts. It is something that you just have to get used too. Once you learn how to use it, it is a great tool.

When I was running it, it appears to me that it randomly sends different sized packets of data between random IP addresses throughout the network and displays the timeframe in "ms" for this to occur. Correct me if I'm wrong, LOL.

I wonder, am I able to specify which IP addresses I want this done for? Like say, between different computers and the server so I can see a side by side comparison of data transmission between the server and the computers? I also spent a good while yesterday afternoon trying to identify the IP address of each computer. I have a scanner and it at least identifies each IP address that's currently in use, however, the problem I'm running into is that it doesn't always display a hostname. Most of the time is says "N/A" for the hostname. My only other option would be to access each individual computer but that's out of the question...

I'm telling you dude, you're digging too deep into this.

90% of the traffic showing in wireshark is your typical broadcast...ie.. who is this? This is me...

Wireshark isn't going to show you latency/connection issues between 2 points. That's not what wireshark is for.

Your issue seems to be a simple communications issue with a multitude of different possible causes. It really comes down to troubleshooting at the lower level.

Things to ask/try..

Is it just the one user on that computer having the issue? Could possibly be profile based issue..
Is the cabling done properly?
Are they connecting off a phone?
What happens if you boot a live linux cd and test transfer speeds?
What is the speed of the switch?
Is the flow control on the NIC auto? ..Maybe change to the speed of the switch..
Try a different network card.

Originally Posted by Warprosper

I'm telling you dude, you're digging too deep into this.

90% of the traffic showing in wireshark is your typical broadcast...ie.. who is this? This is me...

Wireshark isn't going to show you latency/connection issues between 2 points. That's not what wireshark is for.

Your issue seems to be a simple communications issue with a multitude of different possible causes. It really comes down to troubleshooting at the lower level.

Things to ask/try..

Is it just the one user on that computer having the issue? Could possibly be profile based issue..
Is the cabling done properly?
Are they connecting off a phone?
What happens if you boot a live linux cd and test transfer speeds?
What is the speed of the switch?
Is the flow control on the NIC auto? ..Maybe change to the speed of the switch..
Try a different network card.

Pretty much what I was trying to say.

OK, after I wrote up all the below, I realized something that may be faster to check. Go in Windows (assuming these are Windows machines), go to the network adapter and status and check that they are both using 100Mbs Full Duplex. If one is set for 10Mbs or Half duplex, this may be your issue. Check the configuration on the network card and the port on the switch. If both say 100Mbs full duplex, try the below steps.



Try this because I like to keep things simple.

THIS IS SLOW ONE: PC A in Location X using Cable 1 plugged into switch port N
THIS IS THE FAST ONE: PC B in Location Y using Cable 2 plugged into switch port O

Temporarily move PC A to location Y and move PC B to location X. Does the problem stay at location X or does the problem move to location Y. If the problem moves, it's probably something with the PC. Check the network card settings and see if it's set to 100Mb Full duplex...

If the problem stays at location X, switch Cable 1 and Cable 2 and see if the problem follows the cable. This may be difficult to do since you have the long run. If you can't switch both, move the long cable and see if that makes a difference. Maybe the short cable is bad...

If the problem stays in location X even after changing the cables, put everything back to where it was. PC Ato location X using Cable 1... Then plug PC A in location X from switch port N to O and plug PC B from O to N. If the problem moves, you have a bad port or a port configured badly (maybe 10 Mbs instead of 100Mb or duplex set to half instead of full).

Just some ideas that may or may not help. I'm leaning towards it being a port configured for 10Mb or half-duplex or the PC having issues.


Add this in with what War said and hopefully you can at least narrow your issue down. Right now, it could be bad nic, bad cable, bad port, bad nic settings, bad switch port settings, a frigging virus on the pc that's slow...

I love wireshark. I use it a little excessively. It will not help you in this instance

This just screams layer 1 issue to me... make sure you pc is running at least 100mb full duplex, replace the cable, test another laptop/pc on the same port/cable, try the same PC on another port. That will rule out physical issues. Once you have done that, I would try a linux live boot CD/USB as War already suggested to help identify or rule out whether or not it is a Windows issue.


I should clarify that wireshark could help depending on the issue...but if you don't understand how to interpret the data and know how to follow a stream of data it is useless. It's pretty tough for a beginner to just pick up and use with accuracy but if you're having an issue with a lot of TCP re-transmissions, excessive fragmentation or something of that nature then wireshark would make spotting that easy.