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Very slow internal network speed - any ideas

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4wd:
What do you get transferring from PC to PC over wired LAN, (with Gb you should get around 50-80MB/s), through just a switch, no router involved ?

Trying to narrow it down by cutting out the unnecessary stuff first.

Shades:
First, connections through cables should always be faster than WiFi. If that isn't the case, something is wrong with the cable.

3 ports are occupied with 4-way switches, you say. Given their small size, I assume these are not 'managed' switches. Did you try the 4-way switch with the troublesome device on a different port? If not, swap the device to a different port and see if the problem still exists. Some ports on switches wear out faster than other ones.

There is also this to consider: likely your 4-way switch has 1GByte/sec ports. That means your switch has a total bandwidth capacity of 4GByte/sec when it was new. The quality of the chips used to get to 4GByte/sec bandwidth can deteriorate. After all, it is electronics and not every device is exactly the same.

I have found out that consumer grade WiFi gear and switches vary a lot here in Paraguay. Never liked WiFi as a solution when I still was living in the Netherlands, but here in PY i have learned to hate WiFi with a passion. Even the wired consumer gear isn't always performing as expected. So, I stepped up and spent more on one 'managed' switch with enough ports for now and future needs. It's a Zyxel and I am very satisfied with it.

Reducing the amount of "hops" any LAN or WAN network is always better. Getting one good switch and pulling a cable to a location where you need to use WiFi gear is much more reliable, especially if you stop using consumer grade gear. The max length of a Cat5e/Cat6 cables is 100 meters (after that you need to hook up a switch and from that point you can "travel" another 100 meters, etc.).   


I imagine your setup to be like this:

      Internet
          |
    +---------+
    |  Modem  |
    +---------+   
          |
    +---------+
    |  Switch  |
    +---------+   
      |  |  |  |
      |  |  |
      |  |  +-----------------------------+
      |  +----------------+                    |
      |                          |                    |
    +---------+      +---------+     +---------+
    |  Switch  |       |  Switch  |     |  Switch  |
    +---------+      +---------+     +---------+
      |  |  |  |           |  |  |  |          |  |  |  |
     


I would suggest the following:

      Internet
          |
    +---------+
    |  Modem  |
    +---------+   
          |
    +------------------------------------------------+
    |  Switch                                                         |
    +------------------------------------------------+   
      |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
      |  |  |  |
      |  |  |  +-----------------------------------------+
      |  |  +-----------------------------+                  |
      |  +----------------+                    |                  |
      |                          |                    |                   |
    +---------+      +---------+     +---------+    +---------+
    |  Device  |       |  WiFi 1   |     |  WiFi 2   |    |  Device  |    etc.
    +---------+      +---------+     +---------+   +---------+
     
     
While this results in a bunch of cables going from the switch into different directions, it may not be the most visual pleasing solution. But it is much more reliable and when I am watching a monitor that is usually where all my attention is focused on. Could be because I am a male :P

Carol Haynes:
Thanks - with a bit of judicious rejigging of cables I have got the PC back on 14Mbps

You are right though I need to get the whole mess tidied up!

Thank you everyone for the suggestions - really appreciated.

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