Unresponsive network while transferring

CFu

Baseband Member
Messages
53
Whenever I transfer some files over wireless on my home network, my internet connection becomes next to unresponsive (websites don't load or take forever to load) until I kill the network transfer. I am on Windows 8. Why is this happening?

It's like the network can only handle one thing at a time, which is strange because none of my other laptops have this problem. With other laptops (that have Windows 7) I could easily transfer files over wifi at full network cap, while listening to music over the network and browsing the internet with ease, watching Youtube in HD. Now with this Windows 8 machine I don't have that freedom.
Is this a Windows 8 issue? Perhaps I should get Windows 8.1..

Any ideas?
 
How many other devices would be on the network when you are transferring the files, It could be that your router cannot handle so many users all doing demanding things at once..
 
Router has been doing perfectly fine handling me on xbox live gaming, while my family is watching shows in HD on their laptop, all the while listening to music streaming from my old PC. So I'd say my router can take it. Plus: I just scanned my neighborhood for routers and it seems I am on a channel no one else is using and my neighbors are all using channels 3 numbers above or below mine so that's good. No interference.

While I am transferring, no other devices are probing the router. In fact, the only devices that are on are my old PC being idle and my Windows 7 laptop accepting the transfer of files. If my router can handle aforementioned situation, I might suspect it has something to do with the drivers. I just updated my NIC drivers. This week I am going to test the network transfer again and I hope the problem was solved with this driver update.

Meanwhile, suggestions are welcome.
 
There's a difference between going to the internet and going between computers.

What device is transfering the files?

Have you tried power cycling the router? (Unplugging it for 10 seconds)

What computer are you trying to browse from while you are transfering files?
 
The Windows 8 laptop is the one transferring the files.
No, I have not tried power cycling the router.
I am trying to browse from the same laptop that is transferring the files.
 
Bulk file-transfer from a laptop running windows 8 will slow down the responsiveness of that laptop to other tasks as the CPU (rather than the network) is multi-tasking extensively.

As another alternative cause of your problem, take a look at this post and see if 'buffer bloat' is a possible cause in your scenario. If it's the machine doing web-browsing which is suffering, and not the file transfer over the wireless network, then it won't be radio interference.

Hope that helps.
 
Issue fixed after Windows 8.1 update and network card drivers update.

I am now effortlessly able to stream HD and copy over large amounts of content over my network, from the same machine.
 
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