10 replies to this topic

[vijay.gupta]

If I connect multiple computers to internet through router, then will the bandwidth that each computer get be divided in the proportion of number of computers? Suppose I am connected to 1 Mbps line and two computers are connected to it via router, then will each computer get the equal bandwidth of 512 Mbps if both computers are turned on? If only one computer is turned on, then will other computer get the full bandwidth of 1 Mbps?

[terry1966]

yes the total bandwidth will be split by the router to each pc, this doesn't mean they automatically get just 50% of the bandwidth for 2 pc's or 33% for 3 pc's tho, if 1 pc is not using a lot of bandwidth and the other one is, then the router might pass 95% of the available bandwidth to the busy pc and just 5% to the other.. the router acts in real time so the amount of bandwidth each pc gets changes as and when needed. because your total available bandwidth is limited tho you may experience slightly slower internet browsing/downloading with 2 or 3 pc's connected all doing the same thing than you would with just the one. i have had 4 or more pc's connected to the internet through my router and very, very rarely would i see any difference in speeds compared to just having the 1 pc connected.

[vijay.gupta]

Thanks Terry for the response!! For this part "i have had 4 or more pc's connected to the internet through my router and very, very rarely would i see any difference in speeds compared to just having the 1 pc connected", it may be the case that you usually not reach your available bandwidth limit with all the 4 pcs working simultaneously that is why i think you have rarely seen any difference in performance/speed.

[terry1966]

yes you are correct, it's only when all my bandwidth is being used, up or down, that the slow downs happen. one pc i have when it's uploading it's results to standford folding uses up all my upload bandwidth and causes everything else to lose internet until it's finished.

[vijay.gupta]

But then other pcs can utilize download bandwidth until the upload bandwidth is freed by one computer.

[terry1966]

no, even tho you may be downloading(just browsing the internet) you still need some upload bandwidth available. it's used to tell the site you've recieved what they sent now send more this is called a handshake signal i think, anyway when this 1 pc is uploading it doesn't leave any free upload bandwidth for handshake signals so no other pc's can browse the internet not even the one doing the uploading. probably my router's not doing a good enough job of managing my connections.. shrug.. but whatever the problem is it's not bothered me enough to try and work around/fix it.

[vijay.gupta]

Thanks terry for the quick response.

[vijay.gupta]

So, in the end i am concluding that router divides the available bandwidth as per need of the connected computers. Please let me know if it is correct? Also, is there any way to configure the router to divide the available bandwidth by two equal halfs (or may be the way we want) between the connected computers?

[terry1966]

yes it's divided as per needed or first come, first served basis... not sure which now. and yes you can set routers(some anyway) to limit/prioritize the amount of bandwidth available to each pc/program, i think it's called QoS in the routers setup.

[terry1966]

i'd just leave the router to manage the connections until/if you find you do have a problem where 1 pc is hogging all the bandwidth, then look into the routers settings to see if it can limit bandwidth to each pc, even if it can't, there are other ways of doing it, for instance there are programs out there that you put on each pc and setup, that will limit the bandwidth that pc's allowed to use, i can't recommend any because i've never used them, but they are available.

[vijay.gupta]

Great terry for the additional information!!