NAS reducing broadband speed (dramatically)

All,

HELP!

Our house ISP is Talktalk, with an approx download speed of 35Mbps. However, when I attached an LG N1T1 Network Attached Storage unit to the fibre router (Huawei HG533) provided by TT, the download speed reduces dramatically to 2Mbps or less.

I have had to disconnect said NAS box, as it was just unbearable. Unable to load standard webpages - even Google was taking an age (the most least intensive webpage out there!), and streaming was a complete no-no.....

I'm just after ideas as to why this may be happening? Any ideas would be most welcome, and much appreciated!

Cheers
gbulman

Two things that initially come to mind.

Is the PSU that supplies the NAS drive generating excessive levels of noise?

The NAS drive is working in such a way that it is creating a massive overhead on the switch inside the router and as a result the router does not have the processor power for the other connections?

Can you provide a full set of UP and DOWN stats - SNR, Attenuation, Sync Speed for the line with and without the NAS drive attached? You might need to unlock the modem to obtain them

I think you hit it here:

"The NAS drive is working in such a way that it is creating a massive overhead on the switch inside the router and as a result the router does not have the processor power for the other connections?"

The op needs to get a switch (1000mbps) and plis this into the router and then all pc's, mas drives into the switch also. [Router <=> Switch <=> PC's/Nas etc]

Before we start going down the route of electrical interference.etc maybe a good thing would be to check what IP the NAS is getting.

Particularly if it happens to be statically set, as it could be conflicting with something else already on the network.

In reply to a post by iand:

I think you hit it here:

"The NAS drive is working in such a way that it is creating a massive overhead on the switch inside the router and as a result the router does not have the processor power for the other connections?"

The op needs to get a switch (1000mbps) and plis this into the router and then all pc's, mas drives into the switch also. [[b]Router <=> Switch <=> PC's/Nas etc]

Yes, this is never a bad idea in any sort of enthusiast home network.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

In reply to a post by iand:

I think you hit it here:

"The NAS drive is working in such a way that it is creating a massive overhead on the switch inside the router and as a result the router does not have the processor power for the other connections?"

The op needs to get a switch (1000mbps) and plis this into the router and then all pc's, mas drives into the switch also. [[b]Router <=> Switch <=> PC's/Nas etc]

Yes, this is never a bad idea in any sort of enthusiast home network.

I'd agree about using a separate switch as soon as there are more than a few devices on the network and/or if thinking about having multiple internet connections or changing the router, just as it keeps the LAN side of things operational rather than depending on the thing providing the internet connection.

The original comment about the overhead on the router internal switch is a bit of a red herring, Even on consumer routers, that is a hardware switch chip and the router CPU isn't used for data flowing between the switch ports.
(The switch is programmed during boot up so it still needs a functional CPU at that stage)

That still leaves the possibility that the NAS is either misconfigured (network settings) and/or is hammering the internet connection (either in bandwidth terms or opening too many connections) for example if it has a queue of things it can download itself, a torrent client or is trying to sync with a cloud storage service.

I expect a well-behaved NAS will have settings that can limit the amount of bandwidth / connections it uses on the so as not to gum up an internet connection.

In reply to a post by gbulman:

when I attached an LG N1T1 Network Attached Storage unit to the fibre router (Huawei HG533) provided by TT, the download speed reduces dramatically to 2Mbps or less.

How is the NAS connected to the router, via a network cable or a USB cable?

Also there is this from your ISP's help pages in case it is relevant:
http://www.talktalk-labs.com/support/faqs/huawei-hg5...

Hi,

It was connected by ethernet cable.

I have read the other replies also, but the strange thing is that the setup was fine (using a Belkin router), before they upgraded our broadband line to fibre optic, and put in their own fibre compatible router.

Cheers
gbulman

**** CORRECTION TO ORIGINAL POST ****

The HUAWEI HG533 was the old router that TT supplied. They replaced it with a D-LINK DSL-3780.

The 3780 is attached to a HUAWEI HG612 modem.

Not sure if this makes any difference to anyones ideas???

Sorry about that......

In reply to a post by dragon2611:

Before we start going down the route of electrical interference.etc maybe a good thing would be to check what IP the NAS is getting.

Particularly if it happens to be statically set, as it could be conflicting with something else already on the network.

This would be my thought too. In particular, you should make sure any static IP addresses are outside the router's DHCP pool.

The original poster's story of the NAS working correctly with a previous router but not the current one makes me particularly concerned about an IP address clash, as there is no standard for IP addressing on home routers. Different routers place different addresses in the DHCP pool.