Nick,
Ok to help I will need to use some network terms. These are some ideas to address network congestion.
a) you need to use switches as opposed to hubs or switch ports on some consumer Internet routers, as this seperate out the collision domains and can have more devices sharing the same network.
b) devices will only really fight if you have a lot of broadcast or multicast traffic sharing your simple network. To reduce broadcast traffic, you either need to use more efficient applications or split your network up into smaller networks using a (proper) router. Perhaps have a subnet for web browsing,office, and printing and a seperate network for audio.
c) if you have a lot ofmulticast traffic, then either use the seperate subnets as described above or ensure you use a router that supports IGMP and your switch(es) support IGMP snooping. This ensures the multicast is switched and not broadcast therefore increasing capacity on your network.
d) the least advisable method is to up your link layer to 1Gbps as opposed to 100Mbps. But if the multicast or broadcast levels are high you will be loading every device connected to your network (each has to listen and inspect the packet). This can affect PC/Laptop/NAS performance for non network related applications.
e) once all the above is done, the next method is to use QoS on the switch ports. But you need professional managed switches usually for this. This allows a switch to prioritise packets and mark them so your network understands its priority. This you need to understand networks to setup.
Simon
To see network traffic on an attached interface try
http://www.solarwinds.com/prod...ndwidth-monitor.aspx
