File transfer rate below 1 Mb/s [SOLVED]

Hey guys,

I built an OMV NAS using some old hardware I had lying around, but my average file transfer speed seems disproportionately low, so I wanted to ask your opinion.

I'm usually pulling around 900 Kb/s, and every once in a while I can hit and exceed 1 Mb/s, usually capping out around 1.8, but that's rare and a far cry from the ~40 Mb/s people are saying is low. Additionally, if I let the drives sit around for too long without playing with the webclient, the rates will nosedive to around 80 Kb/s. Is there any reason for this?

It's chugging along using the latest stable release of Erasmus, RAID1 configuration with LUKS encryption enabled on an Ext4 filesystem. I'm using SMB for all of my file transfer. My processor is an Intel Core Duo clocked to 1.86 Ghz, with 2Gb of memory and an Edimax Realtek Wi-Fi adapter.

I know my specs are pretty modest in relation to what I'm trying to get out of the system. I really would be perfectly satisfied with rates around 3-4 Mb/s.

Lemme know if you guys need anything else.

EDIT: just upgraded to cat5e, and now I'm clocking about 10.5 MB/s, which is more than acceptable to me. Thanks!

No, not really. This was mostly an effort to make nothing go to waste of my hardware and to avoid buying all new stuff for it. I could probably get a network card. Would that also explain the transfer rates dropping?

EDIT: I do have ethernet available, but I don't have a cord that will reach. Do I just need to get a long enough Ethernet cord?

It would need to be no longer than four. It's just that the ones I have are only one at most.