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Selenia
Gentoo Convert
Premium Member
join:2006-09-22
Fort Smith, AR

Selenia to Blaine B

Premium Member

to Blaine B

Re: Wireless Connection Speed ~60% Compared To Wired

Well, the megabits is bandwidth, which is how much data can be transferred per second. There is also latency, or the round trip delay in getting replies from a server. Web pages are small most the time but with many small parts from different sources. Meaning, unlike the ads tout, a higher speed(bandwidth) generally does not speed up browsing that much. However, better latency(lower pimg) can make a world of difference as it directly affects the response time for each request made for page elements. Not to say there is not great uses for bandwidth, but not for the casual web surfer. Get into downloading large files, watching HD video, etc then you need more bandwidth.
Blaine B
join:2004-07-11
Indiana

Blaine B

Member

Would it hurt to tell you that I am also using a system that I built over 7 1/2 years ago?
Blaine B

Blaine B to Selenia

Member

to Selenia
Get this....I was at my Father's home today, tinkering with his network.

I previously stated that his wireless was slower than his direct wired. He has a Linksys WRT54G (the "newer" style black box with no external antennas)

I was flipping through the settings. I updated his wireless security to WPA2 and I also set the transmit to 54G instead of auto.

What do you know? Now his wireless laptop is picking up the exact same speed (24 mb/down) as his direct wired desktop!

What gives? I have a Netgear WGR614V7 and even with my laptop directly beside the router, I am still about 60% less than direct wired.

Both routers are wireless-G routers!

John Galt6
Forward, March
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp

John Galt6

Premium Member

Don't put the laptop right next to the router...

If I screamed in your ear, I doubt you'd be able to understand what I was saying.

Radios don't like too much signal...in fact, they hate it. It overloads the 'front end' of the radio, corrupts the frame and then calls for a resend...thereby killing the throughput.

Eight to ten feet away is great...
Blaine B
join:2004-07-11
Indiana

Blaine B

Member

Either way, it was just a test. My Dad's laptop was probably around 15 feet away, on the same floor (walls in-between)

My laptop and desktop are about 25 feet away, on a different floor.

I know it must not be by PCI wireless adapter card, because my laptop and desktop have the same "slowdown."

The Netgear router I have does have less options than the Linksys, though.

I just thought that was interesting that his setup was able to achieve full throughput, even wireless, yet mine will not....and I actually have a faster internet package than he.

Selenia
Gentoo Convert
Premium Member
join:2006-09-22
Fort Smith, AR

Selenia to Blaine B

Premium Member

to Blaine B
Was it on WEP before? That can slow things down because AES for WPA2 is hardware supported while WEP in most devices/drivers is software supported just for backward compatibility. WPA2 speeds, however, should be very close to unsecured - negligible overhead since the hardware itself is doing all the work, not the little CPU in the router and on your PC-indirectly at that as is the case with WEP.
Blaine B
join:2004-07-11
Indiana

Blaine B

Member

No. We were both using WPA TKIP. I switched to WPA2.

I did this for both of us. I am not sure exactly what setting made his wireless speed up with his Linksys router, but mine remained unchanged with my Netgear router.