Wireless Download Speeds?

[MitaPi]

Okay.. So I have noticed that my computer tops at 110kbs as a wireless transfer rate. But my PCI adapter is 54mbps with speed booster from linksys. So my question is this.. why do I top out at 110KBS and not a higher speed since my max speed for my card is 54MBPS. And my other question is, can you somehow configure it or overclock or something like that to get a higher transfer rate??

[Cool1Net6]

First off, even though WiFi has a theoretical throughput way above your ISP's theoretical, in the real world it tends to ALWAYS be slower than when on a wired connection. This seems to be the nature of wireless connections, at least those below 802.11n speeds. There are things you can do to boost the signal to get more range and get a better signal from where you are (upgrading firmware to HyperWRT) but I dont know about anything else.

A friend of mine blanketed his house in WiFi-G, between 2 routers with upgraded firmware (HyperWRT) and still never got close to the wired connection speeds. He wasnt living in a lead box either.

Hope this helps.

-Cool-

[Omega]

well, as Cool said, it's not your network (well, kinda, but not very much so), as it is your internet connection. that 54Mb/s is from computer to computer, not computer to internet.

Also, it's not MB, it's Mb. MB is MegaByte, and Mb is Megabit, which is much smaller.

[MitaPi]

OKay.. so we just got a new netgear 240 wireless router.. yet to install it tho. If I got the corresponding adapter at 240Mb/s would my download speeds be faster? Otherwise I dont see the point in getting it. It would give me a stronger connection to the router but so far I havent seen a difference in speeds with how strong of a connection I have.

[Omega]

OKay.. so we just got a new netgear 240 wireless router.. yet to install it tho. If I got the corresponding adapter at 240Mb/s would my download speeds be faster? Otherwise I dont see the point in getting it. It would give me a stronger connection to the router but so far I havent seen a difference in speeds with how strong of a connection I have.


No. It would not speed up your downloads, and if you had read the thread, you would know this.

We've all been saying that the bottleneck isn't your network, it's your internet connection.

[MitaPi]

Okay just making sure there wasnt a difference between the two brands. Thanks for your help.

[monoflap]

No. It would not speed up your downloads, and if you had read the thread, you would know this.
Actually, thats not necessarily true. If the connection is bad enough it could easily affect the internet connection. The other issue with wirless networking I have found is the stability of your connection. Getting a better router will most likely help with any connection drop outs or ping spikes. Of course, most of this could be avoided by going wired.

[Airbozo]

I went through a lot of issues with my wireless connections and finally replaced my wireless router with a brand new model. That solved all my dropped connection issues and slow speed. Then the wife's laptop died and the wireless has not been used in 6 months. I think it still works...

[CanaBalistic]

speed isnt realitive, including computer to computer transfers.

You cant download faster than your HD can transfer that data. You cant process the incoming information faster than your cpu can go. your also limited by the speed and efficency of your motherboard which all information passes through.

We've basicly reached the bar, We must then raise it again. Thus is why dual core cpu's are now manufactured. If one core could keep up then we wouldnt need 2 of them :)

SATA2 is now available to increase transfer rates of HD's even further. FSB's are increasing.

56k modem's are almost obsolete. Faster internet connections are being developed. In an attempt to increace the all mighty "SPEED" problems of today.

[MitaPi]

I just want wireless speeds that are more like wired speeds. I dont really like waiting 3 hours for a movie to download. That or cheaper T1... I can always drive down to the office and use it there.. But then again I dont have a laptop.

[OvRiDe]

I guess the first question is.. What kind of internet service to you have at your house. (DSL, CABLE, T1, Wireless).
The next one is.. Who is your provider. (SBC, COX, COMCAST, etc) And Last What speeds are guarenteed by your provider? (1.5Mb/256, 9Mb, etc.)

The next thing you can do is go to http://www.dslreports.com/stest and run a speed test. See how close that is to your broadband service. (Post it here, if you have questions)

Also what service are you using to download the movies. The only reason I even bring this up is, that you must remember it doesnt matter how fast YOUR connection is, you will only be as fast as where you are getting it from.

Hopefully this will help shed some light on things.

[MitaPi]

I have satelite... um.. I dont know my provider... but our router is Linksys @ 54mps. On our reciever I think it says something like anything from 2mps to 20mps. And I am using limewire pro to download.

[OvRiDe]

Did you run any of the speed tests? If so what did they say?

Also again your router has nothing to do with how fast your can download from the internet. I have a GigaBit switch in my house and I am also limited to what my internet service plan is. (3Mbps :( )

If I remember right I believe satellite internet service sends its information in bursts back and forth to the bird. This is probably why they state 2-20mbps.

Limewire Pro is not necessarily the fastest place your going to download either. Since its p2p you are still dependant on the combination of those that are uploading it.

Here is some examples of approximately how long a file should take if all conditions were perfect on a T1 (1.544 Mbps) to download.

700MB - 1hr. 45sec.
1.5GB - 2hr. 10min. 12sec.
4.7GB - 6hr. 47min. 59sec.

Remember this is a solid connection with minimal hops and low overhead. So you might not be as far off as you think.

Hope this helps.