Go Back   Cyber Tech Help Support Forums > Hardware > Networking

Notices

Networking Use this board for problem solving and the discussion of Networking, router, and Wi-Fi issues

Reply
 
Topic Tools
  #1  
Old September 21st, 2006, 05:46 PM
delta37 delta37 is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3
Question Question regarding speed

Hi, I just bought a new wireless router (D-Link Dl-524) after my old one got busted. anyways, i know the fact that wireless is definitely slower than having a cable hooked up on the computer directly, but is it really that slow?

my DSL is around 700+kbps and when i test my computer with a cable hooked i get around 650+kbps which is not bad because there are several factors still to consider, but when i use the wireless in my laptop and test it just beside the router (around 2 feet away maybe?), i only get an average of around 384-450kbps.

my question is, is wifi really that slow? i mean, do you really lose that much speed when you use wireless?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old September 22nd, 2006, 11:05 AM
gimpy530 gimpy530 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
O/S: Windows Vista 64-bit
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Age: 36
Posts: 2,086
802.11g wireless is rated at a top speed of 54Mbps far far faster than any internet.......but it is much slower than regular 100base-t ethernet which runs at 100Mbps, that's all networking tho, not internet

other factors might be slowing down the laptop....

btw, Dlink sucks.....just wanted to get that out there
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old September 22nd, 2006, 12:07 PM
oracle128's Avatar
oracle128 oracle128 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
O/S: Windows XP Pro
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Age: 40
Posts: 9,401
You're not losing speed, you're losing latency. That's the disadvantage of a wireless connection. While 802.11g WiFi may move at a maximum speed of 54Mbps (as mentioned, faster than your current internet connection is ever going to be), it takes a while to start receiving a stream of data from your modem to your PC.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old September 22nd, 2006, 05:07 PM
delta37 delta37 is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3
well yeah i know that ethernet 100mbps is faster than the 54mbps wifi, but if at MAX, the router can send up to 54mbps, how come it couldn't reach 600Kbps?

i mean, is there any way i could like get at least a higher latency?

what's the best router? tried asking people and alot says linksys is suckier than d-link, so i bought d-link hehe
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old September 22nd, 2006, 08:56 PM
gimpy530 gimpy530 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
O/S: Windows Vista 64-bit
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Age: 36
Posts: 2,086
I've used Linksys and I've used Dlink......EVERY Dlink product I used didn;t work (I have the same router as you) but yet every Linksys product I;ve used worked perfectly
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old September 23rd, 2006, 02:56 AM
bAdWaYz bAdWaYz is offline
CTH Subscriber
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
O/S: Linux
Location: A State of Zen
Age: 50
Posts: 4,561
Linksys or Dlink won't really matter. The fact is no home use router or even a nice gigabit router is going to improve your internet speed. The pipe that your ISP gives you is all your ever going to get. Now perhaps if its dsl there is noise on the line or its "dirty" meaning the speed isn't as good as it could be due to the line itself not being as clear as it should be. Same thing goes for cable except you don't see noise as much on a cable connection. Sometimes however you do see things like the main drop outside the home will have stading water in the housing or such that can cause slow serive or even connection drops.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old September 23rd, 2006, 07:25 AM
oracle128's Avatar
oracle128 oracle128 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
O/S: Windows XP Pro
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Age: 40
Posts: 9,401
Quote:
Originally Posted by delta37
i mean, is there any way i could like get at least a higher latency?
Are you sure this is what you want? Latency is the time it take between the data beginning tranmission, and the end recipient to start receiving the stream of data. A higher number means it takes longer.

Assuming what you meant was that you wanted "lower latency", then no, there's not a whole lot you can do. For cable/ethernet, this is the time it takes for the data to go from the web server to your ISP, your ISP to your modem, and from your modem to your PC. Via cable ethernet, this is a direct connection, point to point.

With wireless, it's a different picture; everything is the same as ethernet, except for the last stage, your modem/router to your PC. In that time, data takes time to be converted to wireless and broadcast through your house, wireless is slower because it's the equivalent of a network hub compared to a switch, and signals are going round corners, through various materials, bouncing off walls/ceilings/floors, and being interfered with by other electronic devices - yes, even while your PC is only feet away from the wireless access point.

You can often change your signal just by moving at different angles to your router - your reception might be fairly poor 2 feet under or over the router, but may be twice as good 20 feet horizontally from it. There's just too many variables involved.

Buying better equipment can help a bit; consumer wireless routers might be relatively slow compared to business-standard equipment eg. from Cisco.

Simply put, consider this: if the drop in latency (which effects overall "speed") is enough that you actually notice it and can't accept it, then WiFi isn't the connection type for you. However, my guess is that the only reason you ever noticed the speed drop was because specifcally measured it on a website speed test (which have plenty of flaws of their own) and were wondering why the numbers were different.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old September 23rd, 2006, 10:45 AM
delta37 delta37 is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3
thanks alot guys.. i think should consider just wiring up my laptop to a cable to get a faster speed..

and i was just wondering because some sites has those linksys vs d-link and for some reason most are for d-link? i wonder why...

but anyways thanks again guys for giving me some knowlegde regarding networks
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old September 24th, 2006, 04:49 AM
z1p's Avatar
z1p z1p is offline
Cyber Tech Help Moderator
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
O/S: Windows Vista 64-bit
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 6,668
Hmmm... I'm trying to follow the tech aspects here and well I'm not buying it fully. Partly is because I just finished setting up a new wireless router (linksys) and because of this thread I decided to see what the speed difference was between my desktop (wired to the router) and my laptop(wireless). I alternated between the 2 machines doing an online speed test (based at my ISP). Well, my desktop averaged around 2.86 Mbps and my laptop averaged around 2.95 Mbps.

So why isn't my laptop slower. My router is even one floor down in the utility closet and almost the full length of the house away (at least 30 ft). Not the best conditions. And I'm running wireless B with WEP.

So, while latency may be higher for wireless than wired, what hasn't been answered here is why delta37 is taking such a hit on his wireless connection. Distance obviously isn't the big factor, if it was my connection would be crap.

I'm guessing your performance is being impacted by electronic noise.My questions for delta37 are, what other electronic devices are being used? Have you tried changing the wireless channel being used?
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old September 24th, 2006, 05:25 AM
oracle128's Avatar
oracle128 oracle128 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
O/S: Windows XP Pro
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Age: 40
Posts: 9,401
The type of test you measure the bandwidth with is a major factor. Latency factor less into the equation with longer sample periods. There's also environmental conditions to consider (EMI, humidity), as well as strength and configuration of the hardware involved (router, aerial type and config, wifi adapter, CPU etc). For example, a Centrino will handle WiFi better than a wireless PCMCIA card. Another example, a PC can only download as fast as it can store the data it received beforehand - hard drive speed is a major factor, as is CPU usage.

Last edited by oracle128; September 24th, 2006 at 05:28 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old September 24th, 2006, 04:47 PM
z1p's Avatar
z1p z1p is offline
Cyber Tech Help Moderator
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
O/S: Windows Vista 64-bit
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 6,668
Quote:
Originally Posted by oracle128 View Post
The type of test you measure the bandwidth with is a major factor. Latency factor less into the equation with longer sample periods. There's also environmental conditions to consider (EMI, humidity), as well as strength and configuration of the hardware involved (router, aerial type and config, wifi adapter, CPU etc). For example, a Centrino will handle WiFi better than a wireless PCMCIA card. Another example, a PC can only download as fast as it can store the data it received beforehand - hard drive speed is a major factor, as is CPU usage.
I agree with all that which leads me to say that while latency for wireless is higher, the biggest latency with wireless is that it can vary greater depending on many factors. That is why I asked delta37 about the environment and suggested a different channel.

BTW - The desktop has a faster CPU, bus and memory than the laptop, The wireless in the laptop is a PCMCIA card. Basically, my laptop setup is almost as bad as it can be for wireless. The only thing I can think of to make it worst is to be using a USB wireless adapter. Also, I ran the speed tests on the laptop wired and got the exact same results as I did wirelessly.

delta37 you may not be able to get better speeds wirelessly, but then again you might.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Topic Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Topics
Topic Topic Starter Forum Replies Last Post
DVD-R write speed question johnnybignose Hardware 2 October 18th, 2008 05:00 PM
Question on Processor/RAM speed messikin03 Hardware 14 April 25th, 2008 11:48 AM
internet speed question maginn81 Windows XP 3 May 23rd, 2007 04:30 PM
SATA and ide speed question insane_logic Hardware 3 March 8th, 2006 08:38 PM
Modem Speed Question Rico Windows XP 2 April 20th, 2004 10:29 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:31 PM.