wifi SPEED questions...

[ORLY?]

first of all, the back of the box that my wireless adapter came in has 3 graphs showing the speed droping as the signal gets further away. this speed, is it just the speed of the signal to and from the AP/router, or do they actually mean bandwidth speed...or both. im pretty sure its BOTH.


now whats this deal with 54.0 mbs and 108 mbs.

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?childpagename=US%2FLayout&packedargs=c%3DL_Content_C1%26cid%3D1116519870339&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

Wireless-G (802.11g) - Features the same benefits as Wireless-B, but offers 5X the speed at up to 54Mbps.

so wirless g offers UP TO 54 mbs. then whats all this about 108 Mbps ? under advanced settings, the transmit rate of my adapter can be set to 108.mbs . now this confuses me. 54 or 108. which is it???


also, even though i set it to 108, when i hover over the icon at the bottom, it always says SPEED: 54 Mbps. and it ALWAYS says that. now im quite a distance away from the source. im really stretching this thing. im connected to a house thats literaly around the corner. i get a whole 2 bars. and the bandwidth is signifigantly less than at the source. (which is much better than my dial-up and im cool with it bc im really stretching it here. im thankful just to get ANY signal) but, if i get 2 bars, why does it still say 54 mbs?


sorry if i put too many questions into one post. i hope nothing gets overlooked (they probably will).

[M/Q]

First wireless is simplex by its very nature therefore will automatically have half of the TBW (Throughput BandWidth) of a wired link, because a wired link is duplex, or can send signals both ways at the same time so it indeed achieves the advertised bandwidth (BW).

Also wireless requires a great deal more management so that overhead comes into play. For an example under perfect conditions a 802.11g link will never get over 25-27mb/s TBW. Encryption will also play a part in that and even reduce it more. Device incompatibility between vendors and more to the point how they handle encryption comes into play as well. All of these lower the TBW that is expected by people who have every right to assume that they are going to get 54mb/s TBW.

This article explains it quite well.

http://www.mobilityloop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=26

As for 108mb/sec, each vendor has a speed booster technology, that is very proprietary and does not work unless all the devices are from the same vendor and conditions are perfect.

As for your situation, I doubt seriously that you are getting anywhere near 54mb/sec divided by 2 or 27mb/sec as I mentioned above. With the distance you are linking, I am surprised it even works. But not to complain.

[ORLY?]

yes. i am suprised as well.

so the wifi companies are trying to fool us.

encryption- does that mean having a password slows you down? is that what you mean by encryption?

both my adapter and router/acces point (not sure which it is. have to check) are linksys. so that should help i guess. since i knew it was a long shot to connect the houses, i decided to get This adapter:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124178

i saw the 3 antennas it had and assumed it must be good. so far so good. it sits on the corner of my desk.

i forgot the link, but somewhere it shows you how to make a home made antenna and it says it can reach up to 8 miles or something like that.

theres a link to it somewhere within this website.

[M/Q]

Is the router at the remote location and does it have the SRX feature as well? That might explain your ability to create a link at that distance.

Encryption does slow down the process. To what extent, I am not sure, but if you run tests it will make a difference. Not to the point where I would recommend not using it.

[Specialist927]

Is your router a MIMO router like that card you have a link to ??..If so that is why you see those speeds...MIMO is full duplex..

[Specialist927]

M/Q If you look at a close up of that card you will see MIMO on the yellow sticker..

[ORLY?]

my adapter has MIMO and SRX...but i dont think the router does.

im gunna try an experiment. im gunna test the other computers speed that is directly connected. (with a bandwidth test) and im gunna use that same test with a labtop in the same room as the router and see what the difference is.

EDIT: this is a very good wifi adapter and i would highly recomend it.

[M/Q]

I have to ask, are you talking about equipment you have or a wireless device that is supposedly around the corner and down the street. I am getting nervous that you are referring to two different subjects. I then want to ask if you have permission to access that remote wireless device?

Specialist, thanks for pointing that out. It is MIMO but a proprietary one and not according to any IEEE standard. That is why it will only work if the other end is also SRX/MIMO. It uses two channels so to speak and is a nasty thing interfering with your networks if you are near one.

[ORLY?]

yes i have permission. in fact i even know the password.

the router in the other house IS definitly a linksys. but im pretty sure it does not have srx or mimo.

so i guess according to you, im not getting the full effect of the srx/mimo since the other end probably is not srx/mimo.

and is a nasty thing interfering with your networks if you are near one.

does that mean its bad for the people around me? =(

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v160/Speed_Racer128/networks.gif

here is a pic of the networks. i censored the names of them to protect their identity. let me explain:

the first one is MY network. i know it shows 1 bar but its usually 2. in fact, its back up to 2 bars right now. thats the average. about 90% of the time.

the second network just showed up today. it shows a whole 5 bars. and i dont know whos this is but im not even in the same house as this thing. not my network

the 3rd one is connected ALL the time. and has excellent quality. an average of 4 bars. judging by the name, my parent says its the house right next to the source. (bc thats supposed to be their last name. and thats the name that appears as the network). this house is 1 house closer to me than the source, but its STILL quite far away.

the other 2 dont concern me. since they are so far away.

yes, i have connected to that 3rd one. (with the 4 bars). and according to this place: http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html i can get about 900 Kbps.

my network varies bc there is quite a bit of studering, but ive never gotten less than 100 something Kbps

i just tried connecting to that 5 bar connection just now just to check to speed of it. it just said connecting... for a long time then both it and "default" dissapeared from my list. i dont know if they coincidently turned it off or they have some special software that blocked me when i tried to connect. thats odd bc BOTH networks dissapeared at the same time. and they were 2 different strengths. which suggests that they are in 2 different houses. they were on oppisite sides of the spectrum. (strenght-wise that is)

...ugh. i said too much.


EDIT: nm. "default" just poped back up when i refreshed. the other one is gone though.