Wireless Network Speed
http://live.pirillo.com/ – Will having more than one computer on the same wireless network have an impact on the wireless connection?
As you add more computers to your network you’re going to lose available bandwidth, it’s just a technical fact of using the wireless connection; however, for everyday use – IM, chat, e-mail, and web browsing – you should not notice any real speed degradation, unless you have hundreds of machines on the connection all accessing the network at the same time.
You may notice slowdowns if you are using network heavy applications, such as large file transfers between computers or having multiple computers playing network-intensive games; but, this is by no means typical use for a home user.
Do you have any opinions or network optimization tips?
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6 Comments
Jim Novak
July 2nd, 2007
at 3:09pm
Chris
Your right on the money, It’s a fact but, let me add something
Wireless b and g products run at 11 Mbps and 54 Mbps respectively
Just don’t forget about the overhead needed to propagate the signal,
and the noise created by devices on the same frequency (i.e.: cordless phones…) Which causes the signal to fight through the noise thereby reducing the bandwidth Don’t worry you probably won’t even notice.
It’s still faster then your (ISP) Internet service provider any way you
look at it.
Cheers,
Jim
Jim Novak
July 2nd, 2007
at 3:09pm
Chris
Your right on the money, It’s a fact but, let me add something
Wireless b and g products run at 11 Mbps and 54 Mbps respectively
Just don’t forget about the overhead needed to propagate the signal,
and the noise created by devices on the same frequency (i.e.: cordless phones…) Which causes the signal to fight through the noise thereby reducing the bandwidth Don’t worry you probably won’t even notice.
It’s still faster then your (ISP) Internet service provider any way you
look at it.
Cheers,
Jim
Phil Campbell
July 3rd, 2007
at 4:36pm
Sounds right in theory – then why is my upstairs computer with an 802.11b wireless connection – so bad at streaming youtube videos, where as the computer plugged directly into the router streams perfectly? Where’s the blockage? Are there any good tools for checking wireless throughput speeds? I am thinking of running a cable to the upstairs computer to try to get better performance.
Any advice appreciated.
Phil
George Kroonder
July 4th, 2007
at 2:07am
You know, even 10 years ago network switches were rare and expensive. Most systems were on ’shared bandwidth’, like coax or on a hub. With these blazing 10MB technologies the maximum (advised) number of clients on a network segment was 20.
With wireless you not only share the medium (”airwaves” in this case) with the computersystems conneced to your network, but also with interference from other appliances (wless phones, microwave) and other sources of ’static’. Plus signals gets blocked by building materials (walls, etc.) and even completely by double glazing or reinforced concrete.
In the US, much higher output is allowed for wireless devices than here in Europe. This is a mixed blessing, because in a residential area you could have more interference from your neighbours devices as well.
So it’s pretty amazing it even works the way it does for us; well most of the time anyways.
George.
P.S. Relatively new technoloogies like MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) help minimize the effects of interference and thus provide a much more stable and reliable wireless connection. Go for that when buying new stuff, especially if you had problems in the past.
Ivan
August 19th, 2007
at 6:39am
Yep..It’s true because wireless network works like a hub, the bandwidth is shared by the connected computers.
Lovs2look
October 8th, 2008
at 9:52pm
802.11b is MAX 11 mbps. That’s 11 mega BITS per second, not 11 mega BYTES per second.
Streaming video will be affected by bandwidth limitations and interference. You may not be getting the full bandwidth upstairs, and even if you were, it would still be shitty.
Some movies can be encoded in 1000ds of mbps, so you’ll never get the full experience whilst streaming. I’d go with a hard connection, if I were you or try wireless N for greater bandwidth.