Is there usually a limit with Wifi Internet vs Ethernet ?

jolie77 · 30 May 2009 at 12:14

Hi I have 8mb broadband and am using it via Wifi. I just paid some extra money to get a speed bost any were up to 24mb.

I just haven't seen any type of speed increase thou and speed test results say 3.5mb.

Just wondering if Wifi is speed limited in any way or should you be able to get full speed using it ?

thanks !!

neil3k · 30 May 2009 at 12:15

depends on the speed of your line ?

also wrong forum

RoysonBobson · 30 May 2009 at 12:17

Wrong forum, and it's possible though unlikely. Are you sure your line is up to it? I can't get more than ~ 4Mb at my home due to the connection.

jolie77 · 30 May 2009 at 12:18

So Wifi can reach same speeds as ethernet. ?

jolie77 · 30 May 2009 at 12:18

When you say my line...... Is there a way i can test it ?

I_M_Weasel · 30 May 2009 at 12:19

If your wifi signal is good you should get up and above 24mb, assuming your not using an ancient wireless adaptor. Its most likely that your phone lines not good enough for the 24mb service. Are you a long way from the exchange? The service they sell is upto 24mb - that could mean you only get 1/2mb in some cases, 24 if your lucky, everyone else somewhere in between. i think most people probably fall well short of 8mb.

Try your connection over ethernet see what you get, if there's no change discount the wireless as the problem, also plug router into main phone socket and dont use any extensions.

Phil99 · 30 May 2009 at 12:20

Check the speed your router reports the line connected at. Wireless can be pretty poor in some cases, but the only definite way of checking is by looking at your router config pages.

RoysonBobson · 30 May 2009 at 12:21

jolie77 said:
So Wifi can reach same speeds as ethernet. ?

No, but that's not the question you actually want to ask. Ethernet is currently up to 1Gbs (1000Mbs) and wifi isn't up to that speed yet.

If you assume your wifi is ~54Mbs and working correctly, then that will have little impact on an internet connection of ~24Mbs.

Daegan · 30 May 2009 at 12:47

jolie77 said:
When you say my line...... Is there a way i can test it ?

Have a read of the broadband sticky at the top of this forum.

Zarf · 30 May 2009 at 17:36

If you've got another computer you can wire into the network, try iperf to measure the bandwidth between the wireless and wired networks. (free app, google it).
On 54mb even if you're sitting next to your router you'll be lucky to get above 20mb/s . theoretical max is only actually something like 27mb/s and then there're errors and tcp overheads in there.