Question about network speeds

Homer-Simpson · 4 Sep 2006 at 20:10

Sorry if this has been asked before but I have a query....

My internet connection is 10 megabits (from NTL) and my router supports 108Mbps - however my mate has a network card which is 54Mbps - it connects with an excellent signal however it only downloads at a maximum of 580KBps. I thought 54Mbps was about 6.75 MBps?

I could be completely wrong here but thats how I see it

Anyone able to tell me where I am going wrong?

jon86 · 4 Sep 2006 at 20:57

Sounds about right. You will never see 54 mbit of 'usable' bandwidth (i.e. download a file at exactly 54 mbit) due to overheads and possibly other reasons like the network congestion. Also, the server may not be sending the file any faster. 580 KBps == 4640 kbps, which is approximately 4.53 mbit.

Homer-Simpson · 4 Sep 2006 at 21:03

jon86 said:
Sounds about right. You will never see 54 mbit of 'usable' bandwidth (i.e. download a file at exactly 54 mbit) due to overheads and possibly other reasons like the network congestion. Also, the server may not be sending the file any faster. 580 KBps == 4640 kbps, which is approximately 4.53 mbit.

That was what I thought to start off with but then I connected up my other laptop and downloaded the file and it came back at my full connection speed (1.2MBps). I can't believe the "usable" bandwidth can be that poor

jon86 · 4 Sep 2006 at 21:13

There is a whole host of factors that can affect wireless data transfer speed. If encryption is enabled, it will add to the overhead. Also, wireless data congestion can sometimes cause problems (and so more overhead, due to having to retransmit packets etc). There is a program called Netstumbler that can tell you various information including the signal strength of your AP signal, signal to noise ratio and any other interfering AP's nearby.

Homer-Simpson · 4 Sep 2006 at 21:16

Thanks

I will give it a go now