When is broadband faster than wireless?

Well, maybe this is an obvious question, but I thought, let me just
make sure! If my wireless router supports speeds of 54mbps then should
I increase speeds accordingly with a faster connection up to the point
of 54mbps? My DSL provider claims speeds UP TO 2400 kbps (or 2.4 mbps)
so can I assume, that the router will handle that speed with no
problem? (although I know better than to assume, because we all know
what happens when we do that!) Thanks for clearing things up for me!

(E-Mail Removed) said the following on 1/11/2006 7:48:
> Well, maybe this is an obvious question, but I thought, let me just
> make sure! If my wireless router supports speeds of 54mbps then should
> I increase speeds accordingly with a faster connection up to the point
> of 54mbps? My DSL provider claims speeds UP TO 2400 kbps (or 2.4 mbps)
> so can I assume, that the router will handle that speed with no
> problem? (although I know better than to assume, because we all know
> what happens when we do that!) Thanks for clearing things up for me!
>
Your router will do fine.

But don't expect the wireless to run at 54Mbit/sec all the time. My
experience is that it's difficult to achieve these advertised speeds in
real world conditions.

Lance
*****

(E-Mail Removed) hath wroth:

>Well, maybe this is an obvious question, but I thought, let me just
>make sure! If my wireless router supports speeds of 54mbps then should
>I increase speeds accordingly with a faster connection up to the point
>of 54mbps? My DSL provider claims speeds UP TO 2400 kbps (or 2.4 mbps)
>so can I assume, that the router will handle that speed with no
>problem? (although I know better than to assume, because we all know
>what happens when we do that!) Thanks for clearing things up for me!

A good rule of thumb is that your wireless will have a thruput of
about half the connection speed. Therefore, if you connect via
wireless at 54Mbits/sec, you'll get about 25Mbits/sec thruput, which
is 10 times faster than your 2.4Mbits/sec DSL connection. Use the
wireless client status display to check your current connection speed.

When your wireless connection slows down to about 9Mbits/sec due to
interference or RF obstructions, is when you should start seeing
bottlenecks. It won't be exactly half the connection speed because
it's highly likely that there will also be retransmissions due to lost
packets, which will slow down the wireless even more.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558