Dramatic (bad) effect of power-saving mode

I just recently started seeing ->really bad network performance on my
laptop when using WiFi to my DSL router at home. After a bit of trouble
shooting, I found that I'd somehow enabled power saving mode on the NIC.

Even though at the moment I'm sitting 6 feet from the router and am
looking right at it, when the power save is set to "high" (maximum power
saving), I get this result from the U of NC's NDT server
(http://ndt.itcc.unc.edu:7123/):

running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 320.15Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 739.21kb/s

Turning power save to "medium" or "low" (maximum network performance), I
see

running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 758.39Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 4.58Mb/s

No other changes, didn't move, didn't reboot, didn't reset anything, tests
done within a minute of one another.

I can even change the setting during a long transfer and watch it speed up
and slow down.

This is an Intel 2200BG card in an IBM R51 laptop, using IBM's "Access
Connections" control utility, talking to an Actiontec GT701 router and a
6Mb/sec DSL line.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN (E-Mail Removed)

That is exactly what power saving does. It will put the card into sleep
mode even when it is being used. Get the most current dreivers from
Cisco and there are a few changes that may balance the trade offs
better. I use the PSP Auto and it works very well with low latency and
good performance. If I use the setting for most battery life then ping
times will very from the very low to worse then dialup.

You can also lower the power output of your card if you are very close
to an access point and that will help battery life as well.




Bert Hyman wrote:
> I just recently started seeing ->really bad network performance on my
> laptop when using WiFi to my DSL router at home. After a bit of trouble
> shooting, I found that I'd somehow enabled power saving mode on the NIC.
>
> Even though at the moment I'm sitting 6 feet from the router and am
> looking right at it, when the power save is set to "high" (maximum power
> saving), I get this result from the U of NC's NDT server
> (http://ndt.itcc.unc.edu:7123/):
>
> running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 320.15Kb/s
> running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 739.21kb/s
>
> Turning power save to "medium" or "low" (maximum network performance), I
> see
>
> running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 758.39Kb/s
> running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 4.58Mb/s
>
> No other changes, didn't move, didn't reboot, didn't reset anything, tests
> done within a minute of one another.
>
> I can even change the setting during a long transfer and watch it speed up
> and slow down.
>
> This is an Intel 2200BG card in an IBM R51 laptop, using IBM's "Access
> Connections" control utility, talking to an Actiontec GT701 router and a
> 6Mb/sec DSL line.
>
> --
> Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN (E-Mail Removed)