General Wifi optimizing tricks

Are there any general things to look for to speed up wi-fi performance,
Just got a new DELL laptop with built in 1350 wifi card.
I am running on an 11b network but it does seem to be a lot slower than
my previous laptop fitted with pcmcia belkin wifi card.

Things i'm noticing are file copying across the network mainly seems
really sluggish compared to what i'm used to so i was wondering if there
are any common things to look for which can help increase its performance.

Thanks,

> Are there any general things to look for to speed up wi-fi performance,
> Just got a new DELL laptop with built in 1350 wifi card.
> I am running on an 11b network but it does seem to be a lot slower than
> my previous laptop fitted with pcmcia belkin wifi card.
Turn off power save mode....

Grzegorz

Seen this type of post quite alot.

Im not sure if this would help, but I would like to know if it does.
Is Power saving mode on? If so put it on continuous and see if it helps.

In power saving mode the adapter actually goes to sleep several times per
second to save battery which causes alot of overhead. Rather it affects it
during a continuous download, Im not sure.
During its short sleep time the AP will buffer the data till the client
wakes up again.




"Dave Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:clee6i$cl$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Are there any general things to look for to speed up wi-fi performance,
> Just got a new DELL laptop with built in 1350 wifi card.
> I am running on an 11b network but it does seem to be a lot slower than
> my previous laptop fitted with pcmcia belkin wifi card.
>
> Things i'm noticing are file copying across the network mainly seems
> really sluggish compared to what i'm used to so i was wondering if there
> are any common things to look for which can help increase its performance.
>
> Thanks,

Power Save mode is already off by default....

Dave Brown wrote:
> Are there any general things to look for to speed up wi-fi performance,
> Just got a new DELL laptop with built in 1350 wifi card.
> I am running on an 11b network but it does seem to be a lot slower than
> my previous laptop fitted with pcmcia belkin wifi card.
>
> Things i'm noticing are file copying across the network mainly seems
> really sluggish compared to what i'm used to so i was wondering if there
> are any common things to look for which can help increase its performance.
>
> Thanks,

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 21:16:04 +0100, Dave Brown
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Are there any general things to look for to speed up wi-fi performance,

Yes. You start by posting numbers.
What performance are you measuring for things like file copies?
What were you expecting?
What's your connection speed? (1, 2, 5.5, 11)
How is the performance from something on the LAN (file server or wired
client)?
Is it symmetrical (same speed in both directions) or does it go faster
in one direction?
Can you retest with the Belkin equiped laptop for a numerical
comparison?

For 11Mbit/sec, you should be getting about 6Mbits/sec thruput.

>Just got a new DELL laptop with built in 1350 wifi card.
>I am running on an 11b network but it does seem to be a lot slower than
>my previous laptop fitted with pcmcia belkin wifi card.

I've noticed that XP SP2 seems to speed up wireless performance. No
clue why.

>Things i'm noticing are file copying across the network mainly seems
>really sluggish compared to what i'm used to so i was wondering if there
>are any common things to look for which can help increase its performance.

Several people mentioned wireless power save.

I've noticed that wireless to wireless copies through access points
sometimes runs into a problem if the access point has a diversity
reception system (two antennas). It takes some time for the access
point to switch antennas. If one client has a better signal into one
antenna, while the other client works best with the other antenna, the
system with "thrash" between the two antennas and slow things down.
This isn't very common, but possible.

Any chance that you've inherited a source of interference in the time
between you tested the Belkin equipped laptop and now?


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

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

> On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 21:16:04 +0100, Dave Brown
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>
>>Are there any general things to look for to speed up wi-fi performance,
>
>
> Yes. You start by posting numbers.
> What performance are you measuring for things like file copies?
> What were you expecting?
> What's your connection speed? (1, 2, 5.5, 11)
> How is the performance from something on the LAN (file server or wired
> client)?
> Is it symmetrical (same speed in both directions) or does it go faster
> in one direction?
> Can you retest with the Belkin equiped laptop for a numerical
> comparison?
>
> For 11Mbit/sec, you should be getting about 6Mbits/sec thruput.
>

Uh, with the latest and greatest (and most expensive) WAPs, maybe so.
On my BEFW11S4, I get more like 3-4 Mb/s doing file copies between
my wireless laptop and one of my wired PCs.
--
Cheers, Bob

If you post specifics on the equipment, distance, walls inbetween and what
you are trying to accomplish as well as what speed/throughput you are
achieving, the people here may be able to help. Without such, don't waste
your time.

--
Bob Alston

bobalston9 AT aol DOT com
"Bob Willard" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:MHVed.417729$mD.271205@attbi_s02...
> Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 21:16:04 +0100, Dave Brown
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Are there any general things to look for to speed up wi-fi performance,
>>
>>
>> Yes. You start by posting numbers.
>> What performance are you measuring for things like file copies?
>> What were you expecting?
>> What's your connection speed? (1, 2, 5.5, 11)
>> How is the performance from something on the LAN (file server or wired
>> client)?
>> Is it symmetrical (same speed in both directions) or does it go faster
>> in one direction?
>> Can you retest with the Belkin equiped laptop for a numerical
>> comparison?
>>
>> For 11Mbit/sec, you should be getting about 6Mbits/sec thruput.
>>
>
> Uh, with the latest and greatest (and most expensive) WAPs, maybe so.
> On my BEFW11S4, I get more like 3-4 Mb/s doing file copies between
> my wireless laptop and one of my wired PCs.
> --
> Cheers, Bob


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.782 / Virus Database: 528 - Release Date: 10/22/2004

Bob Alston wrote:
> If you post specifics on the equipment, distance, walls inbetween and what
> you are trying to accomplish as well as what speed/throughput you are
> achieving, the people here may be able to help. Without such, don't waste
> your time.
>

I assume that you intended your reply to be to the OP's note, not to
my reply.
--
Cheers, Bob

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 22:06:36 GMT, Bob Willard
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 21:16:04 +0100, Dave Brown
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Are there any general things to look for to speed up wi-fi performance,
>>
>>
>> Yes. You start by posting numbers.
>> What performance are you measuring for things like file copies?
>> What were you expecting?
>> What's your connection speed? (1, 2, 5.5, 11)
>> How is the performance from something on the LAN (file server or wired
>> client)?
>> Is it symmetrical (same speed in both directions) or does it go faster
>> in one direction?
>> Can you retest with the Belkin equiped laptop for a numerical
>> comparison?
>>
>> For 11Mbit/sec, you should be getting about 6Mbits/sec thruput.

>Uh, with the latest and greatest (and most expensive) WAPs, maybe so.
>On my BEFW11S4, I get more like 3-4 Mb/s doing file copies between
>my wireless laptop and one of my wired PCs.

Well, I just ran a quick and potentially inaccurate test in my
palatial office and got about 6.0 Mbits/sec using 802.11b. Of course,
I was about 3ft away from the DLink DI-614+ router with a customers
Sony Vaio PCG-FX220 laptop and an Orinoco Silver card. 11mbit/sec
association and 64 bit WEP. My test was copying a single 10MB file
from my SCO OSR5 file server running Samba something. File copies use
TCP. I also ran a really crude test using netcat -u to dump the 10MB
directly to an IP socket using UDP. Slightly slower than TCP. It
should have been faster. I'll figure out why later.

3-4Mbits/sec on file copies is about what I get when I have a
5.5Mbit/sec connection. Maybe that's why you're not getting the
"normal" 6Mbits/sec. I just went outside and the connection slowed
down to 5.5Mbits/sec. I got 2.8Mbits/sec with file copy. It should
have been a bit higher but I'm probably getting interference from the
neighbors.




--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831.336.2558 voice http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
# (E-Mail Removed)
# 831.421.6491 digital_pager (E-Mail Removed) AE6KS

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 22:06:36 GMT, Bob Willard
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>
>>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>>
>>
>>>On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 21:16:04 +0100, Dave Brown
>>><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>Are there any general things to look for to speed up wi-fi performance,
>>>
>>>
>>>Yes. You start by posting numbers.
>>>What performance are you measuring for things like file copies?
>>>What were you expecting?
>>>What's your connection speed? (1, 2, 5.5, 11)
>>>How is the performance from something on the LAN (file server or wired
>>>client)?
>>>Is it symmetrical (same speed in both directions) or does it go faster
>>>in one direction?
>>>Can you retest with the Belkin equiped laptop for a numerical
>>>comparison?
>>>
>>>For 11Mbit/sec, you should be getting about 6Mbits/sec thruput.
>
>
>>Uh, with the latest and greatest (and most expensive) WAPs, maybe so.
>>On my BEFW11S4, I get more like 3-4 Mb/s doing file copies between
>>my wireless laptop and one of my wired PCs.
>
>
> Well, I just ran a quick and potentially inaccurate test in my
> palatial office and got about 6.0 Mbits/sec using 802.11b. Of course,
> I was about 3ft away from the DLink DI-614+ router with a customers
> Sony Vaio PCG-FX220 laptop and an Orinoco Silver card. 11mbit/sec
> association and 64 bit WEP. My test was copying a single 10MB file
> from my SCO OSR5 file server running Samba something. File copies use
> TCP. I also ran a really crude test using netcat -u to dump the 10MB
> directly to an IP socket using UDP. Slightly slower than TCP. It
> should have been faster. I'll figure out why later.
>
> 3-4Mbits/sec on file copies is about what I get when I have a
> 5.5Mbit/sec connection. Maybe that's why you're not getting the
> "normal" 6Mbits/sec. I just went outside and the connection slowed
> down to 5.5Mbits/sec. I got 2.8Mbits/sec with file copy. It should
> have been a bit higher but I'm probably getting interference from the
> neighbors.
>
>
>
>

Nope - my laptop sits <10 ft. from my BEFW11S4 and always runs at 11 Mb/s,
and 3-4 Mb/s is what I get copying large files from the laptop to a
(100 Mb/s) wired desktop. WEP made a little difference, but <10% IIRC.
My tests were all run using a network mapped drive, pushing large files
from the W2K laptop to a W9x desktop via Explorer's cut'n'paste. I haven't
redone any testing to XP desktops -- that might be faster.

I use big single files for network datarate testing - 300-600 MB, and I
measure transfer time with a watch since some network software reports
datarates rather inaccurately. And, FWIW, my WiFi segment only has one
node plus the WAP, so I'm not sharing the 11 Mb/s (other than the
unavoidable HDX nature of WiFi). Also, my MTUs all match (1500 bytes)
and the RWINs are all pretty big.
--
Cheers, Bob