PCMCIA max. Bandwidth

If one is using a PCMCIA WiFi card to access the
internet at a hotspot/coffee-house, what's the point
of having a PCMCIA card that's faster than "B" (11Mps)
speed?

My friend claims that his "G" PCMCIA card is faster
at accessing the web due to it's 54Mps max speed, but
as I understand it the PCMCIA slot maximum bandwidth
is only 8Mps. Also, most public hotspot internet access
points are connected via a single DSL line or cable modem,
which would yield a maximum speed of about 2Mps even if
you were the only user on the system.

Is a 802.11B PCMCIA card the least expensive option that
can still use the maximum potential of a WiFi access point?

Tech God wrote:

> If one is using a PCMCIA WiFi card to access the
> internet at a hotspot/coffee-house, what's the point
> of having a PCMCIA card that's faster than "B" (11Mps)
> speed?

Bragging rights for the uneducated. Otherwise, nothing. There's several
reasons. Not the least is that you mentioned it's a WiFi access point.
His "g" card automatically slows down to "b" speeds when connecting to a
"b" access point. If he had a one million terrabit per second card, it
wouldn't be any faster than the internet pipe (DSL, cable) and access
point combination.

> > If one is using a PCMCIA WiFi card to access the
> > internet at a hotspot/coffee-house, what's the point
> > of having a PCMCIA card that's faster than "B" (11Mps)
> > speed?
He gets his bill faster on the Hotspots local network.

On 19 Sep 2004 13:26:54 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (Tech God)
wrote:

>If one is using a PCMCIA WiFi card to access the
>internet at a hotspot/coffee-house, what's the point
>of having a PCMCIA card that's faster than "B" (11Mps)
>speed?

Not much. You're limited by the bandwidth of the DSL, cable, or T1
modem connection at the hot spot.

>My friend claims that his "G" PCMCIA card is faster
>at accessing the web due to it's 54Mps max speed, but
>as I understand it the PCMCIA slot maximum bandwidth
>is only 8Mps.

PCMCIA refers to the connector type. Most older wireless cards are
16bit PCMCIA cards. The newer 802.11g cards are mostly CardBus type
cards, which are 32 bit, and can shovel 132Mbytes/sec through the
interface. Incidentally, 16 bit PCMCIA is good for 20MBytes/sec.

However, none of these speeds do you a bit of good if you have a
downstream bottleneck. Your basic limit on performance is the
DSL/cable/T1 bandwidth.

>Also, most public hotspot internet access
>points are connected via a single DSL line or cable modem,
>which would yield a maximum speed of about 2Mps even if
>you were the only user on the system.

Actually, most legitimate hot spots have some form of bandwidth
management to prevent users from hogging the entire bandwidth.
Consider yourself lucky if you do a sustained 1Mbit/sec.

>Is a 802.11B PCMCIA card the least expensive option that
>can still use the maximum potential of a WiFi access point?

Yep. Most hot spots only support 802.11b. 802.11g is nice, but will
not buy you any improved performance.

However, I have noticed that the 802.11g cards appear to be slightly
faster on 802.11b access points. My guess(tm) is that this is due to
getting the packets out of the radio and to the CPU faster with the
CardBus flavor. This gives the processor more time to chew on the
data. The 802.11g drivers also appear to be better written. There
are also amazing miracles, such as installing XP SP2 on two Centrino
based machines (Toshiba somethings) produced a noticeable improvement
in thruput. In the past, they would do about 5Mbits/sec download.
Now, they're about 7Mbits/sec thruput.


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

(E-Mail Removed) (Tech God) wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed) om:

> My friend claims that his "G" PCMCIA card is faster
> at accessing the web due to it's 54Mps max speed, but
> as I understand it the PCMCIA slot maximum bandwidth
> is only 8Mps.

The WirelessG card maybe a Cardbus Card.

The card may also have a better antenna design and/or better drivers which
may explain the faster speed.

Also the speed increase may also be a placebo effect... Unless your friend
has a 6mbit+ connection... 802.11g is not going to do him much good.



--
Lucas Tam ((E-Mail Removed))
Please delete "REMOVE" from the e-mail address when replying.
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