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Old 06-26-2009, 02:14 PM   #14 (permalink)
Shauk
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Location: Spokane, WA
the thing a lot of people don't seem to consider is this version only applies to local traffic since it's not likely your internet connection is pushing those kinds of speeds. Like I have a cable connection rated at 10mbps which, honestly the 802.11b standard supports
Wireless Standards - 802.11b 802.11a 802.11g 802.11n - Which Is Best?

so for the average home "internet user" portion of it, anything above .11b is pretty much a waste

where the speeds become more notable is your local traffic, if you do a lot of file transferring internally across multiple computers wirelessly this might be a concern.

but again, the typical configuration is the home PC is hardwired to the router which bypasses wireless speeds altogether and is governed by the slowest speed supported in the chain.


so say
a 10mbps internet connection
a home pc using a gigabit NIC, wired to a router that supports 100mpbs, and has 802.11b on it.
throw in a laptop that has a wireless interface that supports 802.11g


this mish mash of hardware basically means that the fastest your wireless will go is 11mbps (as per the 802.11b standard supported by the router) which is faster than your internet connection technically
but you'll also only be transferring files from your PC to your laptop at 11mbps as well

say you upgraded your wireless router to 802.11g to fall in line with what your laptop supports, your internet will not be any faster, but you'll be able to transfer files to and from your computer at 54mbps, which, surprise surprise, still isn't gonna hit the transfer potential of a hardwired 100mbps connection, or even a gigabit connection

so to me, upgrading a wireless router seems to have a very limited benefit to most users unless you're transferring like gigabytes worth of data every day/week between those computers, but if that were the case, you'd be better off just jacking the damn thing in with an Ethernet cable.



that gigabit NIC isn't ever going to see a gigabit (1000mbps)
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