Tim W gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
A network is set to a channel. That network shares a maximum theoretical bandwidth - 54mbps or whatever
- between the entire network. Think of an old-style hub, rather than a switch.
Where the channels become an issue is when there's multiple networks within reach. All of the channel frequencies overlap their neighbours slightly. Get too much traffic on an overlapping frequency, and your connection can get a bit flaky.
In message , Adrian writes
But if you are copying files between two wifi machines via a router, I'd have expected (based on no knowledge beyond guesswork) that there would be more overheads. Is wifi really full duplex in this situation?
Copying files between laptops here certainly seems slow, although maybe that's just another Vista feature.
Adrian wibbled on Monday 04 January 2010 12:43
This is also true - more depth than I bothered to mention. With 802.11g, this is where the idea of "there are basically 3 usable channel groups" came from - if your neighbours are running 802.11g (54Mb) then you want to divvy up the channel space into about 3 blocks and work with those. You don't want to be using adjacent real channels if you can help it.
Bill wibbled on Monday 04 January 2010 12:57
I've just measure mine with iperf
WIFI laptop to server via a single WIFI hop is giving around 17Mbit/sec Laptop to another wifi client gives around 8-10mb/sec
So yes, it appears as you expected.
What the heck is wrong with you!? :-)
Don't do it. Keep the wired network.
cheers
Jules
OK, I thought I was missing some important new development!
Not quite true
If you look here..
So 1 is the lest overlapped channel.
Toby...
Tried resetting the cards - in fact they seem to require it fairly frequently - which is a pain as I have to type in a 20-digit WPA key (twice!) each time
Difficult voing the antennae - they're on the back of a couple of mini-towers
I'm tempted to believe that it's the cards at fault - and have emailed CPC to ask for an RMA. The laptop's working fine (different type of card) - but I can't be bothered to spend hours trying to sort out something which I feel should work 'straight out of the box'.
If the manufacturer offered some sort of online support then I might give that a go... but they don't...
Thanks Adrian
- Now you tell me !
C'mon - what do you _really_ think
No - nothing else on this property - the only other wirelessy kit is the weather station and that's on 800mhz
Thanks - I've emailed them to convey my admiration
Yes - file under 'life's too short'
Thanks Adrian
Naive optimism ? Seemed like a good idea at the time...
Yes - I think you're right... To be honest, I don't know how much of an issue the 'locate router at Master Socket' thing might be - but this new landline broadband connection's not the fastest ever, though it does seem more consistent than the microwave link we've used for the last 3 years - and moving the router to the Master Socket was one more thing to try.
TBH it could be done perfectly easily with a wired connection - so maybe I'll try that...
No great need for portability - see above.
Thanks Adrian
After faffing with Belkin USB WiFi adapters on a number of machines and never really getting them to work well, it was a breath of fresh air to install Devolo (refused to buy Belkin ever again) homeplugs. Plug them in and they just work, absolutely no setup required for basic operation. A utility lets you enable encryption.
MBQ
Everything about windows is crap. Get used to it.
Thanks for the suggestions - but I think I'll just give up at the first hurdle
CPC will hopefully accept these two rubbish cards back - and I'll use the refund to buy something useful. like screws!
The thing's probably solvable - but I don;t want to spend hours of my time on it - defeatist, I know, but there you go....
Thanks Adrian
Y'know - sometimes I wonder the same thing !
Makes sense!
Thanks Adrian
Firstly that there is a gross simplification. All channels are spread spectrum anyway, so the effect of overlap is not 'hit or miss' but simply one of slow degradation.
secondly those are indeed the channel centers about which the frequencies are 'spread' but in practice, power is very low, so they do not necessarily do as much to each other as you might think.
Now there's a mug's game. Store the key in a file on the computer, then paste it in each time. It irritates me that windows treats it as a secret password with *s as you type, where it its pretty unlikely that it's that important to hide it.
multipath in a typical place full of cables, foil backed plasterboard. pipes and nails is ghastly.
I've got wifi here. It can ONLY penetrate from here to the bedroom across the corridor. I cant get it in the kitchen blow that wedroom and certainly NOT parked in a car outside the house.
Friend has a mac book and that DID get it in the kitchen.
OTOH we regularly fly model planes on the technology at ranges up to about 3 km with 100mW sets. And in excess of a kilometer with 10mW sets.
(Yes, we know how far, because friends GPS sensing UAV went out of control on a 10mW set at about 3/4 of a mile over the village. Fortunately the failsafe GPS gradually brought it back to where he could get control again..)
I was on telemetry duty..and reported that the telemetry, on about a watt of illegal spectrum was reporting it slowly turning towards us, and maintaining a reasonable height and airspeed..;-)
Havent had so much fun since we let off coal gas filled balloons with fuses over west london and caused a UFO panic..
I also use Devolo for over-the-mains and it's been perfect. Plug and go, as you say.
Funny you should mention Belkin. I do have a use for wireless here (remote controls for my home jukebox) and I recently upgraded from g to n. I bought a well-reviewed Belkin router, but after several months of frustration trying to get it to stay up for more than a week (including swapping it for a replacement unit), I sent it back to Amazon and got my money back. The Trendnet router I bought instead cost twice as much, but it gives much better signal strength and has never put a foot wrong.
It is much better than WEP, but then again not everyone uses that even;!..
I'd suggest like a few others use CAT 5 cable if you can and wireless if you can't, but do bear in mid the 2.4 Ghz part of the band is rather overcrowded in a lot of areas, not only wireless for PC's but video senders and the like and leakage from microwave ovens etc..
Don't believe all the speed hype you read either, all that is subject to interference etc..
Download Netstumbler on a laptop, its quite good fun seeing how many wireless points are around and whether or not their protected;)...
Fair enough. :-)
For what it is worth, I use netgear. I have one of their non-wireless networks card in my main computer, wire connected to netgear router, and one of their USB wireless devices on an old computer I just use for backup that sits miles away in the back bedroom.
I also have a netbook with a built-in wireless card (no idea of make), a palm PDA and a Nintendo DS that all just cheerfully connect and work without any effort on my part anywhere in the house or garden.
So honestly, despite all the negative comments in this group, it can really be done.
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