Hi, I currently have a PC (PCI card) and a Laptop (USB) on my wireless LAN 802.11g through my Wifi ADSL Router. Both devices connect at roughly 24/36MB at full strength. I have set up a FTP server on the PC so that I can easily transfer files between the two. As I use a FTP program (FlashFXP) for the transfer I noticed that the transfer speeds never really go above 370KB/s which I believe is the equivilant of an 3mb~ connection. Just curious as to why the speed is so low. I have one theory which is that the laptop has 1.1 USB ports and the Wifi adapter is a 2.0 device. It works fine but I think it could be a bottleneck for the transfer speeds. Any comments?
Your bandwidth is going to more than just the little file you're transferring. Even though you don't see it; there is a lot going through your connection at once, not to mention that it's going through your router as an intermediary; that never helps, even if the intermediary is faster than the other two components. I have the same kind of setup; so I can feel your pain. I wanted to produce a disc that contained it's own modded maps; and had to let it sit for a long while, as it transferred the files. Ick. Wireless is such a pain; but my computers have always been cursed, and crash every time I put a wired network in. Grrrrr.
hey, im not saying your wrong handsome but i do belive there its got somthing to do with the usb 1.1 i think they have fairly small max data transfer speed.
It's a mix of both the packet overhead and the USB 1.1 transfer speed, with the addition of the processing power of the PC and the quality of the software used. USB 1.1 is only 12MB, so thats the max speed between the pc and the wireless adaptor. Then you have the overhead betwen the wireless devices just to keep the link up, then any interference will drop the speed down again. Add any security which is used on the link and your dropping things right down. The best you would be looking at on that link with USB 1.1 is 4-5 MB so your about spot on.
just as i thought....bugger i take its not possible to increase the speed unless i use a 2.0 USB connection. thanx for comments anyway.
You could try and set the network to use Ad-hoc mode instead of infrastructure, as this will allow any devices to communicate peer to peer rather than through an access point. You could also try and change the security settings, maybe take wep encryption etc... off (with the risks that involves) Personally I would then use Mac filtering and a hidden SSID beacon. Maybe try some tests back to back with the PCs over Ethernet as well. You still have more than the 11MB that 802.11b gives. Normally you'd get 18MB transfer for 802.11g network, so you should be getting about 9MB - problems USB 1.1 is putting into the equation. Personally this is another reason I use a Cisco 802.11a,b,g card as it allows me to use wireless sniffer software to se what is going on.
