Anyone know a good forum to get some help with wireless networking. I just installed 108mbs cards in 2 computers and setup an ad-hoc network but the speed is shite. I'm only getting around 500k/sec. On 108 I should at least be getting 2mb/s. Also there seems to be an access point around me somewhere. It doesn't show up in available networks but netstumbler shows that it is definitely there. Should I learn how to get into this sucker and hope for some free broadband or, at least, some incriminating evidence :smt082
Isn't ad-hoc the "direct connect" type set-up? 'Cause those seem rather shite. Not dynamic at all, and it's a bitch to work with.
>>Anyone know a good forum to get some help with wireless networking. Are there not any forums at cisco's site, SMC's site, Netgear's site?...I know it's different technology but might find common info.... You could try: 1. Put the two PCs next to each other with the router and then perform your test. This'll prove the max speed you should expect to see before you separate them physically. If you're not seeing 2mb then you know there's something wrong config wise. Bear in mind that depending on how you're measuring your bandwidth TCP/IP will create an overhead of ~5-20% depending on packet size. You might want to change your packet size in your TCP/IP config - dont' know how to do it on PCs tho...(Solaris I can tho) 2. Ensure there's to WEP (encryption) or whatever it uses is turned off(sometimes it's on by default). The WEP may be slowing things down(creating a bottle neck at one side). (Given that you can see someone else's network, then they can probably see yours so turn encryption back on!) 3. I've found that walls vary considerably in terms of affecting performance of wireless networks. My previous house was excellent for wireless networking, my current how is bad and I'm using a cable via the loft to network rooms now.
802.11g is typically only 56mbps. I belive they specify that speed as a BURST speed. The access point could not be broadcasting its SSID, in which case you must manually configure your card to accept it. Also as Bert Said using TCPIP does create quite a bit of overhead if your packet size is too low (but if you have a flakey connection, low is good). On the note of security, there was one nice feature I found out about U.S. Robotics cards (although they do use the TI chipset :/ MAJOR bummer), they can do 256 bit wep keys. Most users don't use U.S. Robotics and if they do they cant run any wep cracking programs unless they have 2 cards. They also support WPA if you want to use that. I average maybe 1-1.3 megs a sec on my home network (USR recently released new drivers that allow for 125mbps). Also I do my work via an access point (infrastucture) dont know if that amkes any difference. In windows I think TweakXP can help you adjust your packet size though I dont remember off hand. Good luck!
