Wired vs Wireless?

Question

This is the router my ISP provided: D-Link DIR-803
http://www.dlink.com/us/en/home-solutions/connect_us/routers/dir-803-wireless-ac750-dual-band-router

And this is the wireless adapter that i am using
http://www.dlink.com/us/en/home-solutions/connect_us/adapters/dwa-125-wireless-150-usb-adapter

Now, my ISP provides 10 Mbps, and i get around 1100 KB/s with a wireless connection when downloading something.

Question #1: Does my adapter bottleneck my internet connection?

Question #2: If i change to ethernet would i be able to achieve more then 10 Mbps? Say what if i will get a 100 Mbps ethernet, will it be pointless to use it?

Question #3: The status of my wireless connection says my speed is 72 Mbps. Why it exceeds 10 Mbps limit speed?

It's just that during video games, i can never really get a stable ping. It always jumps and causes a rubberbanding effect. Sometimes i even get kicked from the server for exceeding maximum ping.
I am thinking of changing to ethernet. Want to know whether will it make the difference

Answer 1

There are several interfaces to consider - the connection between the ISP and the router; Ethernet ports on the router that are connected to any computers; and the WiFi network connecting the router to computers by wireless. Each interface will have a certain maximum bit rate. From your question, the ISP and the wireless interfaces will be working at 10 Mbps and 72 Mbps respectively. The Ethernet ports are operating at 100 Mbps. All these speeds are in Megabits/second (Mbps), and the speeds are instantaneous bit rates while a packet of data is being transferred.



Programs that perform uploads or downloads normally quote speeds in MegaBytes/second (MBps). These are normally average speeds. A byte is 8 bits, but protocol overheads and gaps when the interface is actually idle will add an extra overhead. Typically, a 10 Mbps interface will carry around 1 MBps of data.



When two or more interfaces are working in series, then the maximum transfer speed will normally by governed by the slowest of the interfaces involved.



Q1) The slowest interface is your ISP connection at 10 Mbps. This should give you a download speed of around 1 MBps (or 1000 kBps).



Q2) If you use Ethernet, then the ISP connection is still the limiting factor. You will not get a significant increase in download speeds.



Q3) The figure of 72 Mbps is instantaneous transfer rate that the wireless interface can achieve. The ISP connection is still the limiting factor.



There is one other factor to add. The ISP and Ethernet interfaces support full duplex traffic. They can transfer data packets in one direction while they are simultaneously transferring acknowledgements for previous data packets in the opposite direction. WiFi is half duplex. Acknowledgements cannot be transferred at the same time as data packets. This can reduce the practical data rate on WiFi from its instantaneous bit rate more than on the other interfaces. Since your WiFi instantaneous transfer rate is around 7 times the ISP rate, it will not be significant.



I hope this helps.

Answer 2

If your Wifi is indicating 72Mbps, that means it is connecting at the maximum possible speed for a narrow channel, single stream N. Congestion and retransmits may significantly lower that or make it patchy, so it is possible that Ethernet may give a more stable ping.



Since 10 Megabit Ethernet is pretty much dead - current devices are usually 10/100 capable, Ethernet would be at 100, with no advantage or disadvantage. The router translates speed, so traffic from the slower side to the faster goes as it can, while the faster to the slower has to buffer.

Answer 3

1. Yes...but by bottleneck i mean it limits your connection while on the wifi enabled computer u are using due to walls, channel interference. At times it wont harm it. Getting 1100 KB/s is about 10Mbps so your wifi is not slowing you down that much. Theoretically your max is 1200KB/s



2. No. Your max u will ever get is 10Mbps via ethernet. Your cable of 100Mbps is the max it could handle but u would need to have your ISP up your speed to 100Mbps to see it



3. 72Mbps is not the same. It just is the theoretical bandwidth it has available (the max u can get is 10 for you). This # doesnt mean much

Answer 4

One thing you're confusing is Megabits with Megabytes. Well, not your fault, it's not like you created the similar names.



But those show up all the time, and confuse people a lot.



Unstable connections, however, can be caused by a WiFi connection that is subject to interference. I would certainly try a wired connection and see if it resolves the problem.