What are the Fastest INTERNET download speeds you can get with a wireless Network?

Question

And how can I get them?

Ok, I guess I didn't give you enough information last time.

I tested my speed through this site:
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

First, I tested it with my Wireless Lynksis card, running the 802.11b system.
Yesterday, it actually gave me a rating of about 385 kbps download speed.
Today, it gave me a rating of 3415 kbps, which is a little strange.

Then, I disconnected the wireless internet card, and connected my computer directly to the cable; I got a speed of 5856 kbps. And this was yesterday, at the same time as I got the 384 kbps speed with my wireless card. Today I tested it again with the wire, and got a download speed of about 5912 kbps.

All this to say - I'm confused. Its obvious that the wireless slows down my internet, but how can I test it yesterday at 385, and today at 3000 something? I was sitting in the exact same place too. It is an unsecured network, is that the problem?

should I upgrade to improve internet? it's 802.11b.

Answer 1

First of all - what type of internet do you have? Is it cable, DSL, satellite?



Cable, for example, is a connection that doesn't really have dedicated bandwidth. Meaning, the more people that are in your area, using the internet - the slower you will be. Usually it's not that noticeable, but I've seen it drop pretty good before.



As far as the speed test using that wireless card - you're on 802.11b which should be limited to about 11 Mbps. This is the speed at which you send data to and from your wireless router.



Upgrading to 802.11g might be a route you want to pursue - it will then raise your transfer speed from 11 Mbps, to 54 Mbps.



A lot of people think the faster their wireless system - the faster the internet will be. This isn't really true, you're bottleneck is your internet connection.



Say you just have Cable for Internet, you're prolly in the 4-10 Mbps range, it varies from area to area. If you have the wireless G, you're transfering from your laptop to the router @ 54 Mbps, then the router is sending that information to the cable modem (probably at 100 Mbps, Ethernet cable), which then goes out to the internet at anywhere from 4-10 Mbps, it really does depend on your cable provider and area as to what speed you'll get.



Hope some of that helps out!

Answer 2

I highly doubt your internet provider is putting out anything close to what your wireless can handle, most cable company's may be pushing 10Mbps and if you have 802.11b that should handle up to 11 Mbps. Upgrading to a 802.11g would get your system ready for faster internet if you want to pay more money for a faster package otherwise you wait like the rest of us for the cable companies to raise the speeds on there packages. If you have more then one system in your house on the network it would greatly increase the speed of transfering files back and forth from each other

Answer 3

Awesome question and thank you for participating in Yahoo's Q&A. You'll find that 802.11 N will provide you with the fastest data transfer but it will also depend on the type of internet service you're using, dial-up being the slowest, dsl next and cable being the fastest. You cannot move faster than your internet provider. You should also know that if you have more than one computer networked together, your operating speed can only be as fast as your slowest computer on the network. Larry (RadioShack 01-9590)

Answer 4

wireless is fast enough that most bottlenecks when downloading aren't the wireless network, but server or Internet congestion.

Even though I have a 54Mbps wireless connection and a 45Mbps DS-3 connection to the Internet, I rarely get better download speeds then about 1M bytes per second.

Answer 5

http://linksys.com

Last night had a problem also

4800 kbps normally



822 to 1022 kbps last night



download speed is not always constant

depends on traffic on servers etc...

Answer 6

www.speedtest.com lets you test your speed for free. I presume that's where you made your test. Your service provider should be able to provide you with different levels of service.