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802.11n or 100baseT

Barney63

Barney63

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 9, 2014
799
1
Bolton, UK.
I have an A1302 2TB Time Capsule coming soon and was wondering which will be the quicker and more reliable method of copying to it?
WiFi 802.11n or 100 Ethernet?
I will be copying approx 750GB initially.
How long will each method take?
If I use ethernet what sir of cable will I need to connect it directly to a PC?

Barney
 
Barney63 said:
I have an A1302 2TB Time Capsule coming soon and was wondering which will be the quicker and more reliable method of copying to it?
WiFi 802.11n or 100 Ethernet?
I will be copying approx 750GB initially.
How long will each method take?
If I use ethernet what sir of cable will I need to connect it directly to a PC?

Barney
Click to expand...

You have a device that has 802.11n wifi but not gigabit ethernet? Worth checking that, as you may find it is gigabit ethernet (1000Mbps). If it is gigabit go with the ethernet. If its 100 then go with 802.11n put it on the 5ghz band and place the laptop close to the router.

As for cable ; common or garden ethernet cable with RJ45 connectors is what you need. If you don't have one check the cable connecting your router to your modem (if hopefully they are separate units). You can use that. Your internet obviously won't work while you are using it though.


Ethernet 100 = 100Mbps
Gigabit ethernet = 1,000Mbps
802.11n 5ghz @ 1meter = 180Mbps approx

If you have gigabit ethernet 750GB will probably be done in less than 24hrs. If its 802.11n it will probably be a few days.
 
Barney63 said:
I have an A1302 2TB Time Capsule coming soon and was wondering which will be the quicker and more reliable method of copying to it?
WiFi 802.11n or 100 Ethernet?
I will be copying approx 750GB initially.
How long will each method take?
If I use ethernet what sir of cable will I need to connect it directly to a PC?

Barney
Click to expand...

100Base-T ethernet could be faster, but it depends on how strong your Wi-Fi signal is.

But.. Why don't you just use gigabit ethernet? It would be way faster than 802.11n or 100Base-T.

I'm not really sure what you mean by the cable for connecting to a PC part. Are you trying to get data off of a PC and onto the Time Capsule?

For how long it'll take not sure exactly, it can really vary. If you're using gigabit ethernet, your bottleneck is probably going to be the drive in the Time Capsule or the drive you're pulling the data off. Best case scenario over gigabit ethernet, I'd say you're looking at a few hours minimum.
 
I thought the A1302 was only 10/100.
It is a June 2009 model. Did they even have GigaBit then?
Serial /number 6F9263F96GQ

Barney
 
The initial copying will be done from a PC that only has 10/100 or I can get a cheap 802.11n adapter if that would increase the speed.
Subsequent backup and copying will be from my late 2013 rMBP, which I expect the best method will be 802.11ac to the router and then Gigabit to the TC.

Barney
 
Barney63 said:
The initial copying will be done from a PC that only has 10/100 or I can get a cheap 802.11n adapter if that would increase the speed.
Subsequent backup and copying will be from my late 2013 rMBP, which I expect the best method will be 802.11ac to the router and then Gigabit to the TC.

Barney
Click to expand...

I'd just use 100 for the PC.

Aren't you going to run the TC as your router? Either way you should use 1000 straight from your rMBP to the TC (not 802.11ac through another router which doesn't makes much sense in many ways).
 
My router is a modem/router combination and it is ac rather than just n, which is why I'm using that.
It has a Gigabit ethernet port on it which will connect to the TC.
I'll be using the TC purely for backup/extra storage as I only have a 256GB SSD.
To use Gigabit on the rMBP I will need to purchase an adapter (Possibly a USB 3 to Gigabit).

Barney
 
Barney63 said:
My router is a modem/router combination and it is ac rather than just n, which is why I'm using that.
It has a Gigabit ethernet port on it which will connect to the TC.
I'll be using the TC purely for backup/extra storage as I only have a 256GB SSD.
To use Gigabit on the rMBP I will need to purchase an adapter (Possibly a USB 3 to Gigabit).

Barney
Click to expand...

Then rMBP > gigabit > router > gigabit > TC.
 
Barney63 said:
The initial copying will be done from a PC that only has 10/100 or I can get a cheap 802.11n adapter if that would increase the speed.
Subsequent backup and copying will be from my late 2013 rMBP, which I expect the best method will be 802.11ac to the router and then Gigabit to the TC.

Barney
Click to expand...

If you have a spare slot in the PC, you can add gigabit ethernet for about $10. On the Mac side, you can get Apple's $30 Thunderbolt to GigE adapter, or for $20 you can get a USB 3.0 to GigE adapter which works just as well.

Update:
For about $20, you can get a gigabit ethernet switch which will turn the single GigE port on the modem/router into 4 ports.
 
Last edited:
Barney63 said:
I only have one Gigabit port on the router, the other 3 are 100s.

Barney
Click to expand...

On a 802.11ac router!? That sucks.

Then rMBP > gigabit > TC. Not sure how a TC works as a NAS box, but hopefully the TC is fine with you connecting to it that way and getting connecting to a router as well.
 
whitedragon101 said:
You have a device that has 802.11n wifi but not gigabit ethernet? Worth checking that, as you may find it is gigabit ethernet (1000Mbps). If it is gigabit go with the ethernet. If its 100 then go with 802.11n put it on the 5ghz band and place the laptop close to the router.

As for cable ; common or garden ethernet cable with RJ45 connectors is what you need. If you don't have one check the cable connecting your router to your modem (if hopefully they are separate units). You can use that. Your internet obviously won't work while you are using it though.


Ethernet 100 = 100Mbps
Gigabit ethernet = 1,000Mbps
802.11n 5ghz @ 1meter = 180Mbps approx

If you have gigabit ethernet 750GB will probably be done in less than 24hrs. If its 802.11n it will probably be a few days.
Click to expand...

If you are talking about large files then I'd say 2-3 hours minimum. If he/she is copying a lot of small files then it COULD take up to a day.
 
KevinC867 said:
If you have a spare slot in the PC, you can add gigabit ethernet for about $10. On the Mac side, you can get Apple's $30 Thunderbolt to GigE adapter, or for $20 you can get a USB 3.0 to GigE adapter which works just as well.

Update:
For about $20, you can get a gigabit ethernet switch which will turn the single GigE port on the modem/router into 4 ports.
Click to expand...

The PC copying will be a one off so not really worth investing anything in that.

ha1o2surfer said:
If you are talking about large files then I'd say 2-3 hours minimum. If he/she is copying a lot of small files then it COULD take up to a day.
Click to expand...

There is about 250GB of music, MP3 sizes 3-5MB, then there is about 300GB of Movies probably 1-2GB each. The rest is photos and documents of various small sizes.

Barney
 
I've just run a Wireless test and here is the log :-
# --- Check Connectivity
# --- Wi-Fi Interface
Interface Name : en0
MAC Address : 60:03:08:94:10:28
Network Name : 5GHz-EE-b7aexg
Active PHY Mode : 802.11ac
Security : WPA2 Personal
SSID : 5GHz-EE-b7aexg
BSSID : 88:03:55:d9:32:d4
Country : GB
RSSI : -50 dBm
Noise : -92 dBm
Rate : 867 Mbps
Channel : 44
Channel Width : 80MHz

# --- Bluetooth
Power State : Off
Paired Devices : 0

# --- Wireless Environment
2.4 GHz Networks : 2
5 GHz Networks : 1
Current Channel Networks : 1
Recommended 2.4GHz Channels : [ 6 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 12 13 ] [ 1 11 ]
Recommended 5GHz Channels : [ 36 40 48 149 153 157 161 165 ] 44

# --- Network Configuration
Primary IPv4 Interface : en0
IPv4 Address : 192.168.1.222
IPv4 Router : 192.168.1.1
Primary IPv6 Interface : None
IPv6 Address : None
IPv6 Router : None
DNS Servers : 192.168.1.1

# --- Debug Log Entries
03/12/14 19:23:58.3570 SMTP port check time out

# --- Environment Test Cases

# --- Environment Summary

# --- Configuration Test Cases

# --- Configuration Summary

# --- Additional Information
03/12/14 19:25:24.5230 Wireless router is located in the same room approx. 15 feet away.

# --- Router Information
03/12/14 19:27:04.9580 EE (Everything Everywhere) BrightBox 2 802.11ac

# --- Create Diagnostics Report
Click to expand...

Does that mean I'm getting 867Mb on my wifi link?

Barney
 
Barney63 said:
I've just run a Wireless test and here is the log :-


Does that mean I'm getting 867Mb on my wifi link?

Barney
Click to expand...

Link speed is not throughput. The link speed is determined by the software taking the signal strength and comparing it against the 802.11 specification. So 100% signal strength on 802.11ac 3x3mimo is 867Mbps. It does not send data back and forth and calculate how many Mbps it is getting.

The trouble is the specification is based on the faulty assumption that 867Mbps is attainable. It isn't. Basically not very useful.

If you want to test throughput :

download jperf
connect laptop 1 to the router via ethernet
open jperf on laptop 1 and choose server mode and click run
connect to the router using wifi on laptop 2
open jperf on laptop 2
set laptop 2 jperf to client mode and enter the local ip address of laptop 1
click run on laptop 2

you will get the throughput Mbps of the link. i.e how much data you can actually transfer over the link

(you can play around with the number of parallel streams and the TCP options to get the highest speed and saturate the link)

You will notice that if you plug laptop 2 into the router as well (and turn off its wifi) using this same method it will get 950-980Mbps ish. On gigabit ethernet. Basically with ethernet you get the headline speed. With wifi its all smoke and mirrors.
 
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