AEBS: Wireless N slower than ethernet

[marekkurlmann]

I'm using an AEBS a/b/g/n, set up to transmit wirelessly on N mode with the 11 mbps multicast rate chosen.

When connecting my summer 2008 MacBook white to the AEBS wirelessly, my fastest download rate from the Internet is about 5500 kbps. When the MacBook connects to the AEBS via Ethernet cable, the download rate is about 8200 kbps, very close to the maximum speed quoted by my ISP.

Is there any way to speed this up? Shouldn't the AEBS in N mode support speeds above 5500 kbps? And range shouldn't be an issue--the AEBS is about 1.5 m (5 feet) from the MacBook.

Thanks!

 

[Tallest Skil]

No... 802.11n is 600Mb/s, I believe. Gigabit Ethernet is 1Gb/s.

 

[pinback pro]

I'm using an AEBS a/b/g/n, set up to transmit wirelessly on N mode with the 11 mbps multicast rate chosen.

When connecting my summer 2008 MacBook white to the AEBS wirelessly, my fastest download rate from the Internet is about 5500 mbps. When the MacBook connects to the AEBS via Ethernet cable, the download rate is about 8200 mbps, very close to the maximum speed quoted by my ISP.

Is there any way to speed this up? Shouldn't the AEBS in N mode support speeds above 5500 mbps? And range shouldn't be an issue--the AEBS is about 1.5 m (5 feet) from the MacBook.

Thanks!

surely you have an extra zero in there. thats 5.5 GB/s and 8.2GB/s

 

[belvdr]

Keep in mind that wireless connections are half duplex, while wired connections are mostly full duplex these days (unless you are connected through a hub).

This means more efficient transmissions occur wired connections.

 

[marekkurlmann]

surely you have an extra zero in there. thats 5.5 GB/s and 8.2GB/s

Yes, I meant to say that I'm getting wireless speeds of only 5500 KBPS. Should AEBS support wireless speeds of 8200 KBPS, the maximum speed quoted by my ISP?

Thanks for catching my mistake!

 

[brop52]

Yes, I meant to say that I'm getting wireless speeds of only 5500 KBPS. Should AEBS support wireless speeds of 8200 KBPS, the maximum speed quoted by my ISP?

Thanks for catching my mistake!

You will never ever get your maximum quoted speed between network traffic between your ISP and you, wireless/wired dampening of the theoretical maximum speed they are giving you, and many other issues. You can also check to see if there is any wireless interference in the area at your frequency. I think you are worrying about nothing. Do you want macrumors to load in 0.3 seconds rather than 0.5 seconds or what? If you have cable you can make sure all of the connections are sound and splitters are functioning. There is usually a particular webpage to connect to the modem.

You can always connect directly to your modem through ethernet to see if your speeds are any better than the wired connection you are trying now. They will probably be no different.

 

[atszyman]

I've played around with my wireless since we got a 10 mbps connection at home. I've found great variance with the channel chosen for wireless (still stuck on G, but that's even overkill with only a 10mbps internet connection.

Depending on the channel chosen (if you can do the same in N) I've seen my download rate from Speakeasy's Speedtest vary from less than 2 mbps, to almost 10 mbps. If you have options in N to change your wireless channel it may be worth playing with a couple channels to see if one performs better than others.

Wired will not have the same interference issues so I'd expect wired D/L rates to exceed wireless in almost every instance, although with enough excess bandwidth the wireless should have the overhead to correct errors due to interference and come close.

How are you getting your fastest D/L rate? Depending on the sites/traffic you may be hitting bandwidth issues from the other side as well.

 

[brop52]

I agree, however, I don't know of any program that can monitor the wireless N channels. But if the OP is using the dual band they should definitely not be using automatic wireless channel choosing and should use airradar to choose a channel as far away as possible from interfering wireless networks.