what would be faster, using the built-in airport card in my imac, or turning off that and connecting it via ethernet to my airport express (not main router, used to strengthen signal in the basement)
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airport card, or airport express faster?
- Thread starter biohazard6969
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If the iMac AirPort signal has to go through the AirPort Express, then connecting it via an ethernet cable would be faster. Also, if you have an AirPort (as opposed to an AirPort Extreme) based iMac, then you can get 802.11g speeds instead of 802.11b speeds.biohazard6969 said:
For going to the internet, you may not notice much of a difference, if your using iTunes sharing or or stuff on your LAN, then you will notice the difference.
ok so first of all, to clariffyt, the imac i'm refering to is the G5 in my sig, so it would be airport extreme, and your saying that the express would be faster? i realize that i won't see a difference in internet becuase my connection speed comes nowhere near the max for the airport
biohazard6969 said:
Using the Ethernet connection will be marginally faster, because you don't have to go from iMac AirPort to APExp base, which then has to 'transfer' the signal over AP again to your main base station. By going Ethernet to the APExp base, you're getting rid of one wireless link, and the necessary repeating. (Less work for the APExp, less latency.) Will it be even measurably faster? Probably not. When I try the same test, I get <1ms ping time wether I do AirPort or Ethernet to the booster. Copying a large file takes the same amount of time (to within a resonable margin of error. I copied a 500MB file 6 times; 3 Ethernet, 3 AirPort. The average difference between each of the runs on Ethernet was larger than the average difference between Ethernet and AirPort.) This was performed between a 12" PB G4 with AirPort Extreme to an eMac.
The link was as follows: eMac -(wired)-> 100Mbit Network Switch -(wired)-> AirPort Extreme -(wireless)-> AirPort Express -(wired or wireless)-> PowerBook G4.
It will be anywhere from marginally faster to noticeably faster depending on what you use your system for.biohazard6969 said:
One of the other advantages of using the wired link for the iMac is that you cut down on how many devices are operating on the same frequency. This alone can help increae the apparent speed of the connection.