Fwd: Re: [Wylug-discuss] Adding a wireless router to an existing network

[Mischa Oliver Altmann]

sorry, I only sent this to Alex only but would like someone knowledgeable
to correct me if I am wrong (obviously I dint think so but you never
know).

----- Forwarded message from een2moa at leeds.ac.uk -----
Dear Alex,

I'm no expert, but here are my thoughts (please correct me if necessary,
I'm very willing to learn!)
> Subject: Adding a wireless router to an existing network
> If you haev an 802.11b router, and say, two machines both downloading at
> the maximum speed (around 600kbps?) from somewhere else on the network.
> Would they have 300kbps each, or 600kbps each?
Realistically, tests have shown that with 802.11b routers you have a total
throughput of about 4-5Mbps (instead of 11Mbps) due to protocol overheads
and non-ideal environments.
  Hence, about 6 data streams of 600kbps each would be supported between
two computers (that's simplified but gives you an idea). The thing is that
all computers on the WLAN share the bandwidth, ie. 6 computers each having
a 600kbps transfer from another computer (connected via standard
Ethernet).
  For many users WLANs are about surfing the web via ADSL in which case it
is always sufficient. (ADSL in its fastest version, 4Mbps is still
generally slower than the b-standard WLAN.) However, if you want to copy
600MB from one computer to the next and you are used to 100Mbit Ethernet
network it's a bit of a nightmare.

regards,
  Mischa

--
Mischa Oliver Altmann
Student Representative of Level 3, Elec.Engineering
Union Council Representative for the Faculty of Engineering
The University of Leeds (United Kingdom)

personal website: http://www.altmann.at/~mischa (in a terrible state)

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