Can "Enhanced G" really reach 125Mbps?

Hi,

I decided to upgrade my old wireless network, so I went out and purchased an "Enhanced G" router (a Dynex DX-WEGRTR). I also have a Dynex PCI adapter (DX-EBDTC) and a Buffalo Technology WLI-U2-KG125S USB adapter.

The PCI adapter is installed in my desktop (Windows 2003), and I use the Buffalo USB adapter in my laptop (Windows XP).

This all is working pretty well, and both adapters do run at 54Mbps, but despite lots of tweaking of both the router settings and the settings at the PC end, I cannot get either the PCI adapter or the USB adapter to show up as 125Mbps in the Systray icon. Both show "Excellent" signal strength, and I have the router only approx. 20' away.

I also noticed that in the Advanced Configuration for both the PCI adapter and the USB adapter, the highest "Rate" setting is 54Mbps and "Best Rate".

So, I'm curious: Should I actually be able to get these to run at, at display, 125Mbps? If so, any ideas about what changes I need to make?

Thanks, Jim

Reply to
ohaya
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To get any of the "turbo" modes, all the kit has to be from the same manufacturer, and supporting the same turbo mode.

Does the Dynex PCI adapter support the same "enhanced G" mode as the router? If not, you're SOL...

Reply to
Mark McIntyre

Mark,

Yes. They actually have two different PCI adapters. One is "regular" G, the other one (the DX-EBDTC), which is the one I got, is "enhanced" G. "125Mbps" is all over the box :).

Although it's not the same mfr as the router, that Buffalo USB adapter is, also, I believe, the "same kind of" enhanced G, i.e., in the settings, I see settings for "Afterburner".

As you mentioned, getting the router and the adapter from the same mfr is suppose to be the best way to insure that the "enhanced" G works. That's why I got the router and PCI adapter from Dynex. As for the Buffalo USB adapter, I already had that from before, but I was also curious if it'd work @ 125Mbps with the Dynex router.

FYI, I've seen some info that seems to indicate that the Dynex router is the same as one that Belkin sells...

Anyway, the thing that's puzzling is in the adapter Advanced configuration (for both the Dynex PCI and Buffalo USB adapters), when I select "Rate", 54Mbps is the highest rate. There's a "Best" which is selected by default, but I cannot get anything higher than 54Mbps to appear in the Windows Systray popup, even though the signal is "Excellent".

Jim

Reply to
ohaya

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:23:15 -0500, ohaya wrote in :

It often takes a configuration change to enable the higher speed mode, but you may still not see the highest rate setting, since those are usually to hold speed down below maximum.

What does the documentation say?

Reply to
John Navas

John,

I've tried all kinds of changes, both on the router and adapter side... still now joy.

The adapter manual doesn't say much. The router manual is a little better, but I've got everything set to how it should be, I think...

Jim

Reply to
ohaya

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:26:07 -0500, ohaya wrote in :

My guess is that your problem is brand mismatch. With non-standard gear, you should _always_ go with all of one brand.

Reply to
John Navas

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:54:55 -0500, ohaya wrote in :

That may not be enough. As Mark wrote, it should all be from the _same_ manufacturer. Even with the same chipset, different manufacturers may have firmware that only works with their own gear.

It's more than just the best way -- it's the _only_ way to be sure it will work.

Turn off any non-Dynex gear, set up the router for Turbo G mode, and see what you get.

I wouldn't count on that.

Reply to
John Navas

Hi,

When you say "turn off any non-Dynex gear", do you mean the Buffalo USB?

That's off most of the time, since I rarely use my laptop at home, but even then can't get 125Mbps on the PCI adapter, wich is in my desktop.

I'm still curious, do you all actually see "125Mbps" (or anything >

54Mbps) when holding the mouse over the wireless icon in the Systray?

Also, when you go to Advanced Configuration -> Rate, do you see anything > 54Mbps?

Jim

Reply to
ohaya

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:41:02 -0500, ohaya wrote in :

Buffalo is of course non-Dynex. Also turn off any other non-Dynex wireless gear.

I have no idea. Why does it matter so much to you? Just test for speed and see what you get.

Reply to
John Navas

I don't have any other wireless equipment here, and like I said, that's off.

Well... I guess it's because I specifically opted for the enhanced G router and PCI adapter, and was expecting to see "125Mbps"...

Jim

Reply to
ohaya

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:10:25 -0500, ohaya wrote in :

If security is off, neighbors could be causing the problem.

What part of "test for speed and see what you get" was unclear?

Reply to
John Navas

If they are compatible (same manufacturer, same proprietary "turbo rate") then you should get a cute little icon that says you are connected at

125Mbps...

My DLinks constantly remind me that I am connected at 108Mbps...

...but, of course, that is just marketing hype. Yeah, it may get something near 108Mbps when two pieces of hardware are sitting close together, the air is RF free, and the planets are aligned correctly. In the real world, "turbo" gives me a ~15 to 20% boost. Unrecognizable for my 8Mbps internet pipe, but better than no-boost-at-all for WLAN traffic.

Run some speed tests...

Reply to
Eric

Assuming that these two pieces of H/W will work together at a "turbo" rate:

Is there anything else connected to the router that isn't using "turbo"?

If one piece of H/W is connected to it without "turbo", then it is likely that nothing else (even "turbo" capable) can connect to it at "turbo". Everything falls back to vanilla.

This is how DLink works, anyway...

DLink calls "Superlink with Static Turbo" when only DLink "turbo"-enabled H/W is allowed to connect.

DLink calls "Superlink with Dynamic Turbo" when it will allow anything to connect, but will only support "turbo" when every connected device is DLink "turbo"-capable/enabled.

Dunno your H/W, but may be similiar...

Reply to
Eric

So? What you really care about is whether you *get* more than 54Mbps speed surely?

Note that you should expect at best to get around 50% of the full speed anyway - ie 54G -> 20-25Mbps, 11B->5Mbps. Wireless is half-duplex, total bandwidth is shared amongst all active devices and the devices need time to chat to each other.

Reply to
Mark McIntyre

And the tool for it is "iperf".

Run it between a wired and wireless box to see the speed of the wireless (your wired connection to the router will be 100Mbps and will easily outpace even 54G turbo wireless).

Reply to
Mark McIntyre

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:27:19 +0000, Mark McIntyre wrote in :

What he said. On both counts. :)

Reply to
John Navas

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:25:57 +0000, Mark McIntyre wrote in :

In other words, in the iperf test from wireless to wired, much over 25 Mbps throughout would mean that Turbo G is working.

Reply to
John Navas

John,

Actually, there was NO part of "test for speed and see what you get" that was unclear.

I was merely trying to answer the question in the middle sentence, i.e., "Why does it matter so much to you?".

I'll try to do some testing with iperf or similar tool and post back.

Jim

Reply to
ohaya

of course you realize that those speeds 11, 22, 54, 125 are the "air" data rates, and not the data thruput you will see.... which is about 1/2. Also - the PC has to be fast enough to process the packets thru the TCP/IP stack and return them.... I can see a major difference when testing different speed machines when attempting to backup files across both the wireless and wired network.

As an aside - it's interesting to test backup speeds across the wired LAN at

100mbps and see which external NAS storage devices can actually keep up with the data stream or those that are older/slower 10mbps systems with a new NIC.... and can't keep up.
Reply to
P.Schuman

Hi All,

To followup, I did some testing using iperf, between a wired machine and the wireless (tried both the Buffalo and the Dynex PCI), and got about

20-21 Mbps, so I'm gathering that this is really not getting to that 125 Mbps.

For the record, Buffalo tech support sent me a response to my inquiry. They said that 54 Mbps was the highest that would appear in the Advanced Configuration, but that the USB adapter would go faster than that if it could. Systray would only show 54 Mbps maximum, but, according to them, their Client Manager 3 should show higher rate if it was available.

No response from Dynex support to my similar questions :(...

Jim

Reply to
ohaya

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