Does WEP Slow Down Speeds This Much?

I haven't had occasion to use wireless yet, but 5.5 Mb should handle all your needs internet-wise. If you had local LAN computers you wanted to share with, that would be a bit slow for like file transfers etc, but still sufficient for most needs. Are there any 11B devices that could be slowing down things (I kinda doubt it if you were getting 54 without WEP). If it's a trade-off of security over extra speed, security ought to win.

Reply to
$Bill
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About two weeks ago, I wrote here

about self-installing Comcast HSI, and a wireless router connection for my daugher at her college apartment. I did that this past Friday. Comcast arrived as scheduled, extended existing coax to where I needed it, and dropped off the self-install kit. Once I connected my daughter's laptop to the modem (RCA DCM425C), and launched her browser, I was presented with a Comcast welcome screen, and instructed to "Click here" to install the Comcast software and configure my account. Instead, I called Comcast and configured my account over the phone, and was online in about 15 minutes. Once I had the Comcast HSI working fine, I installed a wireless router.

I'm new to wireless, so I have some questions...

My daughter has an Inspiron 8600 running Windows XPHome, with an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 BG network card. She is using a D-link 524 802.11 g wireless router (revision c). Before enabling any security features of the router, the Wireless Network Connection icon in the systems tray showed Speed:54.0 Mbps, and Signal Strength: Excellent. After enabling

64-bi WEP, the speed dropped to 5.4 Mbps, but the signal strength still showed excellent.

Also, after enabling WEP, the wireless card icon in my system tray indicates a poor connection, even though my throughupt seems to be just fine, and surfing is ok. (I suppose that's because I'm still capable of speeds higher than I'd get from Comcast, anyway?). For instance, the two icons in the system tray show: Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 BG Network Connection : POOR Wireless Network Connection (my network name): Speed 5.5 Mbps Signal Strength: Excellent Status: Connected How is it that the NIC can show POOR, while the signal strength shows Excellent? And how is it that the signal strenght can show Excellent, but the speed is 5.5 Mbps? Could this be because enabling WEP can greatly slow down speed, even though the signal is strong. The Dlink manual states: "Note: Your network will slow down and wireless signal may degrade when enabling encryption due to the added overhead." If this is true, I'm really disappointed, since the speed did indicate

54.0 Mbps before I enabled WEP. I have to use encryption, so does this mean I'll have to accept only 10% of the speeds I got without WEP?

Next I'll try enabling MAC filtering, and disabling SSID. What should I expect when I do this? I don't anticipate slower speeds still when SSID is disabled, but will enabling MAC filtering slow me down more?

Thanks for any clarification, Bruce

Reply to
Bruce

Comcast has a maximum transmission speed of 6Mbps, plus or minus over the WAN (Wide Area Network) connection to the router. The 54Mbps wireless transmission rate is the maximum achievable for LAN (Local Area Network) transmissions - computer to computer through the router. Wireless has considerable overhead for security traffic that will consume measurable bandwidth. My wireless consumes about 0.6Mbps, compared to a wired connection to the same computer. This the same order of overhead you observe.

Q
Reply to
Quaoar

Comcast is (or has) upgrading all basic service to 6Mbs. Your daughter's looks like it is upgraded. Note that this is download; upload is limited to 384Kbps. IMO the wireless 54g is not worth worrying about unless there is a requirement for moving very large files on the LAN, etc.

Q
Reply to
Quaoar

"Quaoar" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Thanks, Q. I don't have any machines on the LAN, except for the one I wrote about.

I'd consider that the 5.5 Mbps (about 6 Mbps less overhead) is the rate at which I am getting the Comcast data, but Comcast in my daughter's area only broadcasts at 4 Mbps. More importantly, when I disable WEP, the wireless connection shows connection speed is 54 Mbps.

The technical specifications on this particular router indicate:

Wireless Data Rates* with Automatic Fallback:

54 Mbps 48 36 24 18 12 11 9 6 5.5 2, and 1 Mbps

  • Maximum wireless signal rate based on IEEE Standard 802.11g specifications. Actual data throughput will vary. Network conditions and environmental factors, including volume of network traffic, building materials and construction, and network overhead lower actual data throughput rate.

(The router is placed on a desk next to the laptop.)

I have always assumed (perhaps wrongly so) that the connection speed shown on the LAN, wired or wireless, gives the maximum available, rather than the actual speed at any given time. That is, it is not measuring throughput, but maximum possible, just like my wired connection on my hub here at home shows 100 Mbps.

Guess I'll have to do some more reading up on all of this.

Thanks again, Bruce

Reply to
Bruce

"Quaoar" wrote in news:e9KdncQ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

big snip

I absolutely agree. Just curious. If she needs to move large files fast over the LAN (currently SHE is the LAN), we'll do it over a wired connection. But heck, we're patient anyway.

Thanks again, Bruce

Reply to
Bruce

Reply to
BigJim

"BigJim" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

snip

Thanks, BigJim,

I hadn't considered that, and will try changing channels next time I'm up there.

Bruce

Reply to
Bruce

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