Basic question about wireless networks

[bobzilla2009]

I currently have a wireless n network with a 50mb connection. At the moment i can download at around the 3-4.5MB marker over wifi. If someone else is using the wifi at the same time will that lower that download rate even though there is more isp (and router, technically) bandwidth to spare?

Basically the question is that whether or not the the overall speed of the wireless is shared fully across computers or whether or not there is some degree of overlap, where two computers can use more of wifi networks potential than just one as long as it is within the bounds of the rated wireless speed and ISP speed.

 

[shevanel]

if your isp is giving you 4.5mb speeds and your friend is downloading at 1mb/s then you will have up to 3.5mbs left for your self...

its like a pool of speed.. as more people join in the connection is shared/divided between all that use it.

your speeds over wifi will more often then not be slower than wired connection. many variables to consider.

now if you're uploading (torrenting or FTP) then your upload cap is being the main cluprit in the lack of the network responsiveness also.

 

[temp02]

Wireless is a type of network were there can only be one station broadcasting at each time (either uploading or downloading a packet), so even though there is two clients using the network, only one of them is sending/receiving data at one time, the time slot taken by each of these operating must be small (few milliseconds) so that the connection stays "OK" for the other clients sharing the network. If one client tries to access the network while another is using it, this causes a "collision", and both client request are aborted and must be re-send again, one at a time (see CSMA/CA).

The connection you have to your router is a 50Mbit/sec one, and that value is shared for both upload and download, so lets say 25Mbit/sec for download and 25 for upload. So you are already maxing out your connection when you say you are downloading at 3~5MByte/sec (8bit = 1Byte -> 25Mbit = 3MByte).
Remember this calculations are made taking into account that you are the only client on the network, if you add another client besides yourself, those numbers will be cut by at least half (1.5MByte), add the collision between the two clients and the performance of the network lowers even further.

Sorry for the long "wall of text", but yeah, wireless sucks for continuous usage when multiple clients are using it, it only good, IMHO, to browse the web, check mails, those sort of things. For playing games and downloading stuff continuously you really need a physical cable on your Ethernet port.

 

[bobzilla2009]

i have a 50mb isp connection and a wireless n router (270mbps measured) so even when halfing the speed it's still 135mbps, which should support the full 50mb connection. I think i just need to find an optimal place to put the router tbh. Since i can't reach 50mbps over wireless, however i am only on 2 bars atm ^^

the network is good for gaming though currently have around 12ms ping to bad company servers.

pulled up some metal blinds by the router and up to 47mbps. Just moved into the house so i need to spot the things that will affect the wifi

found out the answer to my question anyway: the computers on the network will utilise up to the 300mb network speed of the wifi, therefore across the computers we can achieve the 50mb download rate (~6MB), although one single computer cannot ever achieve the 6MB download over wifi unless it is very close to the router. That's fine though.