@avigdor6,
2.7 MB (less than 24Mbit) is kinda slow, but are you absolutely, TOTALLY sure that your PC hardware isn't a limiting factor? (CPU power, disk read/write speeds, insufficient free memory).
If the endpoints can handle vastly more throughput, then I'll SWAG that you're using cheap antennas, going through walls/floors at a bad angle, or your AP doesn't have enough radio power, or your AP doesn't have enough CPU power. (The different price levels of DLink n-Routers/Access Points, for example, have different antennas, *and* different output power levels, *and* different processor chip speeds.)
Next, the angle at which the "middle" of the signal path goes through walls/floors is critical. For example, in my house, going straight through an interior wall is just one inch of sheet rock (two layers of 1/2" each), plus a 2" wide by 4" deep vertical strip every 16 inches (wooden studs). BTW, the signal doesn't travel as a thin string; it travels as a widening cone and somewhat "rebuilds" itself behind such obstacles).
Now, compare that with going almost parallel to the wall: The distance spent "inside" of gypsum board could easily reach 6, 8 , or 10 inches, and the entire "cone" of signal has to go through ALL of it. As the angle shifts away from "head-on" to the 2x4 studs, the distance goes down (the 4" distance of going straight through the wall was the longest possibility for one stud). But a wider proportion of the signal cone is facing into stud wood, and, as you become more and more parallel to the wall, you reach 100% wood blockage - and then you start going through MULTIPLE studs. :(( And metallic studs are worse, of course. They eat electromagnetic fields for breakfast
If your devices work fast when they're both RIGHT NEXT TO the Access Point/Router, then you're problem is radio strength: it needs more signal power; better antennas; multi-channel (and try DIFFERENT channels); or a layout which has more of the signal distances in free air (and less struggling through walls and floors). Or a combination of all these "solutions".
If it's NOT any faster when the distance is nearly zero, then either the Router/AP or one of the endpoint devices can't handle more traffic- even though the wireless network *is* capable. Money spent on new antennas, or anything else dealing purely with transmit/receive radio signal power, would accomplish nothing.
But, if your AP/Router is doing firewall work, or port-forwarding, then it could be getting CPU-bound. The extra work to inspecting TCP/IP port numbers and comparing them to various lists for blocking/re-mapping/re-routing could be leaving no CPU power left to handle additional traffic. (The packet transmission itself is "more difficult" over radio than it is over cat5/cat6 cable). In this case, replacing the AP to get a more powerful CPU would solve the problem.
Discussion on:
Message 4 of 1
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