Only 2Mbps on 11Mbps card

[MikeyC]

Hi,

I am using a 7Book (build 756, OS 158) with an SMC 2632W WiFi card which works faultlessly (something for Diem's faq). However, I'm only getting 2Mbps under NetStatRF on what is nominally an 11Mbps WiFi network (card and AP rated at this speed).

Don't think I'm complaining, beacuse it's a damn site better that the serial cable which I've had until recently. I'm speculating that it's not running at 5.5 or 11Mbps due to a higher current draw at these speeds. Or perhaps the Psion drivers were written before the 11Mbps standard became available and as such doesn't support higher WiFi speeds than 2Mbps.

If the latter is true, are people getting either a 10 or 100 Mbps speed through a wired LAN, and is it noticeably faster when FTP-ing files than WiFi? If so, I may go down this path when I am desk based.

Mike

[diem]

Thanks for the info - site updated accordingly.

The SMC card uses the Intersil chipset, which does not provide accurate information to RFNetstat; do you also not get an entry beside 'rates supported'? Thus it is entirely probable you are getting 11Mbps, just that RFnetstat can't tell properly. I found the same as you when I used a Linksys WPC11; with an Enterasys Roamabout I get full info in RFNetstat.

[MikeyC]

No, the entry for 'rates supported' is blank. I'm getting about 8.5Kbps consistently using nFTP but gathering from another post that's about right.

Is wired a more speedy way to go though?

[diem]

Originally posted by MikeyC
No, the entry for 'rates supported' is blank.
Yeah I'd guessed as much.
I'm getting about 8.5Kbps consistently using nFTP but gathering from another post that's about right.
Aye - software limitations. Much faster solution is to install the free ftp server on the netBook (search the forums for more info), then connect to it with an ftp client from the remote machine.
Is wired a more speedy way to go though? Well, as I hope I got across in my last post, your wireless connection is most likely running at 11Mbps, not 2 as RFNetstat thinks. As you'll know from general WiFi knowledge, this translates into a bandwidth of about 5Mbps of actual data, so a wired connection, at 10Mbps or 100Mbps, is theoretically faster. Given the power limitations of a netBook however, I don't think you'll notice the difference unless you are transferring huge files. IMHO, the freedom from wires is worth giving up a little bt of bandwidth for!

[MikeyC]

Now, here's a thing I came across purely by accident. Further to the discussion about slow WiFi ftp....

For the first time I ftp'd a file to the C (internal) drive rather than my D (CF card) drive. Imagine my surprise when I got a 134 Kbps transfer rate!

Incidentally, I've just upgraded my CF card from a 64MB Armadillo to 128MB Sandisk. When I initiated an ftp to this new card I found that the transfer rate had dropped from around 8.5 Kbps to 3.4 Kbps :mad: .

This obviously makes me think that that it was (and is) the CF card that is slowing down the transfer. Can anyone confirm or deny this theory and expand on it?

[diem]

Search the forums on this topic - download speeds to different destinations on the Psion via different software has been discussed previously. Indeed, downloading to CF will be significantly slower than to C (and slower than copying from C to D) due to the asynchronous block transfer implied by FTP - each chunk received by the program will be written independently to CF, which is slower to write than C in the first place.

[wanman]

Damn this infernal nftp client. If I download a file from my PC (using 11MBs wireless card), I am getting speeds of around 130-150KB/s to either C or D. If I try uploading the same file (or when I try backing up my Psion), I am only gettting speeds of 15-20KB/s. Mind you, it does start around the 50-60KB/s and then rushes down to the lower speeds very quickly.

Is this definitely to do with Nftp or is it a protocol thing? Is downloading always faster than uploading? Is this why installing the FTP server software on the Psion increases the upload speeds (although really they are download speeds from the 7book)?

Regards

Si

[amitchell]

Mike,

A long shot maybe. I noticed that I too was only getting 2Mbps. In the Lucent settings, under Advanced in the Options window the transmit rate was set to 2 Mbps as a default and this showed up in netstatrf accordingly. I changed this setting to 11Mbps and netstatrf now shows 11Mbps...

HTH,

Austin.

[diem]

Originally posted by wanman
Is this definitely to do with Nftp or is it a protocol thing? Is downloading always faster than uploading? Is this why installing the FTP server software on the Psion increases the upload speeds (although really they are download speeds from the 7book)?

Regards

Si
This was discussed before. IIRC, we decided it was an OS issue because Opera and nFTP gave similar results; its definitely not an FTP protocol issue. There are reports that setting up the Psion as a server instead of a client gives better performance.

[wanman]

I sent an email to Neuon's Chris Matthee (author of nFTP) about some issues I had found and those above. This was the reply:



Q: the transfer rate of files from the netBook to the Psion is considerably slower than PC (server) to netBook

A: There has always been a difference in speed between uploading and downloading using nFTP. I could never figure that out even though I tried different packet sizes and transfer settings. Unless you have some suggestions, I'm afraid you will have to live with it. I must say that using a ftp connection between your pc and netBook is not the best way to transfer files. There are a lot of overhead from the PPP. TCP/IP and FTP protocols. Have you considered using a terminal emulator with the Y-modem protocol. It works perfectly for me. I use nFTP for transferring files over the network.

Q: For some reason, if a file is transferred, which contains a "(" or
other similar character, the connection is dropped

A: I will have to investigate this one. Don't remember how the FTP protocol handles file names, but I don't think it is a FTP protocol thing.

Q: The Site Label on the connection box, seems to be reset after each connection, whereas the Host address is maintained from memory

A: This is indeed so.

Q: The disconnect from internet pop-up function, when using a wireless card only disconnects if you press enter when the yes/no option is displayed. If you click on the yes button, using the pointer, the connection is not broken.

A: Very interesting. This must be some OS problem. I will have a look on my netBook.



One quick question for all you clever people out there. What is this Y-Modem protocol and can it be used to connect a 7Book to a PC enabling file transfer across a wireless LAN? I am thinking of rapid and wire free backup-ing (?)

Si

[MikeMcC]

"Y-Modem" is one of the protocols for transferring binary files between computers.

File transfers over the internet cannot use protocols such as X-Modem, Y-Modem and Z-Modem - everything has to be transferred using ASCII text. This is why files have to be encoded as MIME or UUencoded before being sent.

If you connect your Psion and PC with Comms and Hyperterminal, you can transfer binary files with Y-Modem protocol. Don't transfer with X-Modem protocol unless the file is zipped or MIME/UUencoded, otherwise you will probably end up with a corrupt file.

If you are using a wireless LAN, surely you can just drag & drop files in the normal way without having to use a file transfer protocol? It is really a method of transferring binary files with a basic Comms connection.

[wanman]

Cheers Mike, much clearer on this now.

Thanks

Si