Newb question on Wireless

[imwired]

I hope this isn't too stupid of a question, but I'm confused as heck.
My internet connection is 10 Mbps with an upload speed of 512kbps.

Q1. My ISP offers another tier with the same download speed, but a higher upload of 1 Mbps. Will this make a difference in my wireless connections?

Q2. I see routers that offer 108 Mbps. What does this refer to?
The bandwidth between the router and the clients?

Q3. I've read the articles, but I'm still not sure I understand what the difference between Speed/ Throughput vs. Bandwidth is.
As I understand it: speed is the rate at which data transfers to a client and the bandwidth is the capacity of data that can be transferred.

To use an analogy, I would think that bandwidth would be the width of a highway lane and speed would be, well, the speed of cars travelling down the lanes.

My apologies for these basic questions, but it'll help me get a good start on how to plan my wireless network.

Thanks!

 

[saturation]

I hope this isn't too stupid of a question, but I'm confused as heck.
My internet connection is 10 Mbps with an upload speed of 512kbps.

Q1. My ISP offers another tier with the same download speed, but a higher upload of 1 Mbps. Will this make a difference in my wireless connections?

Q2. I see routers that offer 108 Mbps. What does this refer to?
The bandwidth between the router and the clients?

Q3. I've read the articles, but I'm still not sure I understand what the difference between Speed/ Throughput vs. Bandwidth is.
As I understand it: speed is the rate at which data transfers to a client and the bandwidth is the capacity of data that can be transferred.

To use an analogy, I would think that bandwidth would be the width of a highway lane and speed would be, well, the speed of cars travelling down the lanes.

My apologies for these basic questions, but it'll help me get a good start on how to plan my wireless network.

Thanks!

1. Not to the wireless. But you'll notice your upload speed will be increased if you upload a lot.
2. Yes, likely the basic Fast Ethernet connection, which is 100 Mbps.
3. Bandwidth is like horsepower while throughput is a car's actual speed in mph. You know the more hp you have the faster your car can go but its not the only thing: aerodynamics, transmission, weight, road conditions etc., all contribute to the final realizable speed.
   
   In wi-fi, those other things that slow the final speed are things like converting bytes to bits, encryption, decryption, addressing, integrity checking, resending errors, radio reception etc.,

Computers use data in files, be it program files like notepad.exe or data like readme.txt. Those files are in stored in bytes in a specific format, and in the transmission, it has to be broken down into bits with all the information to reassemble it.

I think I saw that video you speak off, and while it has good ratings as its easy to understand, what people learn from it seems off. The reason is Cisco is trying to explain in an analogy radio phenomena and network interaction associated with bandwidth and how this translates to throughput, which is like trying to explain where horsepower comes from when you make an engine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWxGtl5J7WM

In toto, bandwidth in bps is what you could get, throughput is what you really get.

 

[imwired]

that's fantastic!
thanks for the info and the link.

Cheers
imwired

 

[stevech]

On WiFi speeds... the net speed is about 60% of the WiFi bps - due to overhead, half-duplex, ACKs and other things. So 108Mbps in 802.11n, at the IP layer of the protocol stack, is less than the 100Mbps ethernet wire speed, which itself has about 15% overhead (IP).

Another example: in '11g, at 54Mbps on the air link, nets about 22-26Mbps, if there's no competition for air time with neighbors, if the WiFi products are good, etc.