What's the point of 54 Mb wireless?

jet powersjet powers
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
In the corporate/academic environment (basically any environment with a lot of Macs) I can see it if the organization is (for whatever reason) thinking of ripping out their wired network and replacing it with a wireless one......



But to a regualr home user who uses Airport to surf the web around the house, there's no real use for it.....Even the fattest broadband doesn't fill up the 11 Mb pipe, and now the pipe is 5 times larger.



I'm not saying that more isn't better and that technology shouldn't advance, but is 802.11g a solution in search of a problem?



Jet

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    gardenofearthlydelightsgardenofearthlydelights Posts: 963member
    [quote]Originally posted by Jet Powers:

    <strong>In the corporate/academic environment (basically any environment with a lot of Macs) I can see it if the organization is (for whatever reason) thinking of ripping out their wired network and replacing it with a wireless one......



    But to a regualr home user who uses Airport to surf the web around the house, there's no real use for it.....Even the fattest broadband doesn't fill up the 11 Mb pipe, and now the pipe is 5 times larger.



    I'm not saying that more isn't better and that technology shouldn't advance, but is 802.11g a solution in search of a problem?



    Jet</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Because I'm lazy...



    Sometimes, I'm sitting on the couch and can't be bothered to go upstairs to connect my iBook to my main computer by Ethernet. That 100MB file that I seem to always need is pretty fat for a 11Mb connection,



    Then there's my wife's TiBook. It's never on Ethernet, and I seem to need files to update that all the time.



    I'm all for faster. That Dr. Bott antenna sounds even more scrumdely-icious. Up to 75m with the omnidirectional antenna? Cool. Sure, it's not a <a href="http://3nw.com/pda/wireless/wi_fi_pringles_can_yagi_antenna.htm"; target="_blank">10-mile, Pringle-can powered Yagi antenna,</a> but it will do.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    chopper3chopper3 Posts: 293member
    Well, probably because more that 75% of wireless users are office-based and I work for a large Cisco Global Gold Partner and I can't remember the last time we installed a 10Mb port - everything is 100Mb or GigE these days.



    Oh and I know lots of people (sad people to be honest) who have more than 11Mb home pipes.



    I'm quite impressed how cheap it all is, £150 for a .11g basestation! I just wish they'd provide aerial terminals for range extension.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    bryan.furybryan.fury Posts: 164member
    [quote]Originally posted by Jet Powers:

    but is 802.11g a solution in search of a problem?



    Jet[/QB]<hr></blockquote>



    maybe you could stream a dvd to an airport equiped tv/tuner
  • Reply 4 of 9
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    because you never get the advertised 11 mbit speed. 802.11 being simplex basically halves your actual bandwidth if you are communicating from one AirPort client to another. Your actual total available bandwidth will also be less than the theoretical 11 mbit/s.



    The same goes for 802.11g, you only get 'g' class speeds when your link is good (when you are within a certain distance.) You also suffer from the same simplex issues. In reality, you'll probably average close to 20-25 mbit/s with 802.11g, a noticeable slowdown from 100 megabit networking I've gotten used to in my house.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 6 of 9
    salidar34salidar34 Posts: 27member
    For transfering files, the old airport is really slow. Right now, i have to connect my tibook up with ethernet or firewire in order to transfer files, which is a pain. With the new airport this would be easy. In addition, you could easily transfer files wirelessly between you and your friends laptop, just create a computer to computer network.
  • Reply 7 of 9
    horned_froghorned_frog Posts: 577member
    Why? B/C the new card and base station look cooler than the older ones.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    [quote]Originally posted by salidar34:

    <strong>For transfering files...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Yes! I also share an internet connection, but I also transfer large files over a home network to other macs and a few PC's.



    And a bandwidth issue: More users can swap files and share bandwidth. With older systems (802.11b), you will notice the system slow down much more. (And with my system, PRE-802.11b, you don't share bandwith with anyone!)
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