During one of the meetings of the Lake-Sumter Computer Society, there was a discussion of Internet, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi transfer speeds. I decided to go look for specifications and found references that looked at each area, but found none that put it all in one chart. Plus, the references are often confusing because they use different criteria for the transfer rates. So, the idea for this article was born.

Disclaimer: The “expected” or “average” values are not meant to be absolute numbers, but rather to place items in their relative position of real world data transfer rates, also known as bandwidth.

Notes: (Reference)

• 8 bits = 1 byte
• bps = bits per second
• kbps = 1,000 bits per second (1)
• Mbps = megabits per second
• MBps = megabytes per second [(1) Approximately equal to Mbps divided by 8. The binary, K = 1,024, is ignored for this article since all estimated values are affected equally.]

RELATIVE DATA TRANSFER RATES

References: Relate to the (#) in the chart on the previous page.

1. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kbps
2. Scot’s Newsletter http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/best_of/dtrct.htm
3. Personal experience
   • a = Dial-Up connection speed experienced with both EarthLink and Florida Cable’s USA2net with an internal 56K US Robotics PCI modem.
   • b = Download speed of 500 KBps often obtained for large files.
   • c = A USB Wi-Fi 802.11g adapter put in an older notebook’s USB 1.1 port could “recognize” the router’s Wi-Fi signal, but was unable to connect. The adapter connected fine in a USB 2.0 port. Plus, the older notebook connected fine with a PCMCIA Wi-Fi adapter.
   • d = Indicates transfer of one 2 GB file between the slave and master ATA 100, 7200 RPM Hard Drives on the Primary IDE Channel.
4. HughesNET – Download speeds. Note that satellite services often use a Dial-Up connection for uploads. http://www.direc-way.us/scripts/Hughes-Net-Satellite-Speeds.asp
5. Wikipedia
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11
6. Stanford University http://pangea.stanford.edu/computerinfo/resources/network/architecture/ethernetfeatures.html
7. Everything USB
   http://www.everythingusb.com/usb2/faq.htm
8. Smart Computing (So Long, USB, page 18, April 2007)
   http://tinyurl.com/2getmh (http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/2007/s1804/03ds04/03ds04.asp&articleid=38445&guid=950AF9065A2C48E190C93248A7DDB2D9

Summary and discussion:

• Wi-Fi 802.11g is much faster than any Internet broadband connection now available to the typical home user.
• Ethernet 100BaseT is about 3 times faster than Wi-Fi 802.11g for transferring files between computers on a home network. This could be significant if you are routinely transferring large files.
• The standards have not yet been approved for Wi-Fi 802.11n, but the speed of available “proto-types” is above Ethernet 100BaseT and about equal to the transfer rate of commercially available hard drives. (Be aware that so-called “802.11n” products purchased now might not be compatible with products from other manufacturers and also later with those produced after the standards have been approved.)
• Ethernet 1000BaseT (Gigabit) is much faster than the capability of hard drives commercially available to home users at this time.

This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).

For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here

---

Tulsa Computer Society 09/01/2007

Don Singleton, President