When I order a Wireless Card Does the Mbps need to be faster than my internet speed?

Question

I am looking to buy a wireless adapter for my computer... since i have dsl i don't think i can run another modem or gateway and i am thinking this is the best way of doing this is to put a wireless adapter card into my old computer to have my new computer plugged in straight to my gateway...

SO what i am wondering is what i need to look for when i am buying an adapter and if the speed needs to be more than my internet speed.. Currently my laptop says it is getting 54 Mbps so i am wondering if i need a card thats data rate is up to 125 or just get one that has a data rate up to 54?

Thanks for the help!!!

Answer 1

You have the option for 125mbps internet speed?

Wow.

Most DSL service in the USA offers 1.5mbps, with options to step up to 5mbps.  Most cable internet is around 3mpbs, with options up to 6, 8, and 10 mbps.

Wireless B starts at 11mbps.  Wireless G is at 54mbps ( you know this).  Wireless SuperG is at 108mbps.  There are other G based cards that can connect at 125mbps.  Wireless N is rated up to 300mbps.

So.. unless you have some freaky fast Fiber Optic connection in the USA... Wireless B is still going to be faster than any normal broadband connection you can get in the USA.  Since you say you have DSL, and you have Wireless G... your wireless is probably already 36 times faster than your internet connection.

Answer 2

54 g is what I would suggest, unless you want to spend 100's of dollars, remember your internet is 1.5Mbps-16Mbps(depending on provider) and 54Mbps>16Mbps

Answer 3

Hi I think you would not need a 125Mbps or hjgher.

You'll still get what you get from your old computer.

Answer 4

54Mpbs is insanely fast, and you will never be able to reach that speed, even when transferring files locally.

Convert 54Mbps into Megabytes, and you get 6.75 MB/s.

Dsl is typically only able to download at 1.5MB/s or about 192 KB/s.  

(6.75MB/s  >>> 1.5 MB/s)

Conclusion: Get the 54Mbps :)

Remember,

*Mbps (Mb/s)= Megabits per second

*MBs (MB/s)= MegaBytes per second

*KB/s = KiloBytes per second

Answer 5

You are fine getting one that is faster if it isnt too much money.

A wireless access point is limited by the slowest talker that is connected to it.

It works as a hub, which means ALL traffic goes to all users.  That is why it has to slow down to your slowest connection.  

If you have someone connecting from a long ways away (a neighbor cause you have no security), you are slowed down to his speed.

Distance creates errors, so the router slows by lowering its modulation.

EDIT - CS3, you are ALL wrong.  Speed is measured in bits, Size is measured in Bytes.  You will NEVER get 1.5MBps out of a modem.  That would be a speed of 12Mbps which you would ONLY get thru Fiber such as Verizon FIOS... or a VERY expensive dedicated connection.  The people that mess this up are the people that make Internet Explorer and measure in Bytes per Second vice bits per second which would compare to what the ISP is providing you!

EDIT 2 - I am so amazed at how people have their speeds so jacked up!  Additionally, if I have two laptops connecting to a wireless router at 54Mbps, they will be able to use it (assuming its not being used for something else) and would be able to transfer files at 6.75MB per second.  Its when you start mixing the reasons why your not getting your speed from the ISP is where it gets more complicated.

Download Speed depends on SOOO many things.

1)  The speed of your connection to the Internet is one of the main factors.  The faster you are, the better your chances of getting the "speed" your desiring.

2)  The distance between you and the distant end your surfing.  THe longer the distances, the bigger the chance that you will hit congestion.  If any router between you and the server your making request from is busy, your speed halts BIG TIME!  Also, what time of day is it?  Early in the morning on the east coast will usually have better surfing than later when the west coast wakes up!

3)  The type of traffic.  TCP traffic requires a response for EACH and every packet.  UDP (sound / video) doesnt care.  However, if the quality is low, you will see/hear it on your end (lagging, buffering).

4)  The speed of the distant end connection to the Internet.  Usually this is quite large since they sometimes have a server farm of services (not just one site).

5)  The final factor is how busy the site is that your making a request from.  If 1000's of people are going to it, and they only have one web server, your going to once again see your speed be diminished!

If at any point you go above 60 percent on any of the above, you start to have queuing.  Think of queuing as going into a grocery store and the manger trying to guess how many people will be shopping at any given time.  He will have so many checkout counters open.  Sometimes you will be able to walk RIGHT up, other times, he might get stuck in the queue!

Try going to:

http://www.speedtest.net/

or

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

to show what speed you are really getting.  Test it on sites that are further away and you will start to see your speed fall as you hit congestion somewhere!  

I have Verizon FIOS and get 10.5 Mbps down and about 1.9 Mbps up.

Answer 6

You wanna get a card that will match the speed of your ISP's MBPS and for regular DSL you are looking at 54 Mbps which means a standard wireless G card will work or Wireless N depending on the network (It is also good to keep a wired connection because no matter how strong your wireless power is your wireless strength and connection is never definite and will drop out wired connections run 100 Mbps easy give that all some thought but wireless is more convenient.

Answer 7

There is no way that you have a 54mbps DSL connection. You probably saw the connection information for your ethernet connection and thought that it was referring to your internet connection. The fastest commercially available DSL connections in the world are around 24mbps downstream.  Beyond that, you're talking about cable or FTTH.

To answer your question though, no.  If you have a 100mbps connection, for instance (not that I am suggesting you do), and you have an 802.11g wireless card, you can still connect to the internet -- it's just that your speed will not be 100mbps, it will be somewhere around ~53mbps since that is the upper limit of your connection. That said, there is no reason why you shouldn't invest in an 802.11n wireless card if you really need that much speed.