Local network - wireless is faster for some reason?

[328]

I have an understanding of networking but just want to clarify. I have a EE Router which has a number of machines hooked up via a wired connection through a gigabit switch, they aren't seeing 1000mbps yet because the router doesn't have a gigabit port.

I checked a pc that is a few rooms away that uses a wireless adapter (it supports 802.11n like the router) and the connection speed it says is 300mpbs which I think is good for wireless. Does this mean this is quicker than the wired PCs? I take it it is as they only are 100mbps but always thought that the wired would be quicker still?

I will be getting a gigabit router shortly so the machines have faster speeds over the LAN but just wanted to clarify my thinking was right.
thanks guys for the responses and I understand it doesnt matter how fast LAN is if internet is 10Mbps but it matters still for streaming video from a PC over the network?

[Darin]

There is a difference between Mbps and mbps, bigger M = faster. Also having the switch may be Gigabit, but the NIC card on the computer at the other end may not be so that can limit speed. Finally there is the issue of Auto, Full, or half duplex and there sometimes can be negotiation problems between a switch and a NIC when trying to establish type of communication if they are set differently.

[Fester Frump]

It's faster to the router than the wired PCs. Beyond the router they are the same.

It doesn't matter how fast your LAN (which includes both wired and wireless) is if your Internet connection is 10Mbps - nothing will go faster than that.

Wired should be the preferred connectivity method if it's available. Wired isn't subject to the interference and overall stability issues that wifi has. Wifi uses unlicensed spectrum that is also used by other products, therefore stability is not one of it's attributes.

[Heraclius]

Wireless speeds are a bit misleading. It's a bit like the wired version of a hub in which all devices using it share bandwidth. They may be connected to the hub at 10Mb/s but there are collisions as only one device can talk at a time and the bandwidth is really being shared between all connected devices
So you're PC may say it has a 300Mb/s wireless connection but that's not the actual bandwidth it has to transfer at, even it had all the wireless bandwidth to itself
In contrast a wired switch offers line rate transfer so if you have 100Mb/s you can transfer data at pretty close to the rate if you were using a bandwidth tester
Like you say though, it makes no different how fast devices on the LAN are. The connection to the Internet decides that and even then you'll face an even bigger bottleneck depending on how fast the traffic coming from Internet server sending you the data is
You could have a 1Gb/s connection to your ISP but if 1000 people are downloading files from the same Internet server and that provider only has a 45Mb/s Internet connection you can blame your ISP as much as you like and even pay for a bigger connection but it will still be just as slow
Internally though the more bandwidth you have on your LAN the faster your PCs can exchange traffic amongst each other

[David E]

To get 1000 Mbps, both ends of the wire must be connected to adapters that can handle Gigabit. Most things that connect to the LAN are NOT gigabit. The connection will be either Gigabit or as fast as the adapter can handle. In most cases these days, that is 100 Mbps. This is plenty fast for streaming movies.

Most laptops and PC's do not have Gigabit adapters in them. For PC's, it is cheap to add a gigabit adapter. For laptops, adding Gigabit is harder. In the future, ALWAYS get gigabit on laptops.

As for the Wireless, it "might" be quicker than the PC's. Might because the PC's do not share their connection to the switch. The wireless by nature is shared.

Getting a Gigabit router will not speed up the internet but could speed up LAN traffic. The LAN side of the router is a 5 port switch with one port internal to the router. Its functions are completely independent of the router side.

[Andi]

If everything is connected to the Gigabit capable switch
Then 1000 Mbit things will go at 1Gbit
The router will connect at 100Mbit also (it will not slow the Gbit things down)

The point of a switch, is not to share everything will everthing like a wire...
but to only connect the one thing to the other thing that needs to be connected to.
There is no waiting for the slowest traffic.

Switch - think (multiple) flyover connections between devices
Hub - think crossroads, and yes everything needs to wait to clear the junction.

So if you have no other traffic,
then 2 Gigabit devcies will happily talk to each other at 1Gbit
and if another (or even one of those) needs to talk to the 100Mb device it can for those packets only.
The Switch buffers everything, so it does not matter if things are at different speeds also.

That the router will not go faster than 100Mbs will not matter at all, if it connects onwards at less than 100mbs (even Fibre internet is only 79Mbs at best), so no benefit to increase.

as for wifi, think 30% throughput at best of whatever is quoted...
it is very much a HUB device, and has a single channel (not 2 way comms) to handshake the packets accross the wifi channel.. so 100Mbs through on a 300Mbs connected link.