Connected

I learned a little bit about home networking today. It really is just a little bit, the most trivial of information -- but I didn't know it.

Here it is.

There is a set of standards that define the frequencies that can be used by wireless networks. These are described in the IEEE 802.11 documents, described in this Wikipedia page. Three that are common are 802.11(a), 802.11(b), and 802.11(g). The standards also document the data transfer rate that the wireless connection can use -- the higher the rate, the faster the transfer.

The reason I got interested in this was that I was trying to understand why, in the same home network, my Windows XP Professional/ Lenovo T60 Thinkpad could transfer data way faster than my Windows XP Home/Dell Inspiron 600M. Turns out, it's the frequency. The Thinkpad is using 802.11(a)(b)(g), which can transfer up to 54 megabits per second, while the Inspiron is using 802.11 (b)(g). The (b) can transfer up to 11 MBPS, while the (g) can transfer up to 54.

I asked myself the obvious question, and it turns out that yes, you can tell the laptop to use just the (g) protocol -- you go into Start/Network Connections, right click, select the wireless connection, select Properties, go up to Connect Using and select Configure, and scroll through the values there until you find one that looks like Rate or Data Rate. When that one is selected, a box to the right (at least, on my display) will tell you what data transfer rate you're getting -- and mine said 11. Going further down the values where the word Data was found, there is a Wireless Mode -- and mine was (b) and (g). I selected (g), and said OK -- and suddenly my network connection, far from getting better, just went away entirely.

Huh?

Cause I can dial in whatever the heck freq I want to use -- but if the wireless router is only transmitting on (b), then (b) is all thats going to be there -- and I had just told the laptop not to use (b).

Oh.

But at least now I understand it a little bit better. And, having reset the values, I'm connected again.

Do still wonder how the other laptop transferred faster, though, given that it had to be doing it at a max of the 11 MBPS (ie, the (b) ) rate. Wonder if one card is just faster?