question on limited network speed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Debbie Graham
  • Start date Start date
D

Debbie Graham

I have my pc on a router so I can access my laptop. Just bought a new
network adapter that is supposed to run at 108mbps but Vista only says
54mbps. I have been talking with Netgear and they said Vista has
limitations but don't know weather it's just not showing 108 or it is
actually only running at 54mbps. I like to know why Vista would do that and
how can it be fixed? Did I just waste $60.00 on an adapter that will only
run as fast as the one I already had in my laptop because Vista will only
let it run at 54mbps?

Debbie
 
Debbie Graham said:
I have my pc on a router so I can access my laptop. Just bought a new
network adapter that is supposed to run at 108mbps but Vista only says
54mbps. I have been talking with Netgear and they said Vista has
limitations but don't know weather it's just not showing 108 or it is
actually only running at 54mbps. I like to know why Vista would do that
and how can it be fixed? Did I just waste $60.00 on an adapter that will
only run as fast as the one I already had in my laptop because Vista will
only let it run at 54mbps?

Debbie
Click to expand...

And your router is what? Capable of what? And the speed it can handle?
Unless all parts of a network can handle higher speeds (108Mb/s?), they will
fall back to a common maximum speed (54Mb/s?)...
 
Yes I know that, I had the router first which handles 108mbps that is why I
got the new adapter.
This is what the netgear site has
Vista driver limitation:

XR (Extended Range) not support.
Can't get hidden AP's channel, a/b/g mode and security mode.
When connect to Ad-hoc mode, can not list infrastructure list.
Can't capture CTS/RTS packet.
Fragment setting doesn't work properly.
Link speed always report 54Mbps on 11g connection and 11mbps on 11b.
Ad-hoc mode, the connection is very poor except WPA2-PSK mode.

Debbie
 
I have my pc on a router so I can access my laptop. Just bought a new
network adapter that is supposed to run at 108mbps but Vista only says
54mbps. I have been talking with Netgear and they said Vista has
limitations but don't know weather it's just not showing 108 or it is
actually only running at 54mbps. I like to know why Vista would do that
and how can it be fixed? Did I just waste $60.00 on an adapter that will
only run as fast as the one I already had in my laptop because Vista will
only let it run at 54mbps?
Click to expand...

Hello Debbie.

The actual commonplace Wi-Fi standard (802.11g) has a maximum speed of
54Mbps. This is the speed that all Wi-Fi devices can talk to each other at.

These higher speeds come about from manufacturers using their own
proprietary bolt-ons running on top of the standard. And as such they're
only compatible with their own hardware. So you'd need a suitable Netgear
router (for example), and Netgear adapter in the PC to get these sorts of
speeds, and even then only in ideal circumstances.

I suspect the router you're connecting to doesn't support Netgear's 108Mbps
connection - if it is a Netgear router or access point that does claim
support, it may have an option in its settings to enable it. If it doesn't
it will only be able to run at 54Mbps.

If you do have compatible hardware both ends, (and I assume the tech support
guy would of mentioned this) another reason for it not to work would be due
to using older drivers that don't support 108Mbps, you might want to check
Netgear's website ( http://kbserver.netgear.com/downloads_support.asp ) for
drivers for your adapter.

If Windows is reporting the connection is 54Mbps, that is what its running
at. It simply passes on what the network adapter's driver is telling it.
To my knowledge Windows has no limit on the speed of any network adapter,
the highest I've got here to test is 1000Mbps - fast enough that no
non-server PC could ever get anywhere near using it all.

Personally I'd seek a refund, in the UK at least you could argue that its
not fit for purpose (irrespective of who's fault it is). Regardless of it
working or not, unless you're moving gigabytes of data around your LAN
regularly 108Mbps won't make any difference to performance. Internet speeds
are probably only a tenth to a fifth of 54Mbps as it is - so you'd see no
benefits there.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience.
http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*
 
Both units are from Netgear. That's what I was figuring to get my money
back. I have updated with current drivers also.

Debbie
 
Back
Top