go wireless

[neoice]

we have 6 laptops and 2 desktops at work and want to buy an 11mb access point and 8 cards.

Can somebody tell me how much bandwidth each computer will get?

is there a way to work it out?

when we log on we connect to various shares and a couple of printers. what happens if somebody downloads a huge file or sends a big job to the printer, will this cause problems?

we are on a workgroup and don't have a server.

thanks

neil

 

[jimbopalmer]

While they are advertized as 11 Mb, throughput is closer to 5meg, and in your case you will divide that 8 ways. ouch. Depending on the speed of your ISP access (cable modem for example) you may find that one computer downloading can consume all the bandwidth, prints almost certainly can (how are you connecting the printers, and why can't the computer connect that way?) I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[jono261970]

Hello,

The computers are in our administration office and there are only 3 ports that happen to be a distance from the desks. Most of the time staff use disks to transfer data because they cannot be bothered walking over to the data point and plugging in. One computer is connected to a broad band pipe via a router and has a printer attached.

I did plan on attaching a hub to the data point and then connecting the workstation, the router, an 11mb access point and a 2 port print server to it. Money is scarce so I though it would be better to invest in wireless technology rather than hard wire the whole office which is big and people are wildly spread - not to mention they like to rearrange furniture all the time.

So to get a rough estimate of data bandwidth I would have to divide 5m by 8 which would be roughly 625kb per laptop?

So, if somebody ran off a 10mb file on the printer would it send it at 625kb until finished or would it grab as much as it could and kick people off?

thanks for any assistance.

neil


A good fortune may forbode a bad luck, which may in turn disguise a good fortune.

 

[jimbopalmer]

I doubt it would kick anyone off, it would grab as much of the about 5 meg as it could. If they do not use the network much now, it is likely they would not use it much when connected wirelessly, so they may not conflict at all. I would make sure my 'hub' was really a switch, that would offer as much bandwidth as possible to all concerned. I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[BobMCT]

FWIW - we use wireless gear regularly and the total bandwidth issue is a real concern... but that's ONLY if all users are pressing ENTER and/or downloading at the exact same time. Under normal working conditions 10 users should not even notice that there are other's using wireless.

I'd go for it. Just make sure your Internet connection is the fastest you can afford.