[plug] Network overheads (was Re: Local Debian Repository)

[Nick Bannon]

On Mon, Dec 29, 2003 at 11:30:52PM +0800, Adrian Woodley wrote:
[...]
> On top of that, there are larger headers per packet over 802.11b
> compared to ethernet. This more than eats the increased bit rate.

Yep, that's the major reason. The big headers (compatible with 1Mbps
wireless), the ACKs, the gaps between frames, etc mean that you can
only get 600K/sec or so out of 802.11b, at best.

It _is_ half-duplex, if you're transmitting and receiving, or
transferring from one wireless client to another via an access point,
that will slow things down even more. However, you can FTP at more than
1MB/second over a half-duplex 10Mbps 10Base2 link. (Not on a crappy old
ISA NE2000 card, though, that's another reason again)

You can move 1MB/second or so, in each direction, on a full-duplex
10BaseT link. That's why brochures sometimes say 20/200/2000Mbps
for 10/100/1000baseT switched network ports.

Nick.

-- 
   Nick Bannon   | "I made this letter longer than usual because
nick-sig at rcpt.to | I lack the time to make it shorter." - Pascal