Simple WiFi Question

[taxboy]

We currently have people staying with kids and at times my internet crawls. Out of curiosity how is the download allocated to multiple devices please I.e if you have 3 do they all have an equal share or is it more complex than this

 

[Box Brownie]

We currently have people staying with kids and at times my internet crawls. Out of curiosity how is the download allocated to multiple devices please I.e if you have 3 do they all have an equal share or is it more complex than this

AFAIK
Without very sophisticated packet handling all users will be getting an equal share of the available 'flow' but bear in mind that average browsing & emailing etc is intermittent access compared to anyone streaming or online gaming. In practice those high demand users by the very nature of the 'continual' demand vs intermittent will have a significant effect on all the users.

Also, KIV that whatever your actual broadband speed any/all WiFi users will never see the max the BB is supplying compared to using a wired connection ~ this aspect becomes more relevant when you are on Fibre i.e. speed measured to the router & wired connections will be seen as quicker than the WiFi speed.

 

[taxboy]

Thanks for that it does explain why Im bottom of the queue vs the online gaming, face time etc !!!

 

[Mr Bump]

some routers allow a guest network which you can allow a fixed amount of banwidth.

 

[neil_g]

Also, KIV that whatever your actual broadband speed any/all WiFi users will never see the max the BB is supplying compared to using a wired connection ~ this aspect becomes more relevant when you are on Fibre i.e. speed measured to the router & wired connections will be seen as quicker than the WiFi speed.

I think that's a little misleading.

For example on 5ghz I can quite easily get the same 220mbps speed on wireless compared to wired. It's the same speed.

However pings, jitter and stability may vary, especially when moving away from the wireless router/ap.

 

[Box Brownie]

Thanks for that it does explain why Im bottom of the queue vs the online gaming, face time etc !!!

Also, something to be aware of is whether your ISP has traffic management in place i.e. whether they prioritise gaming & streaming over browsing etc. I think I recall that PlusNet do or did such traffic management but altered depending on the time of day.

Perhaps check with your ISP what they do but from your point of view likely just information though could help to know when to allow the guests access

some routers allow a guest network which you can allow a fixed amount of banwidth.

Now you mention it I think my Billion router has guest settings..................or was it my old Netgear one. Though I do recall seeing a bandwidth setting???

 

[Box Brownie]

I think that's a little misleading.

For example on 5ghz I can quite easily get the same 220mbps speed on wireless compared to wired. It's the same speed.

However pings, jitter and stability may vary, especially when moving away from the wireless router/ap.

I stand corrected but what you say does illustrate that where WiFi is concerned there are more 'user experience variables' than a wired connection need worry about?

FWIW my router is dual band 2.4 & 5Ghz but not all the wireless devices are dual band so even more in the mix depending on the router and the band available to use by a suitably equipped 'device'.

 

[afasoas]

Max Wi-Fi speed will depend on the client devices and number of attenae they have. As well as distance from the router, and number of other devices sharing the same access point. The thing with Wi-Fi is that it's not full duplex either. The protocol has congestion control and unless you have an access point with multiple antennae shared between multiple devices, you can quite quickly get into a situation where communications between clients and the AP is getting constantly disrupted.

Some devices are also more problematic than others. For example, it's possible for a device to emit a packet that will silence other devices on the Wi-Fi network(/channel?). Apple phones were at one point guilty of doing this before scanning for surrounding Wi-Fi networks. And I believe some Wireless Access Points are tweaked by their manufacturers to cope fairly with this sort of behaviour.