2015-02-06

(1) Some Linux friends tell me that the following Linux commands and the Ubuntu's WiFi Connection Information screen don't really indicate a wireless network's actual speed and that they reveal only the (calculated) optimum possible value under the prevailing condition.

iwconfig

iw dev wlan0 link

I am really confused. Since my Ubuntu 12.04 WiFi Connection screen seems to update the speed in real time, I tend to accept it is a realistic measure. When I switch over to Windows XP on the very same computer, I essentially read the same wireless-network speed value.

My computer is a Dell Dimension 2400 hosting both Windows XP and Ubuntu 12.04 and my wireless network uses the Linksys WUSB54GC wireless-g adapter.

(2) Is there another method to obtain a network's speed?

Any help in clarifying this matter will be much appreciated.

julianvb

I'd say that's about right.

As a preamble, consider that wired ethernet tells you the signalling rate, not the data transfer rate. Now, consider for example 54 Mb/s wireless; it isn't telling you that you are transferring data at 54 Mb/s right now, just that there is a possibility, with various caveats (signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, interference and speed of your computer, with whatever other loading that is going on), that you could.

If you want actual data rates, you'll probably have to transfer actual data (otherwise the data rate will tend towards zero, irrespective of what it could be) and measure amounts of data and time taken.

" Dell Dimension 2400"

Could be the system is slower than the nic.