From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 2 16:32:58 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8BABD16A4D0 for ; Wed, 2 Mar 2005 16:32:58 +0000 (GMT) Received: from sccrmhc13.comcast.net (sccrmhc13.comcast.net [204.127.202.64]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1A5A643D1F for ; Wed, 2 Mar 2005 16:32:58 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from bsd@kelleycows.com) Received: from [10.3.29.200] (c-24-30-114-40.we.client2.attbi.com[24.30.114.40]) by comcast.net (sccrmhc13) with ESMTP id <2005030216325601600sansje>; Wed, 2 Mar 2005 16:32:57 +0000 Message-ID: <4225EAB7.3020205@kelleycows.com> Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2005 08:32:55 -0800 From: Christopher Kelley User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 (X11/20050218) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "Loren M. Lang" References: <421EB26B.5050608@kelleycows.com> <200503020126.46489.bob89@bobj.org> <20050302101715.GE30896@alzatex.com> In-Reply-To: <20050302101715.GE30896@alzatex.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: Bob Johnson cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Does 802.11b use a lot of resources? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2005 16:32:58 -0000 Loren M. Lang wrote: >On Wed, Mar 02, 2005 at 01:26:45AM -0500, Bob Johnson wrote: > > >>On Friday 25 February 2005 12:06 am, Christopher Kelley wrote: >> >> >>>Have I tried too hard to squeeze usability out of an old computer? >>> >>>I have a Pentium-166 that has been a faithful router & firewall (FreeBSD >>>5.3 and pf) for a couple years now. It has no trouble with the 3 to 4 >>>Mbps I get from my broadband connection, at least not with ethernet. >>> >>>I wanted wireless, so I could use my laptop around the house. I >>>dutifully read the section in the manual about setting up FreeBSD as an >>>access point. I'm using a Netgear MA311 802.11b card (Prism 2.5 >>>chipset). And it does work, except it's very slow. Now I know that I >>>can only expect about 50% of the rated speed with wireless, but I >>>figured even if I got only 4Mbps, I'd be fine. But I get less than >>>1Mbps. I've updated the firmware, added a signal booster and hi-gain >>>antenna, and I have "excellent" signal strength throughout my house. >>> >>>So my question is, is there more overhead with wireless than with >>>ethernet? TOP doesn't seem to show that I'm taxing it too hard, idle >>>never goes below about 70% with polling enabled (Hz=1000), and never >>>below about 80% with polling disabled. Am I expecting too much out of >>>an old Pentium-166? >>> >>> >>> >>My experience is that: >> >>1) 50% throughput is probably the best you should expect. I generally plan on >>3-4 Mbps for an 11 Mbps 802.11b card. >> >>2) Using 128-bit encryption (WEP) will significantly slow down some (many?) >>cards. The WEP processing is done on the card (I think), and they simply >>don't have hefty processors. If you use 128-bit WEP, try 64-bit WEP and see >>if that speeds things up. 64 bit WEP is adequate to keep out casual >>snoopers, and 128 bit is not adequate to keep out a serious attacker, so the >>difference in security may not be as important as some believe. 64-bit WEP >>is also known as 40-bit, and similarly for 128-bit WEP. >> >> > >Actually, what I recommend for home you, if you have the time, is IPSEC. >Much more secure than WEP and it's all done on the main cpu so it should >slow the wifi down as much. There's a good article on freebsddiary.org >I believe. > > > I found the article on freebsddiary, and I admit I only skimmed it, but I have a mix of FreeBSD and Windows (XP) on my wireless network, and for now I'd like to keep it as simple as possible. Christopher