[RFE]

I have setup wifi at our home (802.11g). I'm planning to switch to Astound for my service provider. Astound has 5 internet plans: 256 Kbps, 1.5 Mbps, 6 Mbps, 10 Mbps, and 18 Mbps, all downstream speeds. The no brainer solution is to go with the fastest plan, if you can afford it. But my question is: since you can only push data through 802.11g at its speed limit, does it make sense to go with the 18 Mbps cable plan? In other words, can you really get 18 Mbps (or anything close to it) of download speed if you are connected through a wireless router? Aren't you always limited by the bandwidth of 802.11g?

[Curly]

Realize that 802.11g is 54 Mbps. Realize, too, that you never recieve the full published internet bandwidth -- especially with cable.

[RFE]

So 802.11g is 54 mega bits. Is the fastest advertised cable speed 18 mega bits or bytes?

[Curly]

Bits

[RFE]

I see...so there's plenty of bandwidth to spare. I wonder why anyone would go with 802.11n then.

Thanks for your help Curly.

[JohnWill]

For most normal users, I suspect you'd be reasonably satisfied with 6mbit or better. No reason to go for the expensive spread unless you do a lot of heavy downloading.

FWIW, 18mbits is no problem with 802.11g, I have a 20/5 fiber connection here, and I can benchmark the 802.11g and 802.11n connections at the full 20mbit speed from either router in the house.

[RFE]

Thanks JohnWill

[JohnWill]

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