Packets/wireless

I have two questions and maybe a few sub questions lol. First I wanted to know what the packets and all that meant when you click on controlpanel/networksettings. It shows

EXAMPLE:

SENT
2,343,345

RECEIVED
434,222

Can you tell me what that means?

Another thing is that I have Broadband internet with a wireless D-Link router, and I have a D-Link 122 wireless USB adapter thats connected to a laptop. Sometimes though, if I watch a stream (on the laptop with the wireless adapter), it pauses during the stream and tries to catch up but it usually messes it all up and really never catches up. I took some notes and found when my laptop or any computer is hooked straight up to the router/cable modem with a cord, (the normal way) the packets are in this area..

SENT 1,868,310,780,793

RECEIVED
12,790

And when I have just a wireless USB adapter connected to my laptop, the packets are in this area..

SENT 3,149,497

RECEIVED
30,190,785

I was hoping you guys could tell me the reasons what those mean and why it slows down with the wireless adapter. I know it's not as good as connecting straight up because it IS a wireless adapter, but it's not even 15 feet away from the router that the wireless adapter signal is connecting to, but since it is wireless with BROADBAND, it still should be close i'd think. Streams shouldn't really slow down on me like that, since really I have seen DIAL UP play videos perfect.

So can you guys help me?

PS: I have WINXP and the wireless adapter said it can go up to 310 or so indoor feet away from it.

 

Packets are how data is sent over a network. Sent data is broken down into individual packets and reassembled on the receiving end . Each packet has a header (has information on where the packet is going and how it reassembles), data (has the actual info being sent) and a footer (has checksum information). A natural occurrence in data streams are collisions and errors. Say that the data being sent is broken down into 1000 packets. Some will have collisions and some will return errors enroute to the destination. When the data is being reassembled on the receiving end and packets (think of them are pieces of the puzzle) are missing, a request for a resend is made to the origin. A LAN network usually (but not always) runs in full duplex which means that data is sent and received at the same time (making it quicker). Information over a DSL line, for example, is usually sent at half duplex. That means the line is either sending or receiving but not both. This results in a slower connection. What you are seeing is the result of these requests for resends. How to speed things up? Some things may be under your control (the hardware like the NIC card and wireless router) but some may be out of your control (like what occurs after your data is sent from your router to the internet). Hopefully, that gives you an overview of what's going on.