Airport extreme speed boost?

[ffutures]

Possibly a stupid question... my iBook has an Airport Extreme card which is 802.11g compatible.

My router claims to have something called Super G compatibility, basically double the usual 11g speed if used with a compatible wireless card etc.

Is there any way to make the Airport Extreme card work in a Super G compatible mode?

Comments

Short answer: no

[turol.livejournal.com]

Long answer: SuperG is a nonstandard extension used by some manufacturers. It requires support from hardware and if your card doesn't support it (it would be prominently advertised if it did), it never will.

Re: Short answer: no

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thought as much, but it never hurts to ask.

Re: Short answer: no

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

It's also dual band, so runs basically 2 channels of G, making it double speed. Ish. It's really usually not because there's a drop in signal strength from crossover and operation of two channels with interference and drops in signal strength.

Re: Short answer: no

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the other three networks that the iBook can detect (but not connect to) which are presumably using channnels that might otherwise be available.

Re: Short answer: no

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

That's the biggest problem with wireless. Most of it runs in the same frequency band, although on different channels (which are simply variances in frequency). This leads to a lot of interference. Add in microwave use, cordless home phones and structural areas all adding extra interference and you end up with a weaker signal. Using range extenders also slows down the speed of a network with some overhead.

Re: Short answer: no

[raygungothic.livejournal.com]

It's actually possible to use a wireless network speed as a very sensitive detector of other people's interference sources. I never really wanted to know every time the neighbours put the microwave on, but wireless tells me with perfect accuracy... careful tests confirm it.

Re: Short answer: no

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I don't have a big problem - usually the main bottleneck is my internet connection if I'm using a web browser, for example - but it's becoming fairly obvious that unless I use a wired connection the way to transfer big files (e.g. the average TV show) is to save them to a memory stick then plug that into the iBook.

Maybe what I should be looking at is an additional hub / router and put in sockets at a few strategic points.

Re: Short answer: no

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

That might indicate three things:

1) Your wireless signal strength may be weak, leading to dropped packets, resends and timeouts.
2) There may be a problem with the router handling large packets. Check for a firmware update.
3) The hard drive you're copying to might have wireless connection issues. I recently found that my NAS when it runs too long gets hot, and the wireless connection gets crummy because the additional heat from the hard drive seems to affect the wireless connection. No idea why.

Re: Short answer: no

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Signal seems to be OK and I checked for firmware updates yesterday, don't seem to be any. Hard drive warmth etc. are possibilities, I suppose, not really much I can do if it is that, no way can I afford a new laptop or Apple servicing for something this non-essential.

Re: Short answer: no

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

Try moving the router into a more central location and see if that helps.

Re: Short answer: no

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

Consider wrapping the neighbours and their houses in tin foil. I've found it to work quite well.

Re: Short answer: no

[raygungothic.livejournal.com]

That sounds highly appealing, thanks for the suggestion.

Re: Short answer: no

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

Then light the house under a slow fire and slowly baste to your particular taste. Neighboorhood cookin!

Re: Short answer: no

[raygungothic.livejournal.com]

Ha! Terraced house, sadly, I'm not sure I want to take that risk.

Also, I feel that death by burning is too severe a penalty for causing RF interference. I'm pretty sure I've created some horrible RF interference in my time. If they were spammers, on the other hand...

Re: Short answer: no

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

Probably already cooking with the RF anyway...