How fast can I actually download over a wireless network?
It depends. When communicating from a wired device to a wireless device, a good rule of thumb is that you can expect to average roughly a third of the datarate. That may surprise you, or disappoint you, but it is true of most two-way wireless networks including Wi-Fi networks. The difference in throughput is because of the nature of the technology, network protocols, and radio transmissions. For example, suppose you have a desktop computer that is connected by Ethernet cable to a 802.11g “54 Mbps” wireless router. When sending a large file to a wireless laptop, you can expect roughly 18 Mbps of actual throughput. Similarly, suppose you have a 1XRTT network-capable wireless telephone and are attempting to connect to a video stream. Although it reports that you are connected at 230.4 Kbps, you can expect throughput of roughly 76.8 Kbps. If your transfer is taking multiple wireless “hops,” such as from a wireless computer to an AP, and then again from the AP to your computer, expect to cu
