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I was testing the throughput between two pcs connected on the same router: one with 100mbps lan, the other with 54mbps wifi.

I tested both netcat and iperf and the throughtput I get is only 2.6mb/s.

What can be wrong? Shouldn't it be more?

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Why does your title say something different than the body of this question? What does iperf tell you? – Caleb Aug 2 '11 at 7:49
Duplicated on Server Fault; closing here (if you want it to live here flag the SF version and ask them to migrate it) – Michael Mrozek♦ Aug 2 '11 at 13:49
@MichaelMrozek The question bodies are different (thanks to Caleb for spotting that): the SF version has different throughput for nc and iperf. George: did you make a mistake in one of your questions, or are these two different situations? – Gilles Aug 3 '11 at 0:01
@Gilles I got the impression this one was just worded wrong; the title says "netcat throughput low but iperf high", which is the what the SF body says; the body here is just confusing – Michael Mrozek♦ Aug 3 '11 at 0:13

closed as off topic by Michael Mrozek♦ Aug 2 '11 at 13:49

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1 Answer

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Just because your wireless card is capable of 54mbs connections doesn't mean you are going to get that throughput. In particularly, it sounds like you have 802.11g which has an Achilies heel. As long as *every wireless device it is talking to is also g it will go fast, but as soon as even one device that is only b speed capable, it has to use the lowest common denominator to talk to all devices.

You might try opening a terminal on the machine with wireless and running iwconfig. Look for the Bit Rate= field and see what speed you are actually connected at.

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The question was crossposted on SF and is now closed here. Please consider reposting your answer on the Server Fault version. – Gilles Aug 2 '11 at 23:21
@Gilles: I did just re-post, but note that the question over there is distinctly different and my answer isn't necessarily relevant. I still think it's something he needs to take into consideration, but it's more of a comment than an answer to his question as stated on SF. – Caleb Aug 2 '11 at 23:29
Oh, so I see, well spotted. I suspect the U&L version has a correct title and wrong data in the body, but this requires clarification. – Gilles Aug 2 '11 at 23:59

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