airport + ethernet = faster connection?

T

tango554

n00b
Joined
Nov 23, 2003
Messages
28
im hooked up to a wireless internet connection and a ethernet connection. Since im hooked up to both of them, does OSX optimize the broadband and utilize both connections.

Obviously they're two different connections...as in im not "plugged into" a wireless router with ethernet ports and connecting to the same router. Two routers...one wireless, one hardline...hooked up to seperate dsl connections.

Am I going faster? or am I just fooling myself?

ibook g4 w/jaguar
 
No.
You would need a load balancing router to do something like that
 
You mean you have a broadband connection that is faster than your Airport connection that you need to load balance the two? If anything if you were to load balance the two you'll be dragging your wired connection down to equalize the two in order to allow for load balancing. Basically your connection is pretty much always going to be slower than your LAN connections and OS X does a pretty good job of of optimizing bandwidth already.

FYI A load balancing router wouldn't help anything except split 2 broadband connections, you'd need a loadbalancing NIC and drivers to support it in order to get the desired effect.
 
Not really, I do all the time I keep the airport active for portability purposes and wire up when I'm at my desk as it's much faster for file transfers. It'll only pick up the first connection for transfers, so if you try to transfer something wired up without airport on, then pull the wire after turning on the airport you'll notice that your file transfer would fail.
 
Since we are on a networking note . . .
I am totally new to the mac world and I have a 15 PB picked out- What hardware do I need to hook up a PB wirelessly, to a simple home network with a router?
 
Nearly any router will do, I would recommend at least a modestly decent one by Linksys, D-Link, or Netgear. I say modestly decent as they're all pretty inexpensive and don't have ALL the bells and whistles you could get out of a high-end 3-Com or nearly anything Cisco. Any of the first 3 will be cheaper than an Airport Extreme Base Station, not having all of the features they'll do fine. Just make sure you configure it for ACL, WEP128, and no Broadcast of SSID, and you'll prevent 95% of the idiots out there that try and break into wireless networks.
 
don't forget the airport card for the powerbook....if it is one of the new ones it will be an Airport Extreme (802.11G) and just make sure you get a G wireless router

Airport Extreme Base station
Pros
Apple can help you set it up
Compatable with most newer USB printers and you can do wireless printing
Has a model that has an internal modem if you only have dial up
Covered under AppleCare on your computer (if you get it) for 3 years

Cons
It costs $199-249 depending on which one you get
Range is only ok (100-150 feet)
only one LAN port (have to get a hub if you want more than one hardlined comp to the base station)


Any other wireless router (in general)
Pros
Prices start at $60 and go up from there
Range can be MUCH better (4 houses away in my car I still get a good signal from my Linksys)
Have 4 ports for additional computers

Cons
Apple can't help you set them up and will have you pull from the network if you have a problem
Can't hook up a USB printer to it
Doesn't have a built in modem

Personaly I have a Linksys wireless and love it....since I have the systems networked it isn't that hard to print to any of the printers on the network BUT the comps they are hooked to have to be on so if you want to do wireless printing that is a nice feature. I might have purchased one if we had the Extreme's out when I got my linksys as my old one had just died and the Dual e-net base stations were $300 at that time so this works just fine for me
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top