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General discussion

Does Encryption slow down throughput

Nov 3, 2004 4:26AM PST

I set up 128 bit encryption on my D-Link, D-624 wireles router. I get about half the download speed of my wired desktop computer,which is connected to this router, on my wireless laptop Is this common?????

Discussion is locked

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Re: Does Encryption slow down throughput
Nov 3, 2004 4:34AM PST

It seems to. If you need some security, try MAC filtering. That is, only allow your connection to the router (plus what other machines you want to allow.)

In closing, if your firmware and drivers aren't the latest, ask why.

Bob

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Re: Does Encryption slow down throughput
Nov 3, 2004 5:55AM PST

Is it the encryption or the wireless connection itself or something else?

Yes, encryption does place some overhead on total throughput. But it shouldn't cut throughput in half. Furthermore, though you didn't tell us the details of your connection, even the slower 802.11b speeds (11Mbs nominal, 5-6Mbs real world) are significantly faster than most broadband connections, so the internet connection is often the limiting factor in download speed, not the wireless equipment.

If you want to test whether the encryption by itself is problematic, you could turn off encryption for a short while and see if the 2:1 download speed relationship persists between the wired desktop and the wireless laptop. If the laptop is still a dog, you know it wasn't the encryption.

Check your signal levels, etc. - a weak signal will cause slow transfer rates, with or without encryption. You may need to tweak the positioning of your equipment to improve signal strength.

What else is running on your laptop? Spyware/adware and P2P (even when you are not downloading anything yourself) are download speed killers. If your laptop is functioning in a fundamentally different manner than the desktop, of course the download rates could be vastly different, unrelated to hardware or encryption.

dw