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You are here: MacNN Forums > Enthusiast Zone > Networking > iStumbler degrading wireless connection speed.

iStumbler degrading wireless connection speed.
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MickeyZ
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Oct 5, 2006, 11:44 AM
 
I noticed that when I have iStumbler running and download something from the Internet on my MBP using wireless connection to the router the download speed is significantly lower than when iStumbler is not running. That would mean the iStumbler is adding a lot of overhead on the wireless connection between the MBP and the router. Did anyone else notice something similar? Do other wireless monitoring applications have the same effect?

Mickey
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zerroeffect
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Oct 5, 2006, 12:44 PM
 
Yes, Cocount Wifi does the same thing.
     
ghporter
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Oct 5, 2006, 04:38 PM
 
The other program, whatever other program you're using, is not adding overhead, it's USING the wireless connection. In the case of something like iStumbler, it's not passing data, but it IS using the data from the card. The card can't do multiple things at once, so your data throughput decreases...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Dave B
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Oct 5, 2006, 05:24 PM
 
Perhaps we should employ a Connect And Quitâ„¢ strategy when using iStumbler to find open networks.
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jwall
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Oct 6, 2006, 01:27 AM
 
Another option is to use the airport tool included with OS X (using the Terminal)

The full path is: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Resources/airport --scan (be sure to use two dashes before the option) This will show networks in range, channel used, signal strength.
     
MickeyZ  (op)
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Oct 6, 2006, 07:16 PM
 
Thanks for the informative explanation Glenn. Although it still surprises me that the actual data throughput goes down to less than a half of what I'm getting without using iStumbler. I have 6Mb/s down link and when I was downloading MacOS updates I could see a stable transfer of around 760KB/s, but as soon as I started iStumbler the transfer went down to about 200KB/s. So the "usage of data from the Airport card" by iStumbler must be very 'heavy'.

Mickey
15" MacBook Pro, Intel i7 2.3GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
     
ghporter
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Oct 6, 2006, 07:25 PM
 
I'll bet that if you ran two different "stumbler-type" programs while surfing that your download would drop to about a third... See the pattern? The card can only serve ONE destination at a time, so it switches back and forth between your system and iStumbler.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
   
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