But how do I measure what speed I'm currently getting (802.11b)? I would have thought there'd be something in the Dell WLAN Utility (to measure speed) - but if there is, I haven't found it yet. My Access Point is a Linksys WRT54G (v. 3)that's also new (but which I seem to have working fine).
Well then - the old-fashioned way (and a chance to check out [for the first time] the Windows netorking in the device).
It was easy setting up a share on my home PC, which also hooks up to the AP and so is on the network in a fashion that the x50v can see it.
And seeing (and mounting) the shared folder from the PC on my x50v was exactly what I'd do in networked PC environments elsewhere.
Put a couple of files in the shared folder; transferred; and timed.
An average of 325 Kb/sec. Wow, that stinks. My understanding is that while the rated speed of 802.11b is 11 Mb/sec, most people can at least expect to get 1 or 2 Mb/sec. 3 or 6 times, respectively, what I'm getting.
So where do I start in diagnosing why the x50v's 802.11b speed seems to be so slow?
It seems (for me at least) that on my home network, that it is a software limitation, because if you copy a file between 2 PCs (even on 802.11g) using explorer, it takes a lot longer than if you tried to do it over Skype's direct connection file transfer...
Discovered that the firmware on my new Linksys WRT54G was 3.03.9. While the latest on Linksys's Web site was 4.20.7 (and that's between Apr 2005 and Aug ...).
I turned off WEP on the wireless router (Linksys WRT54G).
Now, in Dell WLAN Utility I can 'Turn On'. I appears to connect and the LED on the upper right blinks green (indicating WiFi on). However things don't work right. And when I got back to WLAN Utility and check in the Config tab, there's not signal.
Hmm. My guess is that I have a connection object somewhere on the x50v, that thinks that my connection is WEP (when, having turned it off on the router, it's not). And I need to make another connection object that does not have WEP. But don't remember where these connection objects are on the x50v.
It's Monday. I'm at work. Finished the things I need to do for the moment (work-wise) and am experimenting further with my x50v (and wireless).
There seem to be 4 APs in the area! Of which my company's is of course only 1.
I don't see how to choose which one I wish to connect to (in Dell's WLAN Utility). And as I Turn On and Turn Off, I seem to get different ones.
Signal strength may be one of the distinguishing factors that goes into the automatica algorithm as to which gets picked. But 3 of the 4 all report 'Normal' signal strength. And I notice, Turning On and Off, that I bounce back-and-forth between these three.
How do I explicitly indicate the one I wish to connect to?
ok, first, distance affects the speed, do the high numbers like 5-11 megs are if you put it right next to the router. Also, that is WITHOUT encryption encryption (WEP) slows it down DRAMATICALLY.
Second, just go to settings button. then click and hold on the wireless network, then click connect on the dropdown menu. Also, sometimes, an icon shows up on the start bar and a pop up shows up. if that happens, just select the network, and click connect, also, check the wifi guide at wifi.aximsite.com oh, and also, you should change the settings to work and proxy as per the wireless guide at wifi.aximsite.com. if you have any problems, just post back! oh, and also, if you dont want wep to decrease speed, but want security, use mac screening. Thats so that only the axim and other computers that you specify can connect. I dont know how the linksys routers work, but in my netgear router, its under wireless settings.
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There are several question I could ask you but let me start with one. You seem to say that WITHOUT encyption slows it down DRAMATICALLY?
I thought it was the opposite. I thought that it was when you turn ON WEP that things slow down dramatically (and this is why I was fiddling with my home router last night - turning OFF WEP [but then had problems on the device [PDA] side).
In the meantime though, I seem to have made progress in a number of ways.
Although things are still not working as they should for me.
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Also, is that WITHOUT encryption encryption?. Because that slows it down DRAMATICALLY.
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Anyway, I get about 2mb/s with my PocketLoox..
Use the Windows SMB, and share a hard disk on the network. Then grab a huge file of it from your PDA via the Wifi, and see what the upload speed is @ on your PC, with something like DU Meter.
Hi Transcount. Yes I used a Windows share to transfer from. And the divided the value for the size of the file in bits by the time taken in seconds and that's how I got my value. ~ 325 Kb/sec. Note bits not bytes. People seem to be telling me (here and on the Web) that I should be getting something like 650 KB/sec. That is, 16X what I believe I'm seeing.
I do have DU Meter. Wasn't watching it, but taking a look there as well when I next do the transfer test should be useful.
In the meantime, have learned various other things (the hard way). Removed WEP from my wireless router and the first result was that the x50v would appear to connect but there was no signal strength (and obviously it didn't work). I figured there was a connection object somewhere associated with the particular AP (which I'd been using for while but with WEP).
But was never able to find it and reset it. I eventually bit-the-bullet and did a hard reset. Then I was able to re-initialize my connection to the AP (and without WEP). But of course I had to reinstall my apps. Pain-in-the-ass. You don't want to do a restore from a backup set (I tried) because it still has the bad 'wireless network' object in it and so you have to hard reset again anyway.
But with WEP off the transfer rate doubles - from about 325 Kb/sec to 700 Kb/sec.
Maybe someone can tell me I'm doing the math (arithmetic) wrong. I'd actually be happy to find that out since I'm still much confused about my transfer rates.
(8 * file-sz-in-bytes) / tx-time-in-seconds.
Seems pretty simple, but maybe I'm repeatedly overlooking something.
And learned of course more on the way. For one, putting apps into Built-In memory is nice, but it's not really as useful as one thinks because when you do a hard reset not only do you have to recreate the shortcut to the starting point of the app. But usually there are Registry entries involved as well and you have to go ahead and re-install the app anyway.
NOW. This 'wireless network' object, I've been looking around and would have thought that someone already had run into the problem of needing to redefine this after-the-fact (say taking off or putting on WEP), but I'm surprised not to have found anything.
My guess now is that it's simply represented by some collection of Registry entries. And I also found something I'd been looking for (and seems to be a very nice implementation of such) - PHM Registry Editor. I'm a programmer and have been editing desktop Windows Registries for yrs (with a problem only maybe once), and so I'm quite comfortable with this.
In theory I should be able to use this and search through the Registry's entirety, using the name of one of the 'wireless network objects', and figure out what collection of items constitute a wireless network object. And delete them (having made a backup first). And then hopefully if my x50v doesn't go haywire, I'll know that I accomplished my purpose when I first make a wireless connection to an AP I've already been using, and the x50v has me go through the intialization sequence again.
Welcome to the world of PPC. (I used to be on Palm but finally tried out PPC, when I ran into a sufficiently large number of what I consider show-stoppers re: Palm [e.g. FAT16 only and any but the latest models - meaning that you can't use anything above a 1GB SD card [and this was after I'd bought a 2GB card]).
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