I recently had the opportunity to get back into some IT work where a group of creative computer designers use their computers to edit jobs in Adobe Illustrator. These folks have several newer iMacs with Intel processors, Gigabit Ethernet and wireless in the form of Bluetooth and 802.11 a/b/g/n. Prior to this, the client used PowerMac G4 machines with wired Ethernet connectivity.
The clients had been complaining about slow speeds for some tasks such as printing and opening Illustrator files. Previous visits by our staff had revolved around troubleshooting preferences files and running DiskWarrior or other preventative maintenance tools. The iMacs were accessing Illustrator files on a dedicated server with plenty of horsepower and the wired network has 100 Mbps capacity.
When I sat down to work on the machines, I noticed the wireless icon in the top menu bar was at full strength and proceeded to see what wireless device the iMac was connected to in the building. The menu reported 3 access points — “dlink”, “ap1″ and “ap2″. This iMac was connected to ap1. So I went to the Network Utility and found that ap1 was accepting connections at only 11 Mbps (the 802.11b standard). Problem found!
I did a scan of the other access points to find that ap2 operated at 802.11 g speed (54 Mbps) and tried that wireless connection. The Illustrator file opening speed was increased, but still not as fast as with the old PowerMac G4 units. I examined the wall along the computer desks and plenty of Ethernet ports were available. Cables were also available, so I plugged into the Ethernet via a wired connection at 100 Mbps.
Now the Illustrator files were opening within a couple seconds and speeds seemed acceptable to the creative folks using the iMacs. I diagrammed and showed these users the difference between speeds in various networking methods. I also told them with a simple switch replacement, we could move to 1000 Mbps speeds in the future.
I am not sure why the previous computer technicians, who did not work for ArrowQuick, set up the systems to be wireless and thus introduced the problem of file sharing slowdowns. Maybe the reduced wire clutter was a reason. Or perhaps the chance to use a new wireless technology was foremost in their mind. Often, technicians simply do not understand the mathematics and physics of networking. Whatever the reason, hardwired network speeds continue to far outpace wireless networks.
The lesson to be learned here is that IT folks should know the applications and environments for which various networking methods can be applied, and then use common sense and wisdom to implement a correct and functional solution. Wireless has its place, but it’s not in opening, editing and sharing creative suite files over a network with a file server.
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We have been experiencing significant ongoing problems since changing over to wireless router systems for internet and homephone only to discover that our new neighbours next door have just about completed a huge pole and wire structure which exceeds 30,000m2 and is largely made up of wires which over the last 2 weeks has been tightened which we have been told has more than likely captured wireless signals and trapped them as such…we desparately need vodafone technician to complete on site inspection to determine what their findings are as this has had a huge impact on our quality of living due to us being a home based business….we do not operate any other wireless devices in our home and subsequently vodafone internet services have had to be changed back to a direct line link rather than wireless…what a headache!…..any professional and/or personal experiences of same nature would be of assistance in this matter as we understand that this problem is relative to resource consent issues for our new neighbour and matter is currently in the environment court, which we have been told may set a precedent for future legislation when 3 residences in rural zoning have been affected by a wire structure interferring with quality of living etc…will keep you posted as to progress on this one!