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Okay, so if I have:

  • Wireless N router (capable of 100mbps) which has a 10/100/1000 port and the correct cables
  • NAS External Hard Drive with gigabit connection
  • Laptop with Wireless N card capable of 100mbps
  • I don't have internet here

How can I get a 100mbps (or something close to that, disregarding the obvious factor of interference, which slightly lowers wireless transfer speed) wireless download speed from my NAS external hard drive, which is connected to my wireless N router, wirelessly to my computer without using internet connection?

p.s. I am not trying to "improve" speeds, I am trying to initially set this up, hypothetically; I intend to buy everything once I understand it. Thanks in advance. I am not trying to troubleshoot. I do not actually own an NAS, and am trying to find out what to buy. I have never attempted to set this up, so there are no errors I have encountered. I am merely trying to understand what is going on, and how to set it up without an internet connection.

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What kind of cable are you using between the NAS and the router (cat5e, cat6)? what is the distance of the cable? Is it shielded? shielded connectors? what is the read write speed of the NAS drive? How do you know interference is only slightly lowering your speeds and not grossly affecting them? what speeds are you actually seeing? how far is the wireless computer from the access point? You need to be much much much more specific for anyone to give a reasonable answer. Given perfect circumstances, with what you have you should have pretty close. If you aren't, look at my questions above. – MaQleod Apr 24 '11 at 4:52
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"Maybe" is all anyone can give you reliably. Given perfect circumstances and good hardware, everything you listed should give you around 100mb/s bandwidth to your NAS drive. This is however not speed, your actual transfer speed depends on many other factors, it is important to keep in mind the difference here. Also, internet connections have nothing to do with LAN bandwidth, whether you're connected or not has no bearing here. – MaQleod Apr 24 '11 at 5:02
If an answer does not answer your question, just leave a comment stating so. – Troggy♦ Apr 24 '11 at 5:05

1 Answer

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Gigabit connection on the NAS is meaningless unless the router has a 10/100/1000 port, and even then only matters with the correct cabling. If neither of those options are the case, then even if you get perfect to spec speed with the wireless N, you're still limited by the connection between the router and NAS, which in reality will be a bit less than 100mbps due to overhead and even then, you'll be limited by the actual read/write speed of the drive itself. Basically, you're not likely to see that full 100mbps.

The speed you get over wireless, regardless of the the protocol (n,g,b, etc) will always have to deal with many factors and will almost never reach its full potential. The actual speed will depend on distance, other signals nearby, interfering material in walls, etc. Without knowing exactly what is going on in and around your setup, it is hard to say exactly how to improve your speeds.

What kinds of speeds are you actually seeing?

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