Chapter 3: Wireless Network Performance | 31
N300 Micro USB WiFi Adapter N300MA
• Streaming HD video requires 10 to 30 Mbps per stream. Because latency and packet loss
can disrupt your video, plan to provide at least twice the capacity you need.
• Streaming MP3 audio requires less than 1 Mbps per stream and does not strain most
modern networks. Like video, however, streaming audio is also sensitive to latency and
packet loss, so a congested network or a noisy link can cause problems.
• Backing up computers over the network has become popular due to the availability of
inexpensive mass storage. The following table shows the time to transfer 1 gigabyte (1
GB) of data using various networking technologies.
Table 1. Theoretical Transfer Time for 1 Gigabyte
Network Connection Theoretical Raw Transfer Time
Gigabit Wired Ethernet 8 seconds
RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N 26 seconds
Powerline HD 40 seconds
100 Mbps Wired Ethernet 80 seconds
802.11g wireless 150 seconds
802.11b wireless 700 seconds
10 Mbps Wired Ethernet 800 seconds
Cable Modem (3 Mbps) 2700 seconds
Analog Modem (56 kbps) 144,000 seconds (40 hours)