Noobie question about Wi-fi cards and USB.

Right now I am using an OLD Toshiba Sattelite as my laptop. Since when I purchased it built-in Wi-fi cards weren't standard I don't have one so I use an external D-link card connected through a USB 1.0 port.

I just pre-ordered the Asus g50v-A1 which, of course, has the build-in Wi-fi card.

I know that USB 1.0 ports allow for slower data transfer from external devices than USB 2.0 but would it affect my external Wi-fi? If so, can I expect my internet speed to go up once I am able to use my new laptop or is this all wishful thinking?

Thanks in advance guys! Sorry if this is too basic of a question.

 

USB 1.0 has theoretical bandwidths of 1.5Mbps (low speed) and 12Mbps which they titled "full speed". If you're using a wireless g network card, your maximum theoretical bandwidth is 54Mbps (108Mbps for the pre-N MIMO routers and cards). In theory, USB would be your bottleneck in performance even when connected at full speed. However, assuming you are connected at full speed, most internet connections are not above 10Mbps currently, and, though you will never really reach a maximum theoretical bandwidth, you are far more likely to approach it on wired connections than over wireless. In other words, a wireless g connection connected at 54Mbps will not transfer data at 54Mbps. And, using similar logic, if a 50Mbps USB connection were to exist, it would most likely not bottleneck a 54Mbps wireless connection.

However, to more directly answer your question...yes, you will see an increase in speed (which seems to contradict everything I have said...but read on). Your new WiFi card will hold a much more stable connection to your router and will allow for even faster connections. And, on the off chance that you do have a faster internet connection than 12Mbps, you'll see an improvement. However, you'll also see an improvement simply because your new computer is faster and will be able to actually draw the pages in your browser much, much quicker.

 

Theoretically my connection is 2 mbp/s to begin with (as per my ISP) because my house is in a rural area with a stunted infrasctructure. But in practice it is certainly slower. I was wondering if this is due to the fact that I'm connecting through a USB 1.0 or if it's because my ISP are lying to me about the speeds in practice.

So since you say the upper limit for USB 1.0 is 12 mbp/s then it follows the latter is correct?

 

Assuming your wifi card/laptop is using the upper limit of 12Mbps. You should be able to check the connection speed somehow (I personally have never had to do it). Also, do not confuse Mbps (mega bits per second) with MB/s or MBps (mega bytes per second). There are 8 bits in a byte. So a 16Mbps internet connection will download data at 2MB/s...theoretically. My best advice to you: see what happens when you get your new computer.

 

Thanks, Bauer.

I really hope my theory pans out because if not I have to wait until some better ISPs and technologies become available in my area, which could be a few years.