[Shop-talk] shop internet connection

[MIQ MILLMAN]

As others have said, the old laptop is probably running within specs.
Wifi-BGN is going to peak throughput of about 38-40 mbps.

The latest spec for Wifi (aka Wifi-6) is 802.11ax or just AX as a
designation to differentiate from the past "livingroom" standard of
802.11ac.

Both of these are overkill for what you want/need, ac peaks at 3.5Gbps, and
ax peaks at 9.6Gbps.

The Toshiba you have also has a limit of 100 Mbps on the ethernet port
built in.   So, even if you went with a cheap "hardwire solution" and tried
to connect a switch to the ethernet port on the Orbi, you would still be
limited to what the older laptop can manage.

It's also possible that the version Orbi you have is only capable of
802.11ac, you don't mention which version you have, but they still
sell/support the older versions, and the price is rather steep for the
latest versions

Even if you were to replace/upgrade to a usb dongle wifi connection, it
would be limited to the speed of USB 2.0 and the older bus speeds in the
Toshiba.  Also not sure that spending $35 on a wifi adapter is the best use
of funds.... (e.g.  TP-Link AX1800 can plug into a standard USB a port, but
the laptop would not be able to support the speeds.)

If you are on a budget, I would look at chromebooks as an option,

here's a not terrible option from Lenovo for $250 from the 'zon:
https://a.co/d/am8aVRV

All that said, most of the world runs just fine on 20-30 Mbps.

  --Miq



On Thu, Jan 2, 2025 at 10:34 AM john niolon <jniolon at att.net> wrote:

> I'm trying to get better internet connectivity in my detached
> garage/shop.  First tried hardwired cat-5 but it was right at the limit for
> distance and slow and intermittent.  Next went with power line adapters and
> while they were consistent in connection...speed was still slower than I
> wanted...
>
> This Christmas my s-I-l gave me a Orbi mesh system and we installed it
> with no problem putting one satellite box IN the garage and the master box
> sitting on top of my fiber modem hard wired to the modem.
>
> I have 300mb fiber from ATT and the speed is great (350-375 MB) to
> hardwired pc and around 140 mb on ipad in the house or in the garage.
> I have an older laptop I use in the shop (Toshiba Satellite L875D-st210)
> which is my primary shop machine.  Best speed I can get is 30-40 mb.
> while the tablet sitting next to it is 140 mb+.
>
> I'm wondering if the old laptop has a wireless card that is old and
> slower?  Everything I knew about computers is old and obsolete after 20
> years out of the business.  Can someone with current knowledge tell me if
> the problem is with an antiquated card in the laptop and is there a way to
> get better wireless speed on the laptop?  or is that just the nature of
> wireless nowadays? BTW the laptop is running windows 7 with no options to
> run win 10.
>
>
> thanks
> John
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