first of all i wanted to ask if it is possible to find out how many mbps my laptop can cope with. i have a Belkin Mimo G, which is a 108mbps router, but my laptop, despite saying signal strength is excellent. only ever says 54mbps. that takes me to my next question. i know my PC has a 108mbps USB wireless adaptor, but this also says only 54mbps. am i doing something wrong? the laptop is in the same room as the router, and the PC is in the next room. i can't understand why it doesn't say 108mbps.

it doesn't matter if you router is 108mbps or 300mbps if the device receiving is lower than that.

Your Laptop maybe Wireless G (54mbps) so of course it will only say 54mbps
I dunno about the Desktop.

Actually i visited the products Specification page at the Belkin Website and it didn't say anywhere that It supports wireless N which is 108mbps theoretically and less in real.

It just says that its a wireless G 54mbps plus MIMO technology used in the wireless N 108mbps but it's not specified anywhere that it supports the IEEE wireless N standard.




So i my opinion is the router is actually 54mbps.

The hardware rating may be 108 Mbps, a router, NIC card, even cabling. I believe that the math behind getting that 108 Mbps may mean total data rate transmit / receive, and could be a bit misleading.

If the rating is for Full Duplex mode, this is related to the fact that the transceiver (transmitter+receiver), NIC, or media can transmit data @ 54 Mbps while simultaneously receiving data @ 54 Mbps for a total transmit / receive data rate of 108 Mbps. Your hardware would still only be capable of 54 Mbps top speed in either direction, sending or receiving data. But when sending and receiving simultaneously (transmit / receive) at stop speed (54 Mbps), the sum of data rates in both directions is equal to 108 Mbps.

So Full Duplex mode means you are taking the sum of the transmission and reception channels to calculate the data transfer speed rating which is equal to the data transfer rate over all communication / signal channels in both directions. To simplify, the data rate of transmission + the data rate of reception = data transfer rate -> speed rating.

Therefore, your reading of 54 Mbps would be correct for your signal strength at Excellent (for data transfer in either direction). You are able to transmit data @ 54 Mbps with Excellent signal strength; similarly, you are also able to receive data @ 54 Mbps simultaneously. Therefore your hardware's transmit / receive data rate (in Full Duplex mode) is 108 Mbps.

That mode of mathematics when working with networking equipment (as well as the cabling that interconnects in wired networks), is quite common and to the uninitiated it is often misleading.