Unanswered questions on what determines the max connection of a wlan NIC on AP mode

[John Breeden]

OK, I'll bite:-)

david jaoui askes:
"How many computers max in a wireless LAN . Not a regarding the bandwith to
share behind"

Simple, 802.11 uses ethernet addressing - 24 bits. Therefore the max is 2 to
the 24th power - 2 (broadcasts). That's 16,777,214 "computers". Your acual
milage may vary :-)

The acual limit is usally reached when it stops working ...

----------
John B.
Hawaii

 -----Original Message-----
From: hostap-admin at shmoo.com [mailto:hostap-admin at shmoo.com]On Behalf Of
david jaoui
Sent: Friday, March 28, 2003 8:15 AM
To: hostap at shmoo.com
Subject: Unanswered questions on what determines the max connection of a
wlan NIC on AP mode


  Hi,

  This is a very cryptic topic.
  It's quite impossible to have an official answer.
  Everyone gives a different answer or don't answer clearly.

  How many concurrent connections can a PCMCIA (ie prism) in AP mode (ie
hostap) can accept ?
  (= How many computers max in a wireless LAN . Not a regarding the bandwith
to share behind)

  You can buy, for example, 3 different types of 3com access points :

  3CRWE20096A-E1  up to 128 users
  3CRWE60092A-E1  up to 65 users
  3CRWE80096A       up to 256 users

  But when you ask what makes the difference technically between those
models, nobody answers or not clearly.

  What determines the limit ?
  Is it the chipset of the NIC itself ?
  If yes, does the chipset version plays a role (comparison between prism 2
and prism 2.5) ?
  If yes, does the firmware plays a role ?
  If tertiary firmware used (no hostap), is-it more powerful ?

  Is-it regarding the embedded RAM of the whole device (Access point or
embedded PC with motherboard soekris-like) ? Explanation according to some
people : The connections management table is as big as the size of embedded
RAM allows.

  If someone qualified could answer to that question, it would be very
helpful in order to demistify that topic,

  Thanx in advance





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