Sluggish WiFi Connections Hurt Everyone

MindNumbingOblivion writes "Wireless technology has revolutionized access to local area networks when one can't always be close to an ethernet jack. But a recent research paper from the French Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique tells how one slow user accessing a hot point can hurt the whole group. Apparently the very nature of CSMA/CD guarantees such anomalies. Here's the story, and here's the release from CNRS (in French)."

Comments

I foresee lynchings

[Faust7]

"What the -- we're down to 1 Mbps!"
"There he is! Get him!"

Yeah but so does....

[BWJones]

Sluggish WiFi Connections Hurt Everyone

Typing le courrier electronique or "courrier" instead of email also slows everyone down.

Now we just need some way to kick slow users off

[Qzukk]

It could even have a message that would pop up reading:

You are the slowest link. Goodbye!

I could have had first post, but nooo...

[miguel_at_menino.com]

I could have had first post, but unfortunately, another user on this hotspot has caused the network to slow down for some reason.

Obligatory RIAA joke

[JessLeah]

"Well, serves you right for running a wireless hot-spot. You know those things are nothing more than anonymous leeching posts for music stealers anyhow." ;)

In other words.

[Anonymous Coward]

* LEET_POWERBOOK_1400 has joined server WIFI_POINT
<ibm_thinkpad> omfg lag
<LEET_POWERBOOK_1400> hi does this map have the bfg ?
<dell_dimension> boot the lpb
<iBook> boot leet_powerbook_1400
* ibm_thinkpad has initiated a vote to kick LEET_POWERBOOK_1400
* Vote to kick LEET_POWERBOOK_1400 was successful (6 for, 1 against, 1 abstain)
* LEET_POWERBOOK_1400 has been kicked from server WIFI_POINT
<dell_dimension> ah much better
* dell_dimension was gibbed by iBook's rocket

Re:Taking bets on

[1u3hr]

i could buy a cheap(ish) handheld with wifi... deny their access point as long as the batteries held out?

Yeah, or you could use a pair of wirecutters and cut their phone line, with less investment ($2) and chance of being busted. Or just throw rocks through their windows.

Re:Taking bets on

[child_of_mercy]

less subtle, much quicker to debug.

Re:Jamming

[Nexzus]

Mr. Sound Effects: The Access Point sir. It seems to be... jammed.

Lord Helmet: Rasberry! There's only one man who would dare give me the rasberry! Lonestaaarrrr!.

Re:Taking bets on

[DNS-and-BIND]

While tempting, those are obvious failures, with simple remedies. Running wlan jack at a Starbuck's would provide endless entertainment while being difficult to diagnose. The looks on the faces of those richers while they reboot their laptops trying to fix the problem...priceless.

Re:Cordless Phone Attack

[sn0wcrash]

I reccomend the Panasonic Xtreme 2.4Ghz phones. They kill WiFi connections with extreme prejudice.

Is it just me, or...

[finallyHasANickname]

...are people forgetting that copper is priced per traincar load--not per troy ounce? Every time I read about 802.11x, I think, "Golly, that sounds pretty fun, but I really don't think I despise cat 5 cable that intensely anyway," and there is something about a $9 card running about 50 times faster than anyone I know could hope to afford to access the Internet sustainably, most of all knowing that everybody's operating systems can access that card about a trillion times without problems. The number after the dot that is really neat is "3". Yep. You heard it here first. 802.3 is excellent technology. That it's old is (occasionally) beside the point. BTW, I don't mean this as antagonism; I'm just literally wondering if I'm all alone here in this Luddite corner that might find copper at dirt cheap, vetted, reliable, tested, robust, negligible and "happy" 100 Mb/s to be really really really tough to beat. The next thing you know I'll be lobbying Congress to keep people using pocket calculators.

Huh? (blush) Oh yeah. They actually are. Excuse me for the lack of controversy in my opinions. Next time I just might offend you. ;-)