Any way to test my LAN speed? (Mac home network)

Factual Questions
1

I was thinking of getting a wireless card (airport) for my Mac, and noticed that the new version has speeds up to 54Mbps. I then realized that I have no idea what my current Ethernet network (over Cat-5 cable) speed is.

I’ve tested the Internet connection speed before (through pages like this), but I don’t know what my local LAN speed is.

Can anyone tell me what the typical local Ethernet speed is (I assume I’m using 10BaseT, which Wiki lists as 10Mbps, but I don’t know for sure–and I’d be surprised to find wireless going faster than wire), and/or point me to some easy way to test my LAN speed (does something a la the link above exist for LAN testing?)?

2

If the computer is less than 8 years old, then 99.99% you have a 100Mbps card. 10BaseT network adapters mostly used coaxial cable.

3

As far as I’m aware, 10BaseT refers to the use of RJ45 (large phone-style) ends on twisted pair cable. 10Base2 (aka thinnet) is what uses coaxial cable.

If you’re looking to find the actual maximum speed of your network, a local file copy is probably the best way. You can use something like this calculator to figure out what your times should be for each.

For the theoretical speed, just check your hub/switch/router. If it only supports 10Mbs, that’s your max speed. If it supports 100Mbs, it’ll have different lights to show the speeds of the cards attached to each port. If everything is lit up at 100Mbs, that’s the speed. If something is at 10Mbs, that would be a limiting factor, and unless transferring files locally isn’t something you do, I’d look at replacing the NIC, as 10/100 cards can be had for less than 10$.

Windows 2000 and Windows XP will display the card speed in the network connection information. I don’t know how to get that on a Mac though.

4

Nanoda is right. 10baseT is 10 megabit over twisted pair. 10Base2 is coax.

toadspittle:
Open up System Profiler and click on on “Network”. At the bottom it will tell you if your using 10 or 100. As for wireless, you’re really only going to notice the speed difference between it and 100baseT if you’re copying files between computers on your network. You really shouldn’t notice any speed difference when connecting to the internet.