wifi network performance with ath0 and hostapd

[Patrick Proniewski]

Hello,

I've setup a little WLAN at home, using my freebsd box as an access  
point:
- FreeBSD 6.2 (tag=RELENG_6_2)
- DLink DWL-G520 PCI card (Atheros chipset)
- hostapd configured with WPA

The "client" is a powerbook G4 (Built-in 54-Mbps Wi-Fi, certified for  
802.11g and 802.11b interoperability) running Mac OS X 10.4.9
The powerbook is 1.5 meters away from the Dlink antena, and ath0 is  
in "mode 11g" and "pureg".

The best transfer rate I can achieve is 3.1 MB/s from the powerbook  
to the freebsd-box, and about 2.7 MB/s from the freebsd-box to the  
powerbook.

Any idea how I could boost my transfer rates ?

thanks,

patpro
-- 

$ ifconfig ath0
ath0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 2290
         inet 192.168.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
         ether 00:19:5b:ca:31:3a
         media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11g  
<hostap>
         status: associated
         ssid boleskine channel 2 bssid 00:19:5b:ca:31:3a
         authmode WPA privacy MIXED deftxkey 3 TKIP 2:128-bit TKIP  
3:128-bit
         txpowmax 36 bmiss 7 pureg protmode CTS burst dtimperiod 1  
bintval 100


$ wicontrol -i ath0
NIC serial number:                      [  ]
Station name:                           [ ****.*******.** ]
SSID for IBSS creation:                 [ boleskine ]
Current netname (SSID):                 [ boleskine ]
Desired netname (SSID):                 [ boleskine ]
Current BSSID:                          [ 00:19:5b:ca:31:3a ]
Channel list:                           [ 3ffe ]
IBSS channel:                           [ 2 ]
Current channel:                        [ 2 ]
Comms quality/signal/noise:             [ 0 4 0 ]
Promiscuous mode:                       [ Off ]
Intersil-Prism2 based card:             [ 1 ]
Port type (1=BSS, 3=ad-hoc):            [ 6 ]
MAC address:                            [ 00:19:5b:ca:31:3a ]
TX rate (selection):                    [ 0 ]
TX rate (actual speed):                 [ 36 ]
RTS/CTS handshake threshold:            [ 2346 ]
Create IBSS:                            [ Off ]
Access point density:                   [ 1 ]
Power Mgmt (1=on, 0=off):               [ 0 ]
Max sleep time:                         [ 100 ]
WEP encryption:                         [ On ]
TX encryption key:                      [ 3 ]
Encryption keys:                        [  ][  ][  ][  ]


$ dmesg | grep -i ath
ath_hal: 0.9.17.2 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413,  
RF5413)
ath0: <Atheros 5212> mem 0xd8120000-0xd812ffff irq 21 at device 5.0  
on pci6
ath0: Ethernet address: 00:19:5b:ca:31:3a
ath0: mac 7.9 phy 4.5 radio 5.6


$ kldstat
Id Refs Address    Size     Name
1   18 0xc0400000 3ae6d4   kernel
2    1 0xc07af000 fbc0     if_ath.ko
3    3 0xc07bf000 312f8    ath_hal.ko
4    8 0xc07f1000 1d7e4    wlan.ko
5    2 0xc080f000 3f18     ath_rate.ko
6    1 0xc0813000 a9d4     cpufreq.ko
7    1 0xc081e000 2d08     wlan_wep.ko
8    1 0xc0821000 4000     wlan_tkip.ko
9    1 0xc0825000 6d04     wlan_ccmp.ko
10    1 0xc082c000 1b10     wlan_xauth.ko
11    1 0xc082e000 2c54     wlan_acl.ko
12    1 0xc0831000 59e80    acpi.ko
13    1 0xc51d7000 2000     pflog.ko
14    1 0xc51e3000 2a000    pf.ko
15    1 0xc53c4000 2000     green_saver.ko