Using WiFiPerf once again, I measured TCP throughput with a mid-2011 13-inch MacBook Pro connected first to the older 802.11n Time Capsule (at 5GHz) and then to the new 802.11ac Time Capsule. Most computers, smartphones, media streamers, and other networkable devices rely on the older standards. This is important, as the new MacBook Air is one of the few devices to support 802.11ac. In addition to operating a 5GHz network based on the 802.11ac standard, the Time Capsule can also operate a 2.4GHz network to support older 802.11b-, -g, and -n clients, as well as a 5GHz network to support 802.11a and 802.11n clients. Obviously, none of those figures are anywhere close to WiFiPerf’s result of more than 450 mbps. Copying that same file back to the MacBook Air: 163.5 mbps (about 8.5 minutes). The Time Capsule’s network performance improved only a little when copying a single 10GB file from the iMac to the MacBook Air, to 134 mbps (averaging 10 minutes, 13 seconds). Something in OS X is preventing the 802.11ac Time Capsule from delivering maximum performance with wireless file transfers. Reading those files from the MacBook Air and writing them to the iMac happened at a slightly faster pace: 132.1 mbps (nearly 10.5 minutes). When I copied a 10GB collection of files and folders (videos, music files, word documents, spreadsheets, and the like) from the hard drive in an iMac hardwired to the Time Capsule to the SSD in a wirelessly networked MacBook Air (which was again about nine feet from the router), I measured throughput of just 84.8 mbps, meaning the transfer required more than 16 minutes to complete (each test was performed three times and the results were then averaged).
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