Thanks, I performed a test of transmitting 1 GB of /dev/random data using 802.11g w/WPA2 using scp without compression. With no other load my average speed with a conservative noted link quality of 45/70 was 2,3 MB/sec.

From what I understood, more WLAN clients even decrease the available bandwidth because every client gets an equal speed to/from the WiFi AP.

However in the use-case where a user in a hotel with a WiFi AP with external HDD attached to it uses Nokia N900 to access the AP and HDD I think you can assume a good link quality, and the choice of only 1 client. So while on a public AP or subscription-based AP the speed would seriously decline in our use-case the user has full control over the AP.

The reason it is interested to see the throughput of USB is to get clear in which use-cases external HDD + WiFi AP is a feasable solution. Obviously, not in the case a user wants to watch 720p movies from their HDD, but in which situations is it usable? Say the HDD is full with MP3s. Usable? I think so. Pictures? Depends on quality. And, when is USB HDD not useful? Need to know max throughput for that answer.