Slow network

[afcbob]

I have a XP laptop and for the past few weeks keeps getting really slow as low as 1mbps but most times its about 5.5mbps.

It's wireless and if i take it to the modem it gets faster again. i thought this would maybe be my laptop but i had a mates psp for a few days and this did the same.

I get no more than 30ft away modem.

Any help please

[Zero Tolerance]

Wireless issues are one of the hardest things to troubleshoot. But in a nutshell if you had good performance at one time and now it is degraded, I would suggest looking for interference.

I am assuming you are in the 2.4Ghz range of wireless...as this is what most homes are using. With this being said and the popularity of wirless devices in the home I would think its a safe bet that you have another type of device in your home that is interfering with your signal.

Microwaves....cordless phones that are 2.4Ghz and other wireless devices that share the frequency(ie wireless security cameras...etc..) can and will wreak havok on a wireless network.

First thing to do would be a ping test to see if and how many packets are being dropped on your network. To do this just ping from the laptop while in wireless mode to the gateway address. do a control function of -t so it will run until you Ctrl Z(simply the default 4 packets is not enough to show packets dropping in most cases).

If you see packets dropping......after say an hour of pinging....then you need to find out why. And as I stated above...the why is most likely because of other 2.4 devices within range of your access point and those devices are on the same channel.

If the interfering device is within your home...the solution is simple. Get rid of the device or change channels on your access point to be outside of interfering range.

On 2.4 wirless there are really only 3 channels that wont interfere with one another. Those would be channels 1, 6 and 11. This is so because there needs to be 5 channels of seperation between channels for no interference of said devices.

If you dont know what the frequency of the channels are...do a Google for a charting of each channels frequency. That way you will know what channel your cordless phone and microwave, etc...are on so you can change your access point accordingly.

Last but certainly not least is that it very well could be that a neighbors devices are interfering with yours. All you can do at this point is try different channels to see if it helps or go to a different wireless standard such as the 5.0Ghz or 900Mhz range. Just be prepared to pay a much higher price for equipment of this nature since its mostly used in commercial applications and intended for longer distances and most often in an outdoor environment.

goodluck!

[afcbob]

Ok will have a look into that and see if i can sort it.
But would it not have to be something new as it's not long started, if so can't see it been anything in the house but will try the things you said.

Thanks

[Zero Tolerance]

I only gave suggestions. Without knowing your exact situation its hard to know for sure if its something new. And unless you live at least an 1/8 mile away from your nearest neighbor...you cant count out that its not something new your neighbor has introduced to your range.

[afcbob]

Ok cool thanks