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Slow wireless speed and connection loss with full strength signal

I have a laptop with an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG wireless card and I'm trying to connect to our network. We have a Linksys WRT54GS V.2 router and a Linksys WAP54G V.1 access point acting as a repeater. I can view our wireless network and I am using 128 WEP encryption. I get 54mpbs speed and Excellent signal strength. Internet access is relatively quick at times but more than often I get kicked off or I experience extreme latency. I thought it might be our ISP but there have been times when I have gotten a reply over 3000ms when pinging our router. I experience the same thing regardless of the distance away from the wireless router or the access point. I sometimes can view the network and try to connect to it and it'll say "Waiting for the network..." but I cannot connect even with Excellent signal strength and 54mbps speed. DHCP is enabled on the router and a wired connection works with no problems. I have also updated all drivers and firmware for all hardware.

Does anyone have ideas on what I can do to improve my connection on this wireless network?

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ChrisMacleod

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adonaicomputers

ASKER

We are on channel 6. There are quite a few networks around this area. Other channels are 1, 6, 9, 11 right now but I know at different areas of our house there are more networks. I changed the channel on our router and AP to 7. The connection seems a bit steadier and I ping the router with16ms while another laptop beside me gets 1-2ms. The other laptop pings my computer at 800-3500ms. The connection seems a lot steadier now but another computer downstairs receives full bars when viewing wireless networks but will still say "Waiting for the network..." and never connect.

Any other ideas?

SOLUTION

victornegri

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adonaicomputers

ASKER

And although the connection is a lot steadier now, the connection seems slow; especially compared to another laptop right next to me.

ChrisMacleod

Each channel actually works on a range of frequencys and they overlap checkout the site below.

http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/dsss-channels.html

You need to find a clear channel which is most likely going to be 1, 6 or 11. May not be possible by the sounds of it in your case.

adonaicomputers

ASKER

I am now on channel 3 and it looks like connections are a lot steadier. I also changed a few network card settings on the other computer in the basement and it is now connected fine. The connection is fairly fast and 1ms ping from the router. I am even closer to an access point with this laptop but still only get a ping of around 20ms from the router and the connection seems relatively slow compared the the computer in the basement. A laptop with the same wireless card right beside me gets a low ping from the router around 2ms.

SOLUTION

Steve Knight

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adonaicomputers

ASKER

I went into the wireless card settings and some settings were not the default value. Once I used the default values I was getting a ping of 1ms from the router. The wireless connection here is also now a lot more stable because of using a different channel. Thank you everyone for all of your help, I appreciate it.

adonaicomputers

ASKER

I also realized that the lower my battery power was, the lower my connection speed was too. I was trying all of this with less than 50% battery power which was why I was getting 16ms ping. When I plugged in my power adapter I received 1ms immediately. Thanks again for everyone's help.