WiFi Help?

[terpkristin]

Anybody?
I seem to be having some issues tonight with my wireless.
When I start up my computer, I see I'm connected to my wifi somewhere between 48.0 and 54.0 Mbps, which is normal for me.

I'm finding, though, that it doesn't stay there. Currently it's at 11 Mbps (and I've been connected only for a couple minutes) and earlier tonight it was dropping to 1 Mbps.

It's wreaking havoc on my AIM (well, GAIM) and other things (such as downloading updates to Spybot).

Help? What's going on? How do I fix it?

I had this problem earlier tonight and reset everything. I mean, shut down the computer, and then unplugged everything and let it all come back on, one unit at a time, at about 5 minute intervals. The "fix" worked for about 2 hours.

Please help?

TIA
/tk

[sovereignstar]

I'd help, but I'm me.

[DaddyTorgo]

is somebody leeching off your WiFi?? Either that or you have some programs running that are sucking up your Mbps...

[saldana]

when you said you shut everything off, does that include your cable modem and router....also make sure you disconnect the modem from the cable itself for a few minutes....if none of that helps, i would think maybe daddy torgo is onto something...make sure you are running wep encryption into your router if you arent already

[Samdari]

Your connection to the internet is likely no higher than 1.5 Mbps. Your laptop being connected to the router at 11Mbps should not adversely effect the performance of internet traffic.

[terpkristin]

is somebody leeching off your WiFi?? Either that or you have some programs running that are sucking up your Mbps...I can't think of anything that's sucking Mbps (I checked my running processes and there's nothing out of the ordinary there, so unless something started sucking Mbps all of a sudden). Ditto to the somebody leeching off of it. I run 128 WEP (24 hex characters, whatever level of WEP that is) and my SSID isn't broadcast, so I doubt that it's somebody else in my building going onto my network. Perhaps it's somebody hacking into it as it were, but I doubt that for some reason.

I use either channel 1 or 11 to transmit (I tried both, both have this problem), instead of the normal channel 6 to try and keep things clean/unpolluted/uninterfered with.

I know that my internet speed may only be 1 Mbps (or less) but usually the connection between my laptop and the router is 36.0-54.0 Mbps, currently it's 24.0 but since I got home it's been
36.0
11.0
1.0
11.0
24.0 (now)

(I've been checking it every so often).

I also ran Spybot to see if I had something there (nothing turned up).
I guess I might try to install Ad-Aware, too.

In terms of programs that might talk to the internet, this is what I think I have:
Norton Internet Security (gosh I think this is useless but I can't seem to disable it, it keeps telling me I don't have permissions though I'm setup as the only user and an admin)
GAIM
Firefox
IE (if I use it, it's not up now)
Norton Anti-Virus (I think it's part of the IS package but I know it talks to the Norton system to get update info to alert me when there's an update)
HP Wireless Assistant (again, something that is totally useless but I can't figure out how to make go away forever without breaking something)

So frustrating...

/tk

[DaddyTorgo]

that's frustrating. but then again i NEVER have more than 11Mbps on my wireless, and I never really notice speed issues...

[finketr]

hey, tk, are you sure you are connecting to YOUR access point/router and not someone else's?

I get that happening to me from time to time that i connect to a neighbor's wireless at fair or worse connectivity and always 54mbps on mine.

all the best,

tim

[jeff061]

finketr makes a good point. Also, is the speed just dropping or are you losing full connectivity sporadically(for a second or two) as well? Interference or distance to the access point can cause either. There could be a wireless device in use somewhere messing with your wireless signal.

Like Samdari said, if you have a consistent 1mb connection you probably couldn't tell the difference between that and 54. That would only affect intranet file transfers.