Very Low wireless connection speed - 5 feet away from router!

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Thread: Very Low wireless connection speed - 5 feet away from router!

  1. #1
    Tiger Shark
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    Very Low wireless connection speed - 5 feet away from router!

    I've got a Sager 8890 (look at the bottom) and the wireless reception on my home network isn't doing too well. I've got my laptop set up about 5 feet from where the wireless router is, but I still only get a 2 MPBS connection (Even though the signal fluctuates between Very Good and Excellent). I've definitely gotten this 802.11b laptop to get higher speeds than 2 MPBS, so I'm not sure what's wrong.

    The Router is a Buffalo Airstation (802.11g model).

    Any help would be appreciated, thanks...

  2. #2
    Crash Test Dummy SkyDog's Avatar
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    It's hard to say what's wrong without taking some signal measurements, but here are some easy trial & error type things to try:

    * Try moving the laptop a bit further from the router. Some manufacturers specify minimum ranges of 6-10 feet. Also, try to make sure the router isn't located near sources of possible interference.

    * In case you might be having problems with interference, try changing the channel your router uses. You normally would want to use channels 1, 6, or 11 because those are the only three channels whose frequency ranges don't overlap with one another.

    * Check to make sure your network card isn't set to negotiate specifically to that speed. (Normally I'd say to check both the router and the NIC, but I'm guessing your Buffalo router is like mine and doesn't have that option.)

    If basic trial & error things don't work, then we should probably take a closer look at the signal your laptop's receiving. If your laptop's wireless NIC doesn't have a client utility that can measure things like signal strength and signal to noise ratio, download NetStumbler.

  3. #3
    Print is dead. Kero-chan's Avatar
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    you have a raid controller for your notebook?!?
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  4. #4
    Expensive Sushi bnsf50's Avatar
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    I've got a Sager 8890 (look at the bottom) and the wireless reception on my home network isn't doing too well. I've got my laptop set up about 5 feet from where the wireless router is, but I still only get a 2 MPBS connection (Even though the signal fluctuates between Very Good and Excellent). I've definitely gotten this 802.11b laptop to get higher speeds than 2 MPBS, so I'm not sure what's wrong.

    The Router is a Buffalo Airstation (802.11g model).

    Any help would be appreciated, thanks...


    __________________
    If all of above suggestions fail I'll tell you what I do when I get a low speed. You didnt say whether you had cable or what, but I have Brighthouse cable Internet, I just call service and have them connect me to a technician, If they try connecting me to my service provider Earthlink or AOL, I have both, I insist that they connect me to a tecnician, he can check the node in your area and measure the interference/noise on the line, if everything shows a good signal, they will send a service person out to your house and check the signal strength from your house too the street, I just had to do this myself 2 days ago. They can also boost the signal up from the office to compensate for line noise, or sometimes its a burned out capacitor or something at the station, which they will repair if there aware of a problem. If nobody complains they will assume that everything is working just fine. Hope this helps. Happy computing.

  5. #5
    Crash Test Dummy SkyDog's Avatar
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    Unless I'm mistaken, he's talking about the connection speed to his wireless router, not the speed from his ISP.

  6. #6
    Defiant Shark Johnmcl7's Avatar
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    I seem to remember people in the UK having similar problems with that Clevo chassis (badged Rock in the UK), the solution that worked for some people was to switch the aerial socket on the mini-pci from the default over to the aux connector.

    John

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  7. #7
    Tiger Shark
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kero-chan
    you have a raid controller for your notebook?!?
    Haha, yeah, it's a beast.

    Quote Originally Posted by Johnmcl7
    I seem to remember people in the UK having similar problems with that Clevo chassis (badged Rock in the UK), the solution that worked for some people was to switch the aerial socket on the mini-pci from the default over to the aux connector.
    Hmm, could you explain that a bit more? I'm not sure what you mean.

    I'm pretty sure it's a problem with my laptop because I have a seperate laptop downstairs with a PCMCIA 802.11G card that gets great signal/speed in certain locations.
    Last edited by Pring4; 06-27-2005 at 10:13 AM.

  8. #8
    Sushi
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    I have a similar problem with my wireless router, except its a d-link. both my desktop and laptop experience this and they r five feet away as well and the signal strength is "excellent". The router is pretty new, got it about 1-2 months ago, so i don't think that is wrong out or anything. I had no problems up until 2 days ago when my computer wouldn't connect. I reset my router and re did all of the configuration and now it connects with very slow speeds. it ranges from 2-36 mbps, and only reaches 54 mps when it first connects.

  9. #9
    Sushi
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    I have exactly the same problem, that just appeared out of the blue 3 days ago after 2 months of perfect service. It's the same with both laptops I have. This time, it's a Thomson SpeedTouch. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

  10. #10
    Sushi
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    UPDATE: ok, everyone - I figured it out.

    Downloaded NetStumbler, but the my device did not support noise measurement. The signal strength was good as expected, so that was not the issue. It had to be interference then. Now, as I haven't changed anything in the appartment, and it worked like a charm before, I figures it has to be coming from the outside somewhere, out of my influence.

    Therefore I fiddled with channel setting: changing from 1 (previous) to 6 was not all that much better (at least within a couple of minutes of trying it), but 11 then worked great, now I am reaching same speeds as before!

    Hope this helps.

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