wireless speed

[riptide]

Why is the wireless speed on my laptop always dropping off, it starts off at 54 mbts and drops downs to 5. The signal is excellent on my Home Hub and my desktop is fine for speed. Do I need a new wireless card for Sony VIO do you think. It has always been slow. Thanks.

[DanAB]

where are you getting the speed readings from?

54Mb/s is actually 5MB/s. take note of the capitalised M. 'm' means megabits and 'M' means megabytes. a megabyte is 1024 times greater than a megabit.

its all about wording and context with computers.

[riptide]

I am getting the wording from the icon that sits at the bottom of the screen showing a tv, it says "wireless network connection", signal strength excellent, speed 54 mbps, at the moment it has dropped down to 1 mbps. I am by no means a computer expert as you might already be aware, but I do not understand why the speed keeps dropping so low, surely this is what is making my laptop slow when browsing. Thanks for your comments.

[ACtheTROLL]

ah wireless!!!
you either hate it or hate it

your wireless relies on feedback
if it sees errors - it ups the power and drops the speed - until the errors stop

errors can be caused by neighbours kit, microwaves, fridges, telly, thick walls, rain .... just about anything

bung a wire in your hole - and you'll get a consistent and reliable 1000 Mb/s.

homeplug will give 2-300Mb/s

having said all that - yout 'tinternet probably is working at less that it's 8Mb/s - so unless you are transferring files between machines - it doesn't matter that much

[fo3nix]

I agree with AC.

It's probably an interference problem. Remove any baby monitors, microwave ovens, cordless phones, from near the laptop and router.

Better yet, to try it, put the laptop near the router.

But it's all academic anyway; the lowest speed you quote is 5mbps. Since your broadband speed probably only manages about 4mbps (unless you pay for very high speed broadband), it won't make a difference.

[riptide]

Okay so you say it is interference, why is the desktop okay wireless. I can try them in the same area, and the desktop is fine and the laptop very slow. It is slow at everything actually so am wondering if it is the laptop that is at fault. It is a Sony VAIO with a good spec., although it has always appeared sluggish to me. Perhaps laptops are like this, have never had one before. Anyway thank you all for your comments, always appreciated.

[ACtheTROLL]

try it with wire - if it's still slow = lappy - if not = wireless


I haven't tried this yet - but it's worth a go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY8Wi7XRXCA