Very slow internet on laptop when connected through router?

Question

Thank you if you are going to at least read all of this, THANK YOU!!! I bought a new laptop its really fast, Windows 7, 6 GB RAM and all that fancy stuff. The programs open quick and everything. The thing is the internet connection is really slow. Sometimes pages low at an OK speed but sometimes they take forever. I thought this was because I was downstairs and the router was upstairs but I brought the laptop right beside the router and the problem was still there. I did a speed test on my desktop which is connected with a wire and the download was 25 Mbps. I did a speed test on the laptop when it was wireless and after many tests the results were different ranging from 0.5 Mbps to 7 Mbps. Then I wired the connection from the laptop to the router and the speed test gave me around 25 Mbps. I don't think the problem is in the router because on my PS3 which is downstairs, connected wirelessly, the speed test tells me that the download on it is 6 - 8 Mbps (value range after a few tries). The PS3 is downstairs in the opposite corner of the house so if it were upstairs in the same room as the router it would obviously be faster (16-20 Mbps?). This means the router isn't the one with the problem so it should be the laptop. The laptop has Windows 7 so can someone please me with how to fix this problem? The laptop has 802.11b/g/n.

Answer 1

Firstly I'd like to point out that the distance from the router will not decrease your speed that much unless the distances exceed 20m which is when you will start to notice a SMALL drop in speed (within the range of 0.1 - 0.5 Mb/s). Distance only affects the strength of the signal, meaning the farther away you are, the more likely it will be that the device's connection may suddenly drop.



If the speed decreases dramatically when connecting wirelessly (more than 1Mb difference) then there could be an issue with your wireless router. I'd try updating the firmware on the router, and see if that helps.



To ensure the fastest speed, make sure there's a filter on all devices connected to the phone sockets and try to place the router in a high, central location.



Also, make sure the router and all wireless devices are far away from any devices which may cause interference, for example baby monitors, microwaves etc. and away from walls and metal objects.



Lastly, try changing the wireless channel to a different value to make sure your neighbours wireless devices are not interfering with your connection.



You state that your laptop has 802.11n enabled technology, so perhaps you should invest in a wireless N router to ensure the fastest connection possible.

Answer 2

You may be connecting to someone else's router.

Run Netstumbler and see what channels your neighbors routers are using.

Then open your Router Access page from your Browser from a wired PC and change the channel to one that is least used in your area.



http://www.pcmech.com/article/clean-up-a-wireless-signal-by-changing-the-channel/

Answer 3

Setting up and getting online on VPN is easy but, when you run into slow speed issues, optimizing for maximum speeds can get a bit tricky.

In this tutorial.......

Answer 4

Did you do a Virus/worm/trojan check?



Please do sometime there are bugs that can create annoying problems

Answer 5

Wired connections are going to be faster than wireless.



The only time your computer wont be "blistering fast" is when you are connected wirelessly downloading a large file, as a lot of networking from both you and the party your downloading from gets involved.



There are ways to increase performance of your large downloads through manaign ports and the software that is initiating the download (a bit torrent perhaps),...so look into that if that is the issue your dealing with