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People often have problems with slow transfer speeds over wireless.
First, make note of your original transfer speed as a reference. You don't want to go through troubleshooting without remembering if your new speed was better than the old. Second, go into your router/AP's web-config and make sure it's set to "Auto Negotiate" connection speeds. Some routers are set out-of-the-box to only hand out connections at 1Mbps (I don't know why). Also, some of them randomly will change their auto-negotiation feature without user intervention. Third, try locating possible devices interfering with your network. There are lots of different types of devices that could be interfering with your network. To list a few, a neighbor's wireless network, microwaves and cordless phones. To determine if any other wireless networks are in your area, download Netstumbler (or similar WiFi Sniffer for your OS) and run it. It will report any wireless networks in your area. If there are other networks, make note of what channel they are operating on. If it's operating on channel 6, and you're also on channel 6, you will likely see interference that could result in slow speeds and/or frequent disconnections from your network, so try changing the wireless channel on your network. If you have 2.4 GHz wireless phones in your home, try finding the option to change the wireless channel they operate on. Many 2.4 GHz phones give you this option to lessen interference, but some may still not have that option. The easiest way to tell your (or your neighbor's) wireless phone is interfering with your network is if when the phone rings, you lose connectivity to the wireless network. If yours is the definite cause of your interference, and you can't change the channel, try buying another phone. You can either get one of the newer phones that operate at more than 5 GHz, or go with some older models that operate at 900 MHz. As odd as it may sound, microwaves operate at frequencies very close to 2.4 GHz and can cause interference. Make sure you don't put your AP near a microwave (who puts AP's in their kitchen anyways ). If you can't find any interfering devices in your area, try a different wireless card and/or AP. Either go to a friends house, or try buying another from the local store (then returning it after your testing is done). It's possible your original wireless card isn't very good and doesn't keep a very good link with the AP. It's just as likely your AP is the source of the problem because it has poor range. If you test with a different AP and your speeds are fixed, then you know the AP was the source of your problem. If you test with a different wireless card and your speeds have been fixed, then your wireless card was likely the problem child in your situation. If you've tried a different wireless card and/or AP, and you still don't have acceptable speeds, try wiring your computer directly into the router. See what speeds it gets that way to make sure the computer isn't the problem. Some older computers may not be able to keep up with faster transfer rates because they can't process the data as fast as you're sending it. If the computer isn't the problem, make sure you're not trying to get unrealistic speeds. You're not going to get perfect speeds all the time. Wireless is completely different from wired connections and it isn't perfect. Another thing to take into consideration is what kind of encryption you are using. WEP supposedly takes away ~5-10% of speeds due to the encryption method used; WPA isn't as bad. Also, try running some of the tweak tests here on DSLR (»/tweaks ) along with DrTCP. Make sure you're actually connecting to your network, not your neighbors. Change your SSID to something unique so you never get confused about which network is yours. Also, use the search feature! It's the best tool on DSLR!. A simple search came up with these threads that talk about slow wireless speeds: »Slow speed, what is wrong? »How Much Speed Loss Due to Wireless Overhead? »Wireless Speed Vs Wired Speed »Question on download speed on wireless »Very slow speed on my network, need help »B vs G real world speed?? »Wireless G slow connection.. »How fast should it be? »How much will WEP slow down my network Hopefully this helps someone. Many thanks to Bill for this faq entry. A feedback answer 12/06/2008: I am a network admin and reading this and changing the channel fixed my issue right away and my Internet connection is so much faster. A feedback answer 3/19/2009: Was having issues @ home. changed the channel and voila, my laptop is as fast as my desktop yet again. Thanks for the help! Feedback received on this FAQ entry:
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