Wireless internet problems

[Englander]

The other day my associate and I rearranged our computers so now her computer has been moved from my room into her room and my computer is, appropriately, in my room. The router is in my room so previously she was wired straight to it via ethernet and now that the computers have moved around, I've got the ethernet cable.

The issue is with the wireless on her computer - it isn't behaving itself as it should be. I installed a Belkin wireless dongle that I had lying about and occasionally it works absolutely fine but at other times it randomly slows down almost to a halt and it fluctuates between going terrible slowly and having no connection at all. Range is no issue, and the internet on her PC runs perfectly from time to time. The adapter is of the wireless N variety and the router is wireless G. I've used the adapter on my PC before and it worked fine. There appears to be no correlation between it slowing down and time of day, the internet via ethernet is fine all of the time, as is the internet when connected to wirelessly by my iPod and laptop.

I was wondering if anyone else had any experience with a similar problem because I'm at a loss as to why sometimes it works normally and other times it struggles along at a truly painful speed. Annoyingly, I don't have another wireless adapter to test so before I give in a get a new one I thought I'd see if anyone here had any suggestions.

Michael

[Englander]

No thoughts or shall I just buy a new cheapo one?

[mrt9888]

Have you tried using a different wireless channel? if you a USB extension lead you could try moving the wireless card.

[oolon]

Sounds to me like a neighbour is using a similar channel to you, try moving the AP channel around until you find one that works best (as suggested above).

[barry2811]

The other day my associate and I rearranged our computers so now her computer has been moved from my room into her room and my computer is, appropriately, in my room. The router is in my room so previously she was wired straight to it via ethernet and now that the computers have moved around, I've got the ethernet cable.

The issue is with the wireless on her computer - it isn't behaving itself as it should be. I installed a Belkin wireless dongle that I had lying about and occasionally it works absolutely fine but at other times it randomly slows down almost to a halt and it fluctuates between going terrible slowly and having no connection at all. Range is no issue, and the internet on her PC runs perfectly from time to time. The adapter is of the wireless N variety and the router is wireless G. I've used the adapter on my PC before and it worked fine. There appears to be no correlation between it slowing down and time of day, the internet via ethernet is fine all of the time, as is the internet when connected to wirelessly by my iPod and laptop.

I was wondering if anyone else had any experience with a similar problem because I'm at a loss as to why sometimes it works normally and other times it struggles along at a truly painful speed. Annoyingly, I don't have another wireless adapter to test so before I give in a get a new one I thought I'd see if anyone here had any suggestions.

Michael

I've had similar issues in the past and no amount of diagnosis has resolved them. I've had it with desktops and laptops, and different routers - the only consistent part of any problems is USB dongles. When I changed the dongle on my desktop I installed a PCI card - not had an issue since. Similarly, laptop - using the built-in connection, no problem - using USB wireless dongles results in the same problems.

I tried changing channels, removing security, different routers, the only solution was to take USB dongles out of the equation. I've also found they get quite hot and have poorer latency and higher CPU usage.

[Englander]

We live in a block of flats so it's entirely possible that a neighbour is on the same channel - I'll try that, as well as putting it on USB extension cable so it can get better signal. If worse comes to worse I'll have a look and see what there is in terms of free PCI slots for wireless cards. I must say I'm not a fan of USB dongles, they have caused me much grief in the past, too.

[oldboy47]

I yake it that a direct link is not an option?