(TECH SUPPORT) Wireless speed issues PLEASE HELP

Post Reply New Topic

I'm posting this here instead of a devoted tech support place because I only post here anymore and I just want a simple answer: we have two computers in our household, a laptop and PC. The laptop is connected directly to the router, which is in my father's room and the pc is wireless and in my sister's room. I spend a lot of time on the computer so I pretty much sleep in my sister's room (she doesn't live here anymore) and recently I moved the pc to my own room but noticed the wireless speed was really, really bad. I'm not an expert on internet connections or networking but did call tech support and found out that I only get our full allotted speed, megabits per second or whatever when my computer is in my sister's room. Of course my sister's room is right next to my parent's and my own room is up the hall.

I really dislike my sister's room for a number of reasons and want to move the computer back into my room. Would it be possible for me to buy a second router and hook it up to the phonejack in my own room and directly connect to the internet via that instead of wireless or would that not fix anything or be way too complicated? Is it even possible to have two routers in one household?

I can't say for sure with 2 routers on the same line in the same house as I've never done that. But I don't see why you shouldn't get the same speed as everyone else from your room unless your connection is so weak that it flicks on and off in the middle of connections. I would just buy a better wireless adapter that can reach the router, OR the router just sucks and you need one with a better transmit radius. Is your mouse multiple stories? Are there a lot of walls between your room and your router? Could your dad just be possibly downloading crap at all hours during the day and leaving you at 50 kb/s? You never know.. But we need more details if you really want some help! If your house is huge and the connection is weak you could also just get a wireless signal repeater, that boosts the signal enough to reach you.

Yup, sounds like the router just sucks. When I bought my internet I just went out and got the best router I could and some external usb wireless recievers that where made for it. It works perfectly If it's cool with your dad (I assume he manages the router if it's in his room) you should just see about getting a stronger router/some better wireless recievers/adapters.

Hi!
posted earlier but didn't go through due to having URLs in the post.
My suggestion was look if the router has "802.11n" written on it or labeled somewhere. Its probably 802.11g, the older spec, considering you are having problems with the speed from a distance.

You could run a speed test from the area(s) where you would like to use your computer, speed test . net ,and compare that to the speeds advertised by your internet provider. That IMO would help determine if you would need to upgrade your wireless router.

Does the laptop have wireless? Most do If so, start by moving the laptop to the room that does not play nice. If the laptop works as expected there, you know the issue is with the PC's wireless adapter.

If that's the case, I'd just pick up one of those little USB wireless adapters... They're usually pretty cheap and do the trick!

Also, if your PC has a wireless card that requires an antenna, make sure you have one connected -- I've seen cases where a desktop PC has a wireless card, but doesn't have an antenna attached. Very, very limited range!

Another thing is the possibility of interference... Does your sister's room have a 2.4ghz cordless phone or other wireless device? Try turning it off. Another thing to try is changing the channel of the wireless router, if you can do so.

Good luck!