Why is my integrated notebook wireless so much slower?

Question

I have a desktop computer connected with a linksys USB wireless G adaptor. I have two laptops. One is an HP dv4000 with the upgraded Broadcom wireless chip. The other is a new Toshiba with a Atheros wireless chip. Both of these are wireless G. I have files on my desktop shared with my laptops. I get speeds of about 700KBps max for a file transfer. If I connect either laptop via ethernet the speed doubles even though the desktop is still connected via wireless. If I connect them all via wire the speed is about the same at 1.4MBps. With all of these tests it appears that the wireless built into my two laptops is lacking. For browsing it is ok but if I want to access pictures and music from the hard drive on my desktop, this is just unacceptable.

Oh yeah, I have a Linksys WRT54G v3. I have tried the latest firmware and currently have DD WRT installed. There is no difference in performance.

Are there any changes I could make to my settings?

I have now tried connecting my desktop via cat5 and transfered files between it and my laptop which is connected via wireless. I got about 700MBps. This is also the max I can get from the internet when i download. My ISP is Roadrunner in NE WI. My connection is rated at 5Mbps down/384kbps up.

So via all ethernet all I can get for transfer speeds between computer is about 1.4 MBps. This is the case also if I use the wireless in my desktop. It appears that my desktop wireless is working as fine as it is going to. It appears that my router can't do full speed via ethernet and no wireless. On top of that the wireless in my laptops is sub par with what they are rated. I am thinking that I might need a new router. That might change the wired speed but it probably won't effect the wireless speed because of the integrated chips in my laptops.

Answer 1

most likely the problem is with the drivers used for the built in wi-fi adapters. check for driver updates but you may have to get a wi-fi pc card

also you have to remember that wi-fi is not a true bi-directional protocol. only one computer on the network can broadcast at a time almost like token-ring

Answer 2

Some things do not seem accurate.

Let's talk about internal (from pc - pc on your LAN) speed first

First, you should be seeing 100 Mbps for a wired Ethernet connection internally. If you are not seeing this, I suspect the router is undresized or your network switch is undersized.

Second with an 802.11 G wireless the max speed you will see is 54 Mbps when you are close enough to realize max speed. Speed of wireless drops with distance and with interferences. Although the device may indicate connection it does not necessarily mean you are successfully connected at max rate. I would check the internal speed with your units within a few meters of the wireless access point and with no interferrence (clear line of sight) between the pc and the access point. You may wish to check internal speed as your distance changes to see if this is the cause as it may well be. Wireless speed is not uniform over all distances - any more than a light beam is the same intensity as you travel from the beam's source.

You do not tell us your ISP type and its speed. Talking about 700 Kbps and 1.4 Mbps suggests you are talking about the speed of the Internet and that you probably are talking of a download speed. Remember that the only accurate way to measure Internet speed is to shut off all other pcs because if 2 or more devices are downloading at the same time you are allocating bandwidth to all users and not necessarily are you splitting the bandwidth equally. I suspect that some of your observations and measurements may be inaccurate because more than one unit is downloading at the same time.

Let's assume your ISP's best rated speed is a healthy 6 Mbps down. Your LAN speed, wired, should be 100 Mbps so the slow link is the ISP. Similarly, the wireless under best condition is 54 Mbps, a full 9 times faster than the ISP; of course as the wireless distance increases, signal weakness and packet loss create a marked slowdown.

I suggest you validate Internal speed, wired vs wireless first; then if you wish to determine Internet speed do it with other units shut off as this is the only meaningful way to do it.

Answer 3

Think about why browsing the web is faster than accessing the desktop from the laptop:

Laptop sends request over wi-fi to router, router goes to desktop over wi-fi, desktop responds to router over wi-fi and laptop picks up response over wi-fi. If you can, connect one of the parties via CAT5 wire and call it a day. Speeds of Wi-Fi cannot compare to what you get through a wire.