Slow 802.11b on Win 7

[Mark M]

Hi

New laptop speed on existing wireless 802.11b is really really bad.
Works OK with RJ45 cable plugged in to back of wireless router.
I have three laptops running XP in the house that are great speed. About 1000 kbyte/sec on Speakeasy. But the new laptop running Win 7 is slower than dial-up. Way slower.

I can't find any wireless setting in Win 7 that make it better. This is my first look at Win 7. Newbie. Do I need a new wireless router (802.11g or later?)

I am running Norton Anti-Virus which came bundles with machine. Someone said that was the problem, but that's hard to swallow at this point. I can disable it and do a trusted download from my company FTP site to verify.

Confused in Florida, but at least we are warm.

Any advice is appreciated!!

 

[zigzag3143]

Hi

New laptop speed on existing wireless 802.11b is really really bad.
Works OK with RJ45 cable plugged in to back of wireless router.
I have three laptops running XP in the house that are great speed. About 1000 kbyte/sec on Speakeasy. But the new laptop running Win 7 is slower than dial-up. Way slower.

I can't find any wireless setting in Win 7 that make it better. This is my first look at Win 7. Newbie. Do I need a new wireless router (802.11g or later?)

I am running Norton Anti-Virus which came bundles with machine. Someone said that was the problem, but that's hard to swallow at this point. I can disable it and do a trusted download from my company FTP site to verify.

Confused in Florida, but at least we are warm.

Any advice is appreciated!!

Mark Hi and welcome

At least we are warm, chuckle. 12" and snowing.

I would look at Homegroup and IPv6 first. If you are using homegroup I would bet the farm that is the problem. You can check by setting up a new network using "workgroup" instead and check the speed. If it is faster (and i suspect it will be) you can disable IPv6 and kill homegroup.

Good luck, let us know if that doesnt work and let us know if you need some snow shipped to ya <g>

Ken J+

 

[Mark M]

Thanks for the inputs and I will look at them. Are these settings on the router or laptop?

Also, I took the new Win7 laptop to a Starbucks running 802.11g and it was much better than my "b" at home. On the order of 100-120 kbps, which is plenty good for the intended requirement. But while there I opened task manager and looked at the plot of dnld speed vs time it wasn't consistent, bouncing around between 70 and 120, mostly above 100. The dnld plots on the older XP laptps at home on "b" are a flat line, consistent speed around 110 kbps.

The new Win7 machine has a BGN adapter and someone told me if I get a new router, such as a Linksys WRT160N, it will be fine. Sounds like I need to update my 5+ year old "b" router in any event.

 

[chev65]

I'd say that a new router would fix this problem,
although that particular router would not be my first choice as it doesn't support Gigabyte speeds at all.

I would get one that supports Gygabyte speeds like the D-link DIR-655, if you want fast that is the one to get.

 

[Mark M]

thanks!
Mark

 

[strollin]

I don't think a new router will help much, if any at all. You aren't seeing anywhere near the max speed of the 80211.b standard so I doubt it is the bottleneck. You also mentioned you have other laptops using the same router without issue which suggests the router is fine. Did you check the things that zigzag3143 suggested?

Since this is a new laptop and it doesn't seem to work well even using a different router at Starbucks, I might even suspect that the wifi card built-in to the laptop is defective or has a bad driver. You might want to call tech support from where you bought the laptop to see if they have any suggestions.

If you suspect Norton may ne slowing things down then you could temporarily disable it and do some speed tests to see if it's the culprit.

 

[strollin]

I'd say that a new router would fix this problem,
although that particular router would not be my first choice as it doesn't support Gigabyte speeds at all.

I would get one that supports Gygabyte speeds like the D-link DIR-655, if you want fast that is the one to get.

How can you say with such certainty that a new router would fix his problem? Especially when he says that other laptops connected to the router don't suffer the same slow speeds.

Also, why would you suggest to him to buy a router capable of gigabit speeds when he is talking about wifi, he could only achieve gigabit speeds if he cabled the router and he would need to ensure that the ethernet ports in his machines are capable of gigabit speeds as well.

 

[chev65]

He said other "XP" laptops performed ok with wireless b but the Windows 7 laptop simply would not.

When he tried wireless G with Win 7 machine it performed much better which is to be expected since wireless b is an old outdated system and is also limited to a pathatic 11mbps. So it was logical to assume he needed a router with potentially higher speeds and wireless G.

Obviously his "dialup service" is not capible of anything near gigabye speeds but, How do you know he won't upgrade his internet to something faster in the near future?

I would hate to think that anyone would be stuck with dial up speeds for the rest of thier lives. And how do you know he can't use the 1000mbps for the LAN someday?

So if you don't mind, I will stick to my recommendation with steadfast resolve and absolute certainty.