Internet Data Transmission Speeds

[Andy in Sig]

Here's something I can't get my head round. When I first got this laptop it showed five internet link up options and it worked at high speed. Then it went down to two a couple of days ago but at a speed two low to get Ebay etc. Now I'm back up to five but the rate is still slow. I know this because my googlemail log on recommends the HTML version "for slow connections".

How can the data transmission rates vary like this? I am right in thinking that they might randomly go back up to high speed just as they went down to a lower speed?

 

[2Loose]

Are you referring to something like signal bars on a mobile (e.g. 1 bar=poor signal, 5 bars=good signal?) Indicators normally refer to signal strength, not speed of transmission.

Is your laptop on wifi or 3g? Is it staying in the same physical place?

When I first set up my wifi I found that my signal was crap at certain times of day and would also drop off completely seemingly randomly. Then found that my neighbours microwave would cut me off - this was the 'random' drop off cause.

In both instances, changing wifi channel helped no end and moving my router solved it completely.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Thanks for the reply. I should perhaps provide a bit of background. My PC ground to a halt (an apparently well known problem with the mup.sys file, which despite the advice on here proved untreatable). The PC was linked to my WLAN thingy by a small transmitter/receiver on the end of a wire (looks like a big USB stick). When I use the new laptop on the internet, I connect it to the thingy with a cable thus removing the need for the Rx/Tx thing. For the first few weeks everything was super high speed and tickety boo. I guess the symbols were showing five bars. Now they're showing two with occasional flickers of three. I haven't a clue if it is wifi or 3g. It's a Compaq Presario CQ61. I'll experiment with shifting the WLAN thingy around although as that goes into the phone network, I don't see how it can make a difference. As you can probably tell, I don't really know the first thing about all this and only get interested in it when it fails to deliver. I suppose that makes me a typical consumer but IT is just not my thing.

 

[ian turner]

1 3g is a mobile phone adapter that connects to the mobile phone network. It's not that
2 by

I connect it to the thingy with a cable thus removing the need for the Rx/Tx thing

are you saying that you are connecting to the router with a cable ?
If so then I have bad news for you. You're not. Your laptop has a built in wireless adapter and is
still connecting wirelessly. Thats what the wireless strength meter with the bars is telling you.
Wireless is vulnerable to microwaves, baby monitors (stop swilling the wine and go check on the
brat occasionally dammit), video senders and various other crappy analogue wireless devices.

 

[rh100]

If you have both cable and wifi connected at the same time, which it sounds like you have - it will cause a slow down. Right click the signal strength bars for the wifi and there should be some option to disable it. Especially if you thought you was only on cable as you may be connected to someone elses wifi.

 

[ian turner]

It won't cause a slowdown as it will connect by default to one, usually the wireless and you have to disable that to get it to used wired unless there is an option somewhere to select the default connection option for networks.

 

[Andy in Sig]

It sounds like I'll have to get one of the IT lads round from work to come and have a look at it. I just assumed that the cable would simply overrule the wireless connections.