Excellent signal but low speed?

I admit I'm not much of a wireless expert, but I have a persistent problem
on my two laptops I'd like an answer for. They're two different laptops
(Gateway with internal Broadcom 802.11g and Dell with PCMCIA Netgear
802.11g). I have a Netgear WGR614v1 wireless router and a Netgear WG602v3
access point. The router is set to channel 11 and the WAP to channel 1.
Both are set to connect at only 802.11g, not b, and all use WEP 128bit. I
added the WAP because my wife uses her laptop in many different rooms of our
house and there were areas she was getting minimal connections.

The problem is this - we generally have "Excellent" signal strength
according to the system tray icon (especially after adding the WAP), but we
frequently experience lower than 54 Mbps connection speed. My wife has
often complained of 5-11 Mbps speeds (too slow for streaming video) even
though the signal strength is excellent at the same time. What could be
causing the lowered speeds while still having an excellent signal strength?
I've already checked the obvious (microwave, cordless phones, etc.) and this
happens even when these other devices are not in use.

Appreciate any help anyone can provide. Thanks.

5-11Mbs is not to slow for streaming video. When my 802.11b network was
chugging along I streamed movies and worked great.

"Bill" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:HPadnXDAmdMZSIXfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I admit I'm not much of a wireless expert, but I have a persistent problem
>on my two laptops I'd like an answer for. They're two different laptops
>(Gateway with internal Broadcom 802.11g and Dell with PCMCIA Netgear
>802.11g). I have a Netgear WGR614v1 wireless router and a Netgear WG602v3
>access point. The router is set to channel 11 and the WAP to channel 1.
>Both are set to connect at only 802.11g, not b, and all use WEP 128bit. I
>added the WAP because my wife uses her laptop in many different rooms of
>our house and there were areas she was getting minimal connections.
>
> The problem is this - we generally have "Excellent" signal strength
> according to the system tray icon (especially after adding the WAP), but
> we frequently experience lower than 54 Mbps connection speed. My wife has
> often complained of 5-11 Mbps speeds (too slow for streaming video) even
> though the signal strength is excellent at the same time. What could be
> causing the lowered speeds while still having an excellent signal
> strength? I've already checked the obvious (microwave, cordless phones,
> etc.) and this happens even when these other devices are not in use.
>
> Appreciate any help anyone can provide. Thanks.
>
>