major problems

I have been trying to setup my 2nd 30 laptop wireless lab. The first was 2
years ago, no trouble. Now I am using 802.11g 2.4 GHZ AP and 30 acer laptops
using builtin centrino Intel adapters (windows XP SP2 windowszero config). I
think the problem is that from time to time I am noticing the speed will drop
significantly, to the point of nothing (even though it says 1.0 Mbps). I have
tried channels, 1,6,8,11, and auto channel select on AP. I notice the problem
also on boot of the laptops (this is a windows domain), so it has to apply
settings, group policy, run a few startup scripts (sometimes, this takes
forever and even appears to freeze). But also, when I am logged into a laptop
and have the status of the connection up while I'm using it I will see the
speed drop to 1.0 Mbps even though it says excellent connection. Am I getting
interferrence? Would a signal booster help? Even though I am literally 5 feet
away from the AP. My other lab has no problems but it is 802.11a 5 GHZ (also
in different building). This is really frustrating me. Please help.

The adapters will drop linkspeed in reaction to interference from things
like microwaves and wireless phones. I suggest just running a single
wireless machine to ensure the number of machines is not the problem. I
suspect its interference though from other devices in that range.

802.11a is much less likely to have interference problems.

You probably don't want to upgrade 30 machines unless you can verify thats
really the problem. Here is a review of an inexpensive device to measure
noise in the 2.4 ghz range directly:
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Review...ID-WISPY-1.php. This one is
called the Wi-Spy. I haven't tried one yet- mine is in the mail. It sounds
really cool.
Similar devices will also measure in the 5 ghz range for 802.11a (they are
mentioned in the same article). They are much more expensive however.

--
Frank Schwieterman [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:C564B84C-330E-4243-9BEB-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have been trying to setup my 2nd 30 laptop wireless lab. The first was 2
> years ago, no trouble. Now I am using 802.11g 2.4 GHZ AP and 30 acer
> laptops
> using builtin centrino Intel adapters (windows XP SP2 windowszero config).
> I
> think the problem is that from time to time I am noticing the speed will
> drop
> significantly, to the point of nothing (even though it says 1.0 Mbps). I
> have
> tried channels, 1,6,8,11, and auto channel select on AP. I notice the
> problem
> also on boot of the laptops (this is a windows domain), so it has to apply
> settings, group policy, run a few startup scripts (sometimes, this takes
> forever and even appears to freeze). But also, when I am logged into a
> laptop
> and have the status of the connection up while I'm using it I will see the
> speed drop to 1.0 Mbps even though it says excellent connection. Am I
> getting
> interferrence? Would a signal booster help? Even though I am literally 5
> feet
> away from the AP. My other lab has no problems but it is 802.11a 5 GHZ
> (also
> in different building). This is really frustrating me. Please help.