Speed fluctuating constantly...

I have a laptop that has a built in intel wireless card. The system is only 2
months old. The connect speed keep fluctuating from 54mbps down to 1mbps and
many steps in between. (1,2,5.5,18, etc.) the signal strength is very good to
excellent while it is dancing around like this. I have another wireless
laptop (pcmcia) that doesn't have the problem. It seems unlikely that it is
the wireless router given this. I used Network Stumbler to view the signal
info and it looks fine.

What can I do to track down the problem?

Thanks, T-Man

It could be the wireless card itself. The fluctuation could be caused by
many things, but mainly one... signal quality. You may get a strong signal
but the quality may be bad... including interferience... if the router is a
b/g router, and one laptop is using 802.11B and the one you're working on is
using the G you'll have issues. You can also have issues if the two are too
close together and the settings aren't set right. Your wireless card may
have mixed mode protection (if its an Intel card) try going into the card
configuration (the hardware config not the network settings).
Mixed Mode Protection:
This setting can be used to avoid data collisions in a mixed 11b/11g
environment. RTS/CTS should be used in an environment where clients may not
hear each other, CTS-to-self can be used to gain more throughput in an
environment where clients are in close proximity and can hear each other.

Thats where I would look first.
-James G.

"t-man" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:A430E187-8026-4442-9543-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a laptop that has a built in intel wireless card. The system is only
>2
> months old. The connect speed keep fluctuating from 54mbps down to 1mbps
> and
> many steps in between. (1,2,5.5,18, etc.) the signal strength is very good
> to
> excellent while it is dancing around like this. I have another wireless
> laptop (pcmcia) that doesn't have the problem. It seems unlikely that it
> is
> the wireless router given this. I used Network Stumbler to view the signal
> info and it looks fine.
>
> What can I do to track down the problem?
>
> Thanks, T-Man

Thanks James. I tried playing with the HW settings already to no avail. It
may just be the HW. I'm also wondering if there's a conflict between
Microsoft and Intel network SW. After your email, I tried playing around with
different settings. I swear it settled down when I shut down the MS network
SW. I used the Proset soley and didn't seem to have a problem. I'll try it
again when I return from our ski trip... ;^)

t-man

"James Gockel" wrote:

> It could be the wireless card itself. The fluctuation could be caused by
> many things, but mainly one... signal quality. You may get a strong signal
> but the quality may be bad... including interferience... if the router is a
> b/g router, and one laptop is using 802.11B and the one you're working on is
> using the G you'll have issues. You can also have issues if the two are too
> close together and the settings aren't set right. Your wireless card may
> have mixed mode protection (if its an Intel card) try going into the card
> configuration (the hardware config not the network settings).
> Mixed Mode Protection:
> This setting can be used to avoid data collisions in a mixed 11b/11g
> environment. RTS/CTS should be used in an environment where clients may not
> hear each other, CTS-to-self can be used to gain more throughput in an
> environment where clients are in close proximity and can hear each other.
>
> Thats where I would look first.
> -James G.
>
> "t-man" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:A430E187-8026-4442-9543-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I have a laptop that has a built in intel wireless card. The system is only
> >2
> > months old. The connect speed keep fluctuating from 54mbps down to 1mbps
> > and
> > many steps in between. (1,2,5.5,18, etc.) the signal strength is very good
> > to
> > excellent while it is dancing around like this. I have another wireless
> > laptop (pcmcia) that doesn't have the problem. It seems unlikely that it
> > is
> > the wireless router given this. I used Network Stumbler to view the signal
> > info and it looks fine.
> >
> > What can I do to track down the problem?
> >
> > Thanks, T-Man
>
>
>