wireless help!!!!

i'm currently browsing on a desktop pc, with a PCMCIA adapter and a linksys WPC11 wireless card. We have 3 other pc's directly connected to our router via ethernet. I was downloading something and noticed how slow it was going. With my wireless card I was getting a 15 kb/s download, but on one of the ethernet-connected pc's, the same, exact download, same mirror, same file, got a 445 kb/s download! That is a 33x difference! #$#@~!li&$#@!!!! Does anyone have a software/driver related fix or should I try getting a different wireless card! I really am fed up with this! Thanx!

many unknowns here...
how close is the computer
how many walls/stories are they apart...
is it hot in your apartment?
near a microwave?
i suggest you go to the maker site and see if u need to update the driver

oh. well, i ended up reinstallng the drivers and after hassling with that, now i'm getting a 3000 kb/s on that same download! thanx. +Karma!

Holy crap!!!! ##$li&! Half-way through that download my connection went right back to 30 kb/s .... WHY??? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Suggestion? Get rid of wireless as a desktop connection.

Seriously, WiFi is a great compromise when you're mobile and need to move around untethered. Otherwise, it stinks in most circumstances for a reliable network connection, especially in a desktop PCI card where it's located right next to the noisy PC innards (laptop internal WiFi adapters are typically better shielded). WiFi is much too prone to common household interference that leads to dropped connections and poor throughput, to be depending on for a full-time connection IMO.

I have two AP's in my house, but only use WiFi for the PDA and when I'm carrying the laptop around. My entire house is wired with ethernet drops so if my laptop is near an outlet, I always prefer to plug in. All 7 or 8 desktops in my house are of course hardwired.

[quote32cfa86a55="dmorris68"]Suggestion? Get rid of wireless as a desktop connection.

Seriously, WiFi is a great compromise when you're mobile and need to move around untethered. Otherwise, it stinks in most circumstances for a reliable network connection, especially in a desktop PCI card where it's located right next to the noisy PC innards (laptop internal WiFi adapters are typically better shielded). WiFi is much too prone to common household interference that leads to dropped connections and poor throughput, to be depending on for a full-time connection IMO.

I have two AP's in my house, but only use WiFi for the PDA and when I'm carrying the laptop around. My entire house is wired with ethernet drops so if my laptop is near an outlet, I always prefer to plug in. All 7 or 8 desktops in my house are of course hardwired.[/quote32cfa86a55]
it's not wifi. it's just a wireless networking card. If I took my computer somewhere, it's not gonna pick up wifi connections with it, only in my network. My computer is too far away from the home office to use an ethernet cable the whole time, so I have to use some sort of wireless.

Wireless networking = 802.11b/g = WiFi. ;)

It's all the same thing. Yes, if you took your computer with its wireless NIC to another hotspot, you could connect there same as with a laptop. No difference whatsoever from a WiFi perspective. )

Up to you obviously, but if it were me I would be running a network cable. I've done it in every house/apartment I've lived in, and when I built this house I had every room wired with multiple drops.

lol. there is a living room w/ kitchen and an office next to each other and right in between is an entry way. I'd have to run it through the attic or a chord would go right through the entry way. I can't walk at the moment, because I hurt my foot very badly a few months ago, so a parent would have to do it for me, which they don't want to do right now. lol ) Is there maybe a faster card I can use. I have the WPC11 ver. 3 ....

That's an 802.11b card, so yeah if you have a .11g access point/router, upgrading would drastically improve local network performance (by a factor of 2-3, ideally), however it would likely not improve internet performance since I'm sure you don't have anywhere approaching a 10Mbps pipe at home, let alone 54Mbps. ) And you are still prone to the exact same interference and dropouts that plague .11b, since they both run on the same 2.4Ghz band (which is the same as your microwave and cordless phones, the most common sources of home WiFi interference).

Since you have access to an attic, running a drop across an entryway like that would take all of about 20 minutes. If your parents didn't want to cut a new outlet into the wall, you could just run a bare wire out of at the baseboard or ceiling. But I'd go with an outlet myself.