networking issue

[fargodoggy]

hey guys, I recently bought a new dell xps8700 and the wifi on it is intermittently slow. from 20mbps to less than 1. I have changed the 802.1n bandwidth from 20 MHz to 40 and channels on my router to no avail. Still intermittently slow. I have adjusted the channel of my router. I changed a 2nd router to be a wireless switch and that seems to have made things a bit better but it is still intermittently slow but less so...

What could be the problem?

 

[dzonidev]

Have you considered running a cable from to router to the desktop? Are there any other devices connected at the same time?

[Broseephus]

There are so many things that could be a factor.

I would start by making sure your Wireless card driver and router firmwares are up to date.

Then you might want to look into a wireless audit software like inSSIDer. There is also a popular one for android and iphone called Wifi Analyzer. This will allow you to see how saturated your wireless environment is and whether you are competing with your neighbors. It will also tell you in a measure of decibels (-db) how strong your signal is.

[fargodoggy]

Thanks guys, I dd wrt wireless bridge my old wireless G router and set it 4 ft from my computer and plugged the lan cable to the wireless bridge and the signal is a lot stronger.

 

I feel like there must be something not right with either the onboard wireless card or the environment. Can monitors or internal hardware interfere with wifi?

 

will give the wifi analyzer a try and give you a report!

[fargodoggy]

A couple of things I learned getting a dual band router can make a big difference. For your devices that still operate on 2.4ghz make sure that you are not 1 -3 channels away from others in your neighbourhood as found on wifi analyzer thanks Broseephus!. Direct Overlap is better than slightly!

 

Fargodoggy