h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We're connected up to a 20mb broadband service, but we rarely see speeds anything like that. Checking regularly at speedtest.net, in October we were getting speeds of 15mb but the other day it went as low as 80kb/s. The average is 4mb. Contacting customer support, I was told to connect directly to the modem (instead of through the wireless router) and launch in safe mode with networking. Lo & behold, the speed was 19mb!! So we're told it's something on our computers that's slowing our connection speed.

Anyone any idea what it could be?

Well, there's two things there... The obvious one is the wifi router...

If your wireless connection isn't perfect then the connection speed will drop - that's why they told you to connect directly to your modem.

Secondly, opening a session in safe mode may well run windows without any of the processes which are checking for software updates, updating your antivirus, etc. which could eat into your bandwidth without you noticing it. Plus, these things could be eating up processing power which will, in turn, leave less of your processor's power available to deal with incoming and outgoing data through your internet connection.

Yes, we have a similar issue. If we use a wired connection then the only place for the modem-socket cable is right across the door to the lounge, and everyone trips over it. Conversely, the only suitable location for the router is under my bed, and it gives off a green glowing light which looks spooky at night.

Actually, thinking about it, that's not really a similar issue at all, is it?

B

Well, the fact that it's wireless is a major factor. And how many people are using the connection at once?

Sudden drops could mean that someone is using your network (you *have* set a good password, locked out all other computers, and hidden your network, haven't you?) - basically, stealing your bandwith, perhaps for large downloads.

Plugged in direct to modem gives similar speeds to wireless. It's only launching in safe mode that gives an improvement. One of the laptops is my work one, which is quite basic in the running apps and not nearly as cluttered as the others.

It must be something common to all 4 computers.

3 XP, 1 Vista
3 IE7, 1 Firefox

There is a rather neat way of networking pc's around the house by using your electricity ringmain. You use a 'homeplug' which fits into a 3-pin plug near your router you hten use another next to your pc into another 3-pin plug. All plug in and play. I have a Windows pc and Linux pc running through them.

They are also more secure than a wireless system and more stable.

Well, if all the computers have the same problem, then the issue is with the router.

Try using the router with a network cable and see if you get the full speed there.

I think you would be quite lucky to get 20Mb consistently across a wireless network.