# Any ideas why i've had a massive frop in my wireless inet connection speed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689 "2010-07-06T06:02:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/1 "2010-07-06T06:02:51Z")
My inet service is DSL. My plan is for up to 16 mps. When I do a speed test from my room wirelessly, i’m consistently getting 4, maybe 5 occasionally. So today, I plugged my laptop into my DSL modem via ethernet cable and was hitting 15.5 consistently. That tells me that the phone company is providing what they promised up the the point of my modem and the problem is with the wireless signal. So I took my laptop into the living room and placed it in a clear line of site literally not more than 1 foot from the modem. Wireless connection is still giving me 4.5 on average. Once again I connected via ethernet and i’m hitting close to 16. So I took out a Netgear wireless router I own, connected it to modem via ethernet and used the netgear to broadcast my wireless signal. Same thing. If i connect via ethernet to the netgear I get very close to 16, but wireless its always 4.5. This is not about obstruction, because as I said I tested my wireless with the router literally within inches to my computer. I also logged into my router and changed broadcast channels. every one of them , a total of 12 I believe. No difference in wireless speed. Any idea what may be the problem? since I get near 16 via direct Ethernet on **both** routers it seems obvious there is no problem on the phone company side. I feel it must be something on my computer. this has just started recently. A few weeks ago, If I were in the same room as the router, I was getting 14-15. If I went into the bedroom it dropped to 11-12. Why am I at 4 now? I upgraded the firmware on my router today and uninstalled/reinstalled my wireless drivers for my laptop. It made no difference. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/2 "2010-07-06T06:18:46Z")
What internet site are you using for speed test results? I was using the CNet Speedtest site but I found it was giving me erroneous results when i upgraded to a cable (Comcast)16 MBS connection. As a side note I was unaware US residential DSL speed could be anywhere near 16 MPS. What service are you using? ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/3 "2010-07-06T06:53:22Z")
> [@astro](#): > > What internet site are you using for speed test results? I was using the CNet Speedtest site but I found it was giving me erroneous results when i upgraded to a cable (Comcast)16 MBS connection. > > As a side note I was unaware US residential DSL speed could be anywhere near 16 MPS. What service are you using? Im using [speedtest.net](http://speedtest.net). But as I said, via a direct ethernet plugged into the router im getting close to 16 and wireless it drops to 4. My gut tells me the problem is with my laptop. I’ve got a friend coming by tomorrow with his laptop and if he is getting a much higher speed, that will confirm the problem is my laptop. Are there any settings on my computer that I may have changed that would affect my wireless speed? I’m somewhat familiar with what the obvious settings do, but perhaps there is something obscure I may have inadvertently changed to cause this recent drop in wireless speed? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/4 "2010-07-06T07:21:10Z")
Good luck, but just as a reality check 5 MPS is still far faster than almost any real world net site is going to be able to feed data to your notebook, so it’s not like you’re really sacrificing much. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/5 "2010-07-06T17:13:12Z")
I’ve experience that same thing **Quintas** has, on both laptops with internal wireless cards and desktops with a USB adapter. My wireless adapters are 802.11g, and I’ve also changed the router settings to g only, g+b, g+n, b+g+n and it’s made no difference. On the other hand, I have noticed some spikes in speed up to about 11 mbps when wireless, but only for short periods of time. I’m wondering if a 802.11n card is the answer or not, but as **astro** points out it won’t help me too much and if I really need the speed I just connect with a cable. The one device that I really want to have the best possible connection, the DVR, is wired. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/6 "2010-07-06T19:25:59Z")
Have you been visiting [this site](http://fropthis.blogspot.com/)? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/7 "2010-07-06T19:26:59Z")
A massive frop bit my sister once. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/8 "2010-07-06T21:07:58Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > On the other hand, I have noticed some spikes in speed up to about 11 mbps when wireless, but only for short periods of time. > > . Me too. I understand there is gonna be a bit of loss going wireless. But very occasionally i’ll do a speed test from my bedroom and hit 12. Once i even hit a little over 15. But the vast majority of the time lately it’s been around 4. I cant help but think there is a rational reason for this. When I first got this service I was getting 11-12 over wireless. Suddenly its dropped to 4. I used a brand new wireless router and still only got 4. The issue _has_ to be on my computer. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/9 "2010-07-06T21:13:37Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > A massive frop bit my sister once. I’ve got a masive frop. In my pants! ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/10 "2010-07-06T21:33:37Z")
Possibly something causing interference with your signal. Did you recently buy any new electronic devices or appliances? Move you stereo to a different location? If your router is near an exterior wall, did your \*neighbors \*recently buy/move something? It’s quite possible the problem is with your laptop (your antivirus/spyware/malware/etc. software is all up to date and reporting clean, right?), but don’t rule out something environmental. Maybe its time replace the tinfoil on the roof because its no longer effectively blocking out the alien transmissions… ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/11 "2010-07-06T22:06:57Z")
Try changing the channel that your router is using. If you’re at 7(a common default) try channel 3 or channel 11. Somebody may have set up a new wireless network in your area that is causing interference. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/12 "2010-07-07T02:31:23Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Try changing the channel that your router is using. If you’re at 7(a common default) try channel 3 or channel 11. Somebody may have set up a new wireless network in your area that is causing interference. I did that. I tried every channel. I also placed my laptop inches away from the antenna. No change. ---
**Author:** ![Aestivalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Aestivalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aestivalis)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/13 "2010-07-07T15:26:41Z")
Do you have any other devices connecting through wireless? The 54Mbps available from an 802.11g router is shared across all devices. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-ideas-why-ive-had-a-massive-frop-in-my-wireless-inet-connection-speed/545689/14 "2010-07-07T15:40:42Z")
Frog got funky with a mop in there?