Speed Up wireless connection

[Daolas]

My current internet connection is through an 802.11G wireless connection. Due to the number of computers connecting, it's often pretty slow.

Is there anything I can do to tweak the connection on my end to speed things up just a bit?

Thanks in advance

Daolas

 

[JRaven]

First off, how many computers are connecting? Is this something at work? At a hotspot such as Starbucks? Or is this your home wireless network?

If it is your home wireless network, how many of the PCs are yours?!?

Let me know...

Jenny

 

[Daolas]

First off, how many computers are connecting? Is this something at work? At a hotspot such as Starbucks? Or is this your home wireless network?

If it is your home wireless network, how many of the PCs are yours?!?

Let me know...

Jenny

Thanks for responding,

I'm currently deployed to Iraq. Within our company we have a highspeed connection with 3 wireless access points. At any given time there are 12-15 people on it.

I, of course, don't have access to any of the hardware running the network. I was hoping there was something to do from my end to speed up my connection(even if only a bit). Right now it take about 5 mins to load any given internet page.

Thanks again

 

[jradek75]

Is the problem really the wireless connection strength? If so maybe you can try an antenna like one of these: http://www.freeantennas.com/prod03.htm

All of the designs are for the antennas on the router but I think they would work on the antenna of the nework card. I've used them on the router end and directed the signal with pretty good success. Worth a shot and they obvious don't cost much.

If the problem is bandwidth on the due to the number of PC's, maybe try a program to compress webpages to decrease the bytes sent/received. I know NetZero has something to do this. You can go to their homepage to find out more about this type of "solution". Other companies make similiar software and you might find something free.

Just some ideas....
Good luck and stay safe!

 

[JRaven]

Thanks for responding,

I'm currently deployed to Iraq. Within our company we have a highspeed connection with 3 wireless access points. At any given time there are 12-15 people on it.

I, of course, don't have access to any of the hardware running the network. I was hoping there was something to do from my end to speed up my connection(even if only a bit). Right now it take about 5 mins to load any given internet page.

Thanks again

Hey Daolas,
First off, thanks for everything you're doing. Stay safe and come home.

Now about your wireless issues...
You're screwed. You can try the idea that jradek75 suggested for your wireless antenae. Of course, you wont be able to do this to the wireless AP. It would block out other users. NetZero would only work if you're using them as your ISP. I'm guessing your ISP is Uncle Sam.

There's not much else you can do. You can try to keep the number of applications running on your PC to a minimum in order to save resources on your PC.

Wireless networking presents issues that slow it down compared to wired connections. Each packet has additional overhead. Every time your PC sends a packet to the wireless access point, it has to send a signal for 100mS to allow the access point to lock in the radio signal. The same thing happens for every packet of data that the access point sends to your PC. It doesn't sound like a lot, but with graphics and everything else, a web page can easily have up to 3 MB of data. Divide that by the 1500 byte packet size, you're looking at 2,000 packets. Or, an additional 20 seconds per page.

There ARE ways around this. But only if you're the only one on the wireless network at the time and have configuration access to the access point.

You said you had a highspeed connection. Is it land line based or satellite? It could even be land line up to another base where it then goes satellite. Those satellites are 22,000 miles up. That's a long way to travel. It can add half a second to every request/response. And even then, it won't be as fast as your wireless connection and will be shared by a lot more workstations.

So in short, you're screwed. Hope you enjoyed it.

Jenny