Wireless speed and Vista

Question

I got a call yesterday from my daughter at college.  They got their cable modem and she installed the wireless router (Linksys WRT54G) I sent with her.  The problem is speed is fine without security but as soon as she turns on WPA or WPA2 it takes so long to load a web page it is unuseable. Her laptop is an Inspiron 1505 with Vista.  Any ideas?

Nick23Nick23 · Answer

Im having the same exact problem im working on figuring it out. I will let you know if I do. What type of router is it?

pjb3 · Answer

Linksys model WRT54G

Nick23Nick23 · Answer

I would probably suggest to turn wpa security on the router off use a good free firewall like zone alarm & set up mac filtering. Im still gonna try to find out if I can get it to work with wpa security but for the time being you might want to try the above suggestion. If you come up with a fix let me know.

volcano11 · Answer

Please be aware that firewalls and wireless security are two completely different issues.  A firewall will not prevent someone form getting on your wireless network, and,  if file and printer sharing are enabled, having complete access to your files.   A firewall just keeps people from accessing your computer from outside your network. Furthermore, a firewall will do nothing to stop someone from intercepting your wireless signal (and any personal information you may be sending across the airways), but wireless security does prevent such intercepting.   Steve

Nick23Nick23 · Answer

Steve, I wasnt meaning that a firewall and wireless security are one in the same I was just suggesting to use a firewall I didnt mean that it would take the place of wireless security. However I didnt really specify it clearly I guess. Anyway do you have any ideas why when using wpa encryption on vista it would slow down wireless internet connection to running as slow as a turtle? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Nick

pjb3 · Answer

The notebook is an Inspiron 1505 purchased at the end of last June.  I don't know the wireless card in it and I haven't checked for updated drivers.  It wasn't a problem at home since I have the house wired for CAT5e and she used that.  I had setup the encryption on the router before sending it back to school with her but I only check that it connected.

pjb3 · Answer

I have a second Inspiron 1505 with the identical configuration and a slightly different Linksys WRT54GC router still at home.  I'll try your suggestions and see what happens.  I would rather not make a trip untill I know what will fix it.

pjb3 · Answer

I finally got around to checking out the notebook at home.  It has the Dell 1390 mini-card, same as the other laptop.  In fact both laptops are identical except they were purchased about 3 weeks apart.   First I checked the driver in the device manager and it said it was up to date.  I checked Dell's drivers online and there was a recommended update so I dowloaded that to the desktop and left it to install later. I connected wirelessly with both WPA and WPA2 and the connection speed was fine for both. I then installed the update and connection speeds remained the same.  I just tested speed by opening multiple web pages, I didn't benchmark actual file transfer speeds.     It's possible that since the one notebook is 3 weeks older than the other that it does have an earlier driver that needs to be updated.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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