I have two laptops, both are about a year old with built in wireless cards. Laptop #1 works fine, it will get good signal anywhere...in our house, if we go out and stay at a hotel, etc.

Laptop #2 gets very slow signal at home sometimes, othertimes it works fine. If I use it on the road at a hotel, restuarant, etc it works fine. the problem always its home. My Wireless router is about 4+ years old...is it time to upgrade? If so what do you look for?

I did notice when I click on the wireless signal icon on my laptop the 'BPS" are always about 1/4 of the number that it is when laptop #2 gets good signal.

Thank you for your help
--Mr. Computer Illiterate

What speed are you getting?

There could be an antenna problem in #2. It could even be connecting to the neighbor's house. This is more likely if you use an open channel. Do a scan to determine what channels are in use and set your router to something else. And secure your channel. If you need to get a new router to do it, it's worth the cost.

Depends on which adapter and wireless router you have. First off, you may want to update the firmware on your router. This and instructions can be found on the manufacturers website. Second, check and see if there are any updated drivers for the wireless card in your laptop. I have found that the Intel cards that are built in aren't as strong as third party chips. Atheros are the best IMHO. I haven't had any problem connecting with them. The Intel chipset on my Toughbook is so weak that I have to use a third party card to connect at home. If you don't want to go through all that, you may want to pick up a 802.11N wireless router. They will light up quite a large area so make sure you're security is set. Hope this helps.

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