Slow wireless connection with Satellite P755-S5320

[jmo07]

Hello,
I'm trying to help figure out what the problem with my sister's computer is and hoping someone may be able to help me figure it out. I have internet service thru at&t U-verse and I get on an average download speed connection of 11.5 Mbps. She's had her laptop for about a month and it was working fine up until about a week ago. Her connection download speed is now about 3.5 Mbps and she used to get over 10Mbps.

I've tried running CCleaner, run a virus scan using Vipre AntiVirus. I've Checked to make sure she doesn't have a lot of programs that will open on start-up. Also checked her Task Manager to see what she has opened when her laptop is on and does not have many programs opened. I also cheked to make sure she has the latest drivers. Everything looks good so I can't figure out why her wireless internet connection has slowed down by more than 50% all of a sudden. She has not installed or downloaded anything at all that would be the reason for the problem.

My desktop has no problems, I connect at speeds of 11.5 Mbps while hers has slowed down. Again not long ago her speeds used to be over 10 Mbps. Thanks in advance for any help.

This is the laptop information:
Toshiba Satellite P755-S5320
Windows 7 Home Premium - 64 Bit operating system
Processor: i3-2330M CPU @ 2.20 GHz
RAM: 6 GB
Hard Disk Drive: 579 GB (541 GB free)
Wireless Adapter: Intel Wifi Link 1000BGN

 

[wrt54gs7]

Have you tried connecting her laptop using wired connection and check the speed? The further her laptop is from the access point (your router) the weaker the signal gets so as her download speed.

 

[jmo07]

Yes I tried that also and got the same speed as my desktop which is just over 11.5 Mbps. The laptop when in used is usually less than 10 feet away from the router, at most maybe 15 feet away. The laptop always shows excellent signal strength.

 

[wrt54gs7]

Here is an interesting read, this may have similar settings with your wireless adapter.

 

[jmo07]

The settings are different. I read something similar before and tried looking for the power management settings but I could not find that option. Also it is usually plugged up and rarely using battery power. I'm thinking the settings are different on the laptop because it uses Windows 7 and the instructions on the link are for windows XP. The WiFi Connection Utility (Wireless Tools) does not have a power management option. Settings on the laptop have not been changed and the internet was working smoothly before so that made me think the changing the power management options if I found it would not have helped. The most common solution that I've found was to restore the laptop back to it's original factory settings which I am really trying to avoid and the solution mentioned in the link you provided. I'm just really hoping it's something else that can be done with out having to restore it.

 

[wrt54gs7]

At what speed are you connected. Something like this?

 

[jmo07]

I didn't even think of looking at the Intel WiFi Link properties. It was on the one highlighted on the pic you posted but it was on 20 MHz only. I just tried changed it to "auto", it didn't help. I also tried setting it to "802.11n Mode" and it didn't help either. The speed shows 54 Mbps but my desktop shows 100mbps right now. I tried attaching a picture to show you but for some reason I can't.

 

[wrt54gs7]

What is the model of your router? Does your router support wireless-N? At 54Mbps your connection is operating as wireless-g. Open speedtest.net on your desktop and compare with the laptop (wireless), make sure your are not downloading anything or no other device connected to your network is accessing the internet. Btw how did you test the speed?

 

[jmo07]

It's a HomePortal 3801HGV. My PS3 when I ran the internet connection just to see last night tested at over 9Mbps. The Toshiba that she has now that's having the wireless problem was also connecting at over 9Mbps using the same router. This is something that it just started happening about a week ago.

I tested the speed thru Speedtest.net, reviews.cnet.com/internet-speed-test & www.bandwidthplace.com.

I wanted to try 3 different sites just to see if I saw consistency in results and I did. When I ran the test I made sure no programs were running & no other pages were opened.

 

[jmo07]

Also I'm attaching a picture of the network adapter settings & network connection status.

 

[wrt54gs7]

Both devices are getting the same results whic means they are working fine. The speed limit is imposed by your ISP.

At the time when got very slow speed during your testing, some other device might be accessing the internet (downloading, video streaming) or the laptop is also copoying a network share or its network share is being copied.

 

[jmo07]

Well I got a secured network and other devices would need wireless network key to have access. I only share the connection with 2 other deives. A PS3 & the laptop. At the time when the test where being done only the laptop was being used. What I don't understand is if I access the PS3 for example I get over 9 Mbps as soon as I turn it off and use the laptop it only it connects to just over 3Mbps. My desktop connects via ethernet so 99% of the time the laptop is the only device that connects wireless.

This is why I've just ran out of ideas as to what the problem may be. It just unexpectedly started providing slow wireless connection when it never had the problem before. Nothing different has been done, no new programs have been installed or anything new downloaded. I get excellent signal strength, no virus or malware found, everything else when testing the wireless connection provides good speed connection, has the most up to date drivers. I don't know what else to check.

 

[wrt54gs7]

When you are getting slow speed is the connection still at 54Mbps and with excellent signal strenght?

This is a long shot, try running "sfc /scannow" at command prompt (as admin). Press winkey, type cmd.exe, press ctrl+shift+enter.

 

[jmo07]

Ok, I'll try that and yes, when getting the slow connection I get excellent signal strentgh and the connection is at 54 Mbps. I'll go try what you said now.

 

[jmo07]

I did what you said and tested the connection twice and it read download speed of just over 11.53 twice. That's the normal speed connection I've been looking for. Thank you so much. I'll keep an eye today and tommorrow see if it slows down again. As of right now it seems to be back to normal again. Thank you so much for helping me out. I'm am not familar with the command (sfc / scannow) so I would not have even known to try that. Hopefully that fix the problem for good. Thank you again.

 

[jmo07]

Well I wanted to give it a couple of days see if the problem was resolved for good. Sad to say it wasn't. It goes back & forth. Sometimes it connects at the download speeds taht is expected. Most of the times it just connect 3 times slower than it's supposed to. I'm starting to wonder if it's the modem. It's just hard to beleive that it may be the modem when only the laptop seems to have the problem with slow wireless. If it was the modem my PS3 should also have slow wireless connection but it does not.

 

[wrt54gs7]

Try installing this windows 7 gadget, right click the gadget > options, connection type:wireless, network interface(both):Intel Wifi Link 1000BGN. With this gadget you can easily check for network activity (maybe some hidden application is downloading something).

Try copying a file (100MB or more) over the network (network share) check the speed (with the gadget). Do the same with speedtest.

 

[DelJo63]

Looks like a QoS issue to me. The PS3 will drown out the PC when both are active
and the QoS profile is designed to handle that kind of problem.
The user must decide which service will take precedence over others and something has to be sacrificed to maintain that choice.

 

[jmo07]

wrt54gs7... I'll try that gadget and post feedback on the results.

jobeard...Th PS3 is not the problem. The PS3 is off most of the time. I only used the ps3 to compare download speed connection and see if it was having the same problem or not since it connects wireless also. When the laptop is being used the PS3 is turnedoff 99% of the time. Also she had an HP laptop for over a year that she had all the way until the beginning of January. She never had this problem. Only theToshiba and it didn't start having the problem until after about a week after getting it.

I've read somewhere from someone having the similar problem that he was able to get rid of the problem by switching the Wireless channel. So depending if that gadget recommended does not find anything I'll try that next.

 

[jmo07]

I forgot to mention since posting this when I went to device manager again just to make sure the wireless adapter has the most current drivers I notice that this laptop also has a Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter under the Network Adapters. That adapter did not have the most current drivers so I updated them. Since then now the laptop seems to give out normal wireless speeds half of the time intead of all the timee like it was doing.

 

[DelJo63]

I've read somewhere from someone having the similar problem that he was able to get rid of the problem by switching the Wireless channel.

there's only one reason that approach would have any effect - - your neighbors are using the same channel.

best wishes

 

[Dave Cappitelli]

AT&T U-Verse just upgraded me to a Homeportal HGV3201 unit and I lost 90% of wireless signal power in my home. 2 rooms 20' away used to get 5 bars of strength, now they seldom get 1 bar. I get 3 bars and up from neighbors houses 100+' away.