slow downloading on wireless

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

i've got this dell inspiron 6000 and while it's a little slower than a mac (a lot, actually), this is ridiculous. i've been trying to DL some MP3 files from a particular site and it's taking 10-12 minutes to complete for an album's worth of tunes. i'm not sure what the hell is wrong, does anyone have any reasons as to why this might be happening?

the ilxor who solves my problem will have my affection for eternity and my allegiance in message board beefs.

― gear (gear), Saturday, 15 July 2006 01:38 (nineteen years ago)

use ethernet instead

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 15 July 2006 01:44 (nineteen years ago)

You are perhaps not close enough - or too close - to the router or hub or whatever. Or the antenna on said router or hub is pointed the wrong way. Just move stuff around until it gets better. And turn it off and on.

― chrisco (chrisco), Saturday, 15 July 2006 01:47 (nineteen years ago)

could be a problem with whomever you're trying to download from--or does this happen all the time?

anyway 10 minutes for a whole album doesn't actually sound that slow!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 15 July 2006 02:10 (nineteen years ago)

i don't know! sometimes it's as high as 25 minutes. maybe it depends on where i'm getting it from? rapidshare and sendspace take forever, badongo is a lot quicker, like 5-6 minutes per album file.

― gear (gear), Saturday, 15 July 2006 02:15 (nineteen years ago)

wah wah i can't download music fast enough waaaaaah

― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Saturday, 15 July 2006 03:26 (nineteen years ago)

Someone might be standing between the computer and the wireless connection point, that'd slow things down, I think.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 15 July 2006 08:33 (nineteen years ago)

10-20 mins to download a WHOLE ALBUM is totally not slow!

And if yr cadging someone elses wireless, I got no sympathy.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 15 July 2006 09:32 (nineteen years ago)

rapidshare and sendspace

you can't do anything about poor server speeds on their end.

― fandango (fandango), Saturday, 15 July 2006 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

it seems slow! i'm not familiar at all with DL speeds. and i am not stealing wireless!

― gear (gear), Saturday, 15 July 2006 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

Gear, you can get a better idea of whether the slowness is at your end or someone else's if you do a speed test at Broadband Reports. Click on the Tools tab and scroll down. Also, what slocki said, 10 minutes doesn't sound slow at all!

― I will commence to drop a knowledge bomb. (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 15 July 2006 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

This seems as good a place to ask this as any - I've been having problems with my wireless connection for a while. Occasionally, it just cuts out - the connection isn't down, my flatmate can still connect on her laptop wherever she is in the house, and restarting my computer usually sorts it. It's fine for weeks on end and then goes through short stints of just not connecting to web pages etc, apparently randomly.

Connectivity is usually low or very low - is this purely through the positioning of my router? I'm using my computer in my room, with the router plugged into the phoneline downstairs, on the other side of the house. There isn't really anywhere else to put the router, short of buying a big cable, which kind of defeats the point of having wireless.

The weird thing is how often it seems to work fine, which is what I don't understand.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 15 July 2006 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

possibly occasional interference, then?

― toby (tsg20), Saturday, 15 July 2006 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

Matt, it's definitely where your router is in relation to you. I have the exact same problem whenever I use my laptop upstairs. There are three ways to fix this: install third-party firmware that will allow you to boost your signal (be careful though! not all routers will support this--there is one linksys router in particular that will roll over and die if you try this), buy a wireless antenna, or make your own antenna.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Saturday, 15 July 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

Could be someone using a microwave or some damn HAM guy broadcasting HAM tv or something (thank you for your 6mhz noise source dude).

It's really hard to tell. You could also try moving your base station to another channel.

One of the weird things with frequencies as high as wifi (and cell phones too) is that the signal reflects off of everything, causing multipath interference where your own signal interferes with phase-shifted versions of itself. Anyway, moving stuff just a few inches can make a dramatic difference.

Also, and here's the fun part, the uplink and downlink don't experience the same interference. The signal strength bar on your toolbar--i'm pretty sure of this--is downlink signal strength. So even if its fair, the other way can be marginal. I don't know of a quick way for you to tell if this is the case for you.

― mikef (mfleming), Saturday, 15 July 2006 22:04 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.