I have an Edimax wireless router, and I've noticed pretty soon that my communication in the local network is really (REALLY) slow (below 1 mbps).

I tried to replace the router (3 times), I configured the wireless channel to 12 (scanned and found that it was the only channel that none of my neighbors used) and updated the firmware. Even tried to disable the encryption, but nothing.

Checked it on more than one computer (there are 4 computer connected through wifi to the network), but the transfer between all of them is really slow. It starts at 1.5 mbps (at the best), and gets slower every second (sometimes even below 100kbps).

The communication over the internet by the way is definitely fine. I have 10mb connection, and I'm able to download at 1.2 mbps (which is faster than the local network!).

Also, one of the computers here is being used as a server (but currently XP is installed on it). The really weird thing is that many times I can't access it (even ping it) using the computer-name, but if I tried ping it using it's IP address AND THEN tries to ping it using the computer's name - it works. I have no idea why.

This is really annoying and I'll be thankful for any idea.

Thanks in advanced.

There is no way your internet connection is going to be faster than your LAN connection. My first guess is the 2.4Ghz range in your area is saturated and causing too much overlap and noise. When you checked channel usage did you notice how many SSIDs were picked up through out the who 2.4Ghz range? Also the only channels I recommend setting up on are 1, 6 and 11 since they do not overlap with each other. But if people are using all different channels then you are going to have a good deal of overlap onto these three channels.

I recommend scanning your wifi space again through out your house and try to pick one of the three channels above which dosent have other SSIDs broadcasting at high levels. You want to see numbers > -70Dbm or so. The closer to -100Dbm the better. If you have screenshots id like to see them.

If you are good there I recommend connecting the computers directly to the router with a cable and testing.

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Hi that1guy15, thanks for the reply!

I know that my LAN can't be slower than my connection to the internet, that's why it so weird :\

I added a screenshot so you'll get an answer to both of your question. My network is the first one on list of curse.
Notice that the LAN communication was slow no matter which channel I picked.

By the way, unfortunately there is no way to connect the PCs directly to the router.

You can easily see there is a good number of SSIDs around you and they are all over the spectrum! If you are on channel 12 you are going to get interference from anyone who is using channel 7 - 14. Your signal will most likely flood out the lower power SSIDs in your house but there is still going to be interference. Drawing this out freehand you might do a little better by jumping over to channel 1.

Usually (for me anyways) the graph views give a better representation of your spectrum usage over what you posted above. But you can still get the same data.

IF your wifi router supports it you might try kicking over to the 5Ghz band (802.11a or 802.11n). But your wifi adapters also must support a or n.

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Hi, thanks again for the answer.

My router doesn't support 5Ghz. My adapters support N.

Do you think the channel is the problem for the slow connection in the local network? Why's the communication to the internet is fine?
If I'll change the channel to 1, do you think it will solve the problem?

And also, why when I'm trying to ping the server by it's machine-name it says it can't find it, but when I'm pinging by it's IP and THEN ping it using the machine's-name, it works?

my god theres a ton of ssid's in your area.

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No your problem is the number or other wifi networks around you. Changing the channel MIGHT help a little but you still have a ton of other networks fighting you for the same space. You would be better going with a router that support 5Ghz 802.11n or a as it will most likley be less congested. If your tool above will scan the 5GHz space you should check it out to see how congested it is.


Sounds like your computer or default gateway is timing out when trying to resolve hostname to IP/MAC address during the ping. When you ping its IP it removes that extra step and can get a reply within the timeout period of the ping. Your system and the gateway then cache the destination MAC address based on the IP so the next time you ping the server it dosent have to re-discover the servers MAC.

Your wifi congestion could be the cause of this...

So you have no way to physically connect the two to the router temporarily to test?

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Temporarily maybe. I'll try it and let you know.

Thanks again!