Wireless PCI-E card and Windows 7 variable and slow speed

[yiannis_mag]

Hi,

I recently got a new PC with Win7 professional on and with an edimax EW-7612PIn PCI-E wireless card.
My internet connection is with virgin media, the fiber optic option at 10MB.

My problem is that the connecting speeds and fownloading can be as low as 3kB/s, but most of the time they are around 50kB/s. If I am lucky I might be able to go to something like 600kB/s or even 800kb/s but that will not last for more then a few minutes. I have run the speedtest.net site a few times and I can get anything from 0.03 Mb/s to 5.5 Mb/s, with -unfortunately- the low values to be the dominant ones. 9 times out of ten, the connection will not be faster than 0.03 Mb/s.

I have a lap top as well which at speedtest.net it is constantly above 3Mb/s and I have even run them in parallel to make sure that it was not a rogue measurement.

Now does anyone know why it is like that? I tried to update the drivers at the edimax website but they either dont have any for Win7 or the link that they provide has the wrong drivers -they are for a USB wireless adaptor-.

So any ideas anyone? I have also updated Win7 a few times so I supposed they are up to date. I dont have to manually ask win7 to look for better wireless drivers right?

What baffles me is that it can connect to the internet, so the card and the router do talk, but the speed is very very slow and not constant at all... so any pointers that any of you might have, please sare..

Thanks for your time.

Regards,
Yiannis

 

[mhelm1]

Does the computer scream when connected by wire?
Here is the win 7 driver:
http://www.edimax.com/en/support_detail.php?pd_id=350&pl1_id=1&pl2_id=44
Alo follow the pointers for wireless, Router up in the air, don't block antennas, etc..

 

[Guest]

Just to add to mhelm1 :

Wireless is usually about half the speed of wired even with good wireless reception. You should try to optimise your reception and avoid interference.

1) raise the router above furniture level
2) Experiment with channels (some will work better or worse depending on your environment)
3) If you can detect strong neighbouring wifi, use a channel 5 stops away from strongest.
4) Relocate cordless phone base or video sender etc.
5) Be prepared to move the computer (or at least turn it so your body is not between the router signal and the wireless adapter's antenna.

 

[yiannis_mag]

Hi,

thank you for your quick responce. I will try the drivers but I am under the impression that if it is the link that I am thinking off, it could be the one with the wrong ones on.

The issue is that I just changed one desktop with another one, where my old one was sitting the net was beautifully fast but the new desktop PC, although it is in the very same place as the old one, the internet is as responsive as a 100 year old turtle. So as locations etc. go nothing has changed, which leads me to suspect that there is something with the wireless card and the windows, or the card and the motherboard.

Could a different case for my PC affect the internet speed that much? Lets say one is plastic and the other one is metal. Could the case work as a faraday cage? In that situation then I am pretty much done for, unless the router and the card are right next to each other.

What I am thinking to do is either get another card and see what happens or bite the bullet and get a 15m long cable to connect the router to the PC and try to calm down the girlfriend at the same time.

Or is it because the wireless card is a 300Mbps 802.11b/g/n generation and the router oder?

mhelm1 thanks for the link but I have tried it and if you click on the Win7 and go past the "submit your email blah blah blah" it doesnt work. I am not very happy about Edimax right now. At least if I could manually update the drivers then I would either fix the problem, or know that it is not the card per say.

Thanks yet again,
yiannis

 

[Guest]

The case is a faraday cage, but the antenna is outside it.

I would take the card back and ask the dealer to explain the different performance and lack of drivers. Getting a wireless adapter from the same brand as the router may reduce the number of excuses if you have problems and in the case of wireless 802.11n may be more compatible.

 

[maami33]

hi guys i had a very similar problem where my edimax ew-7612pin would connect to my wifi at verrrry slow speeds, where my laptop and smartphones were working properly.
The solution that worked for me after much tinkering was:
if you have a WPA/WPA2 encrypted network.
open edimax utility
in the profile tab, the network you are connected to should come up.
click edit
by default it will have 'network authentication: wpa2-psk
and data encryption: AES
change AES to TKIP.
and your problem will hopefully go away.

 

[indotiger]

Thank you maami33 a lot. You save my ass.

I had headache with download speed hardly reaching 0.8Mbps while upload up to 5Mbps, even after changing 2 PCI-E and USB card. After using Asus utility to change data encryption to TKIP the problem is fixed. Speed now is 12Mbps.
Thank you! 😀

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

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