Patchy internet access

[sjrooney]

I have a Netgear DG834GT ADSL modem/router and the wired ethernet connection to my main PC works flawlessly. However, using a laptop with the Netgear WG111T USB adapter is not so good. I am getting a connection of anything up to 48Mbs (sometimes more) in a room other than where the router is situated and signal strength of about 40-60%. When trying to access any web sites my browser just waits and waits and waits and never loads a page. Even when the web pages aren't loading I can ping the sites e.g. www.bbc.co.uk and the ping time is around 30 ms. If I move the laptop closer to the router, even though the signal strength and connection speed hardly change, at least as reported by the netgear software, everything works fine. The room where it isn't working is no more than 25 ft from the router and this is a Super G router and adapter.
Wireless settings are WPA-PSK encryption, and Auto 108Mbs. Is there anything I can do to get this thing working properly or is wireless networking really that tempramental?

Regards,
Steve

[keewaa]

Just to rule out a few things, but I think it's a range problem and a stronger aerial might work, but set SSID to broadcast just to ensure you aren't trying to connect to another network when you move away. And try changing the router MTU to 1400. If these don't help then just reverse them again.

[Greenstead]

Wireless networking is generally consistent, but is subject to local conditions which can change as you move around. A stong signal does not guarentee good quality, and it could be you have interference from a nearby Dect phone or video sender.

[sjrooney]

Wireless networking is generally consistent, but is subject to local conditions which can change as you move around. A stong signal does not guarentee good quality, and it could be you have interference from a nearby Dect phone or video sender.
There is a DECT phone in the room where I'm having the problem so if that is the problem is there anything I can do about it, other than moving the phone which isn't really an option? I have the router set to 108Mbs only as the wireless adapter is a Netgear 108Mbs model, and this locks the router to channel 6. If I set the router to g & b the adapter will connect at 54Mbs max but this does let me change channels.

Thanks for the reply,
Steve

[sjrooney]

Just to rule out a few things, but I think it's a range problem and a stronger aerial might work, but set SSID to broadcast just to ensure you aren't trying to connect to another network when you move away. And try changing the router MTU to 1400. If these don't help then just reverse them again.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll certainly try them and report back.

Steve

[sjrooney]

I've tried all of these suggestions and the only thing that has got it to work properly is to switch off the 108Mbs settings and revert back to 54Mbs, which sort of defeats the point of a 108Mbs router. However, as the main need was to share an internet connection of 1Mbs it is no big deal. If I have to do any heavy file transfers I'll just move the laptop to within line of sight of the router and enable 108Mbs. Not the perfect solution but very acceptable.

Steve