Wireless speed is really slow

[jacatone]

I'm new to wifi so bear with me. I purchased a Linkysis USB 100Mb wireless modem for my Dell Inspiron 8100. I installed the Linkysis software OK, but when I tried accessing it at my local library the Windows Wireless Wizard only seemed to work. Normally the connection speed on the public computers which are hardwired to the network is between 360 and 680 kbps. On my laptop the most I seem to get is around 70 kbps which doesn't seem anywhere near right. Anyone have any suggestions. Thanks.

[thefultonhow]

The 8100 has USB 1.1, which limits transfer speeds over the USB to 1.5MB/s gross speed. Factor in overhead, and the speed goes down. Additionally, it doesn't provide enough power, so transmission power goes way down too. What you really need for that laptop is a PCMCIA network card. It runs at full PCI bus speed (132 MB/s) and provides plenty of power. It's also much more practical, because you can keep it in all the time, rather than having to plug it back in whenever you want to use wireless and then unplug to move the laptop (it will stick out about an inch, though).

[Masaki 7-11]

I've used a USB linksys wifi (G and G with speedbooster) on my computers, both will easily reach up to 900kbps. USB supports up to 12Mbps, so that's not the issue. You should be able to use the linksys software to connect to the network, there should be a setting you can change that will let you use the linksys software over the windows wireless access. What kind of reception (measured in percentage) are you getting for the modem? You may be having a problem with the reception since the USB modems usually have smaller antennas and therefore smaller range for good reception (and therefore speed).