First take a look at the Netgear router. Make sure that it is set up to
handle the highest speed it is capable of. I use a LinkSys and there is a
setting that cycles through the various speeds, 1, 2, 5.5, 11. You can
optionally set it for a subset of those speeds. I am not familiar with all
the Netgear settings so look carefully as there could be something not set
right. I always recommend that you try the default settings first. Pay
partifular attention to the DNS settings. If your ISP does not automatically
send the DNS information you may need to manually enter the DNS server
addresses in the appropriate place through the router management SW.

I am assuming that you are using DHCP to assign addresses to the laptop and
desktop. Is the netmask set up properly? Do you have any firewall SW? Could
that be interfering with the internet access?

Next take a look at the laptop. Make sure you're not routing your internet
connection through the desktop PC with ICS. You should be able to go
directly through the router into DSL connection bypassing the desktop
altogether. Take a look at the site [url]www.dslreports.com[/url] they have some online
tools that can tell you how fast your conneciton is to the internet as well
as a tool that will tell you if your desktop and laptop are set up for
broadband DSL access. You can download a tool from this site called DrTCP.
It will tell you about some registry settings that will help you get the
most out of your DSL connection.

Lastly, from the sounds of it, your problem really seems to be an interface
issue. The main reason the adapters would throttle the speed is because of
poor signal quality. I wouldn't necessarily accept the information coming
form XP as to the quality of the signal. Are there any other wireless
devices nearby? Wireless phones? Bluetooth devices? Microwave over? Anything
that might be putting out a signal that could intefere with the laptop? Make
sure you update the drivers for the laptop as well as any firmware for the
wireless card. If all this fails try to get another wireless computer and
see if it has the same problem. If it does then you may have a faulty
Netgear router. If it works fine then you may have a laptop problem.

Good luck
Cheers
TC


"Roman" <belots@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:e$bhZp9SDHA.2460@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> I have a desktop home pc as a base computer and I recently acquired a
> Netgear MR814 802.11b wireless router to establish a home wireless network
> to use with my Sony Centrino PCG-Z1A. The installation went well and the
> laptop finds the network and is able to connect every time. I have changed
> the default network name Wep is disabled and I upgraded the firmware to
the
> latest version available but even so the connection speed is sporadically
> reduced to 5.5mbs and the actual connection is almost in inexistent
because
> the laptop seems unable to get any information from the internet even
trough
> it is not showing any errors. It took me almost 5 minutes to load the
> [url]www.yahoo.com[/url] page even trough I am sharing a fast ADSL connection. At
first
> the laptop was creating a bridge for the wireless and the firewire so I
> disabled it thinking it might be the problem but nothing changed.
>
> The desktop is running Win XP pro and the laptop XP home. So, even as the
> connection seems to be active there is something that is reducing the
speed
> to almost zero.
>
> The symptoms I am having now are as follows:
>
> 1 - The laptop detects the wireless network
> 2 - It connects at 11Mbps but no information is transferred
> 3 - Once I open the Internet Explorer and try to access any page, the
> connection speed is reduced to 5.5Mbps immediately
> 4 - Some information comes in but it always seems to stop halfway trough
the
> starting page ([url]www.vaio.net[/url]) where it stops and no noticeable progress is
> made afterwards.
> 5 - Watching the graph in the task manager I have the Wireless Network
link
> operational at 5Mbps but the usage stays at 0% with occasional jumps to
> about 0.25% of the maximum 5mbps indicated.
>
> Any suggestions? The desktop pc connected through the network cable works
> great and the signal strengths as indicated by WinXP at the laptop is
> excellent (full 5 green bars)...of course it is not that surprising as I
am
> sitting about a meter away from the Netgear router.
>
> Any help will be greatly appreciated! Anybody ever had some similar
> problems? Could it have to do with interference or signal strength? The
link
> seems to be very stable but completely dysfunctional.
>
> Roman B.
> [email]belots@hotmail.com[/email]
>
>
>
>
>