laptop faster than desktop why?

Hi I hope some one can help.

My laptop and pc are both wireless but even though they are right next to each other the pc is down loading at 2000 kbps and the laptop at 4000kbps. Now im not sure what info might be needed so I will just give you the basics for now.

Laptop
Vista home premium 32 bit sp2
intelCPUt1600@1.66GHz 2.0GB ram
Mobile intel 4 series express chipset family
pc xp home sp3 intel celeron 2.66 Nvidia ge force 6200
modem Netgear DG834G
P.S. phone line max is 5mb

 

Probably Antenna location.

Laptop on table exposed and getting better signal.

.

 

not very likely, they are exactly in the same place there is no more than2 cms between them thanks any way

 

Where the Desktop Wireless card's Antenna is?

Also check the TCP/IP parameters and make sure that they both optimized for the type of Inherent connection that you have.

Optimizing the TCP/IP Stack - http://www.ezlan.net/Internet_Speed.html

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did all that you said and it did make it faster but still to slow to use bbc iplayer for example, but the laptop next to it absolutely fine .

what other parameters could i look at? thanks for all the help

 

Does the connection software on each machine enable you to check if the wifi signal strenthghs are identical ?

Is the Dongle (or similar) a Netgear product on the portable PC ? but maybe you are not using a Netgear card in the Desktop ?

When I used Netgear kit, I found that Netgear to Netgear connectivity was a bit faster.

When I connected to BBC iPlayer (before I switched ISPs and kit provider) I found that BBC iplayer streaming was subject to Traffic Managment (aka Throttling) but other downloads were not always restricted in the same way.

Do you get the speed difference when you connect to the same sites at the same time ?

 

the dongle is a belkin on the pc,laptop has realtek card. Yes the software shows identical signal strength. my pc is snail pace regardless of what I download. Yes I get the difference from same sites
thanks for taking an interes

 

Ok, I tried. Good luck.

 

More info might be useful to you. On the pc taskbar I have 2 wireless icons ,the first one lights up and shows 54mbs, excellent signal. The 2nd one (Belkin ) takes about 2 mins to connect to the internet and light up but then says 54mbs, excellent signal. Having 2 wireless internet icons at the same time can that be normal?

 

Maybe, you could have Belkin connection software conflicting with Windows connection software, if so, try turning one of them off.

If you want to turn off the Belkin software, you can stop it starting by going to run-> msconfig, and unchecking any Belkin names in the Services or Start up boxes. Probably you will need to reboot afterwards.

Alternatively, if instead you want to turn off windows, you can do that by Network Connections-> properties-> Wireless Networks and UNCHECK the "Let Windows handle connectivity for me" box.

 

Oh - and then check, Control Panel-->Network connections-> Make sure you only have one wireless connection enabled.