Wireless slow connection problem

I've just moved from a flat where I had a wired network to a house where I've had to set up a wireless one to share my connection between a pc and a laptop.

I'm on Virgin cable 4mb (which I was also on at the last place with no complaints about the connection) and I'm finding I get a really slow connection to the internet - browsing is slower than usual, downloads seem to fluctuate between 50 and 150 k/sec, and having performed a few of the online speedtests the connection is being reported as 1-2mb. Online gaming is also laggy, although pings are good. Having run a few tracerts I can see no lost packets and everything looks good there.

I had been thinking there was something wrong with the broadbad connection to the new house, but I then tried plugging the laptop into the router with an ethernet cable and found that download speeds were consistently up where they should be at over 400k/sec. So clearly the problem is with the wireless.

Even with the laptop right next to the router and excellent signal strength, the connection is slow. Its exactly the same with the pc which is only getting low-good signal strength upstairs.

The router is a Linksys Wireless-G with Speedbooster, and the wireless card in the pc is also a Linksys. The wireless adaptor in the laptop as far as I can tell is an Intel integrated one. Both computers running Windows XP.

Anyone got any ideas whats the matter here? It cant be right that I'm only getting a quarter of the available bandwidth over wireless that I get from teh same router and connection over wires! It cant be a signal strength or interference issue as it affects the laptop with consistently excellnt signal, so it must be a setup issue I'd have thought? Or is wireless just [censored] lol!

Thanks very much for any help

Perhaps there are neighbours on the same wireless channel?

Your TCP settings may need tweaking on your laptop.

Download the freeware TCPOptimizer (or similar application) and see what it suggests.

Thanks for the suggestions there. I have tried several different wireless channels but doesnt seem to make much difference.

I'm not too keen to try any registry tweaks just yet, especially as I'm still with the same isp at the new house as at the old one where teh connection was perfect over wires.

I've actually just ordered some powerline networking kit as a way around the problem, hopefully that will solve it. Interested to see if anyone else has any thoughts on why I've been having this problem though!

What type of encryption are you using? Have you tried disabling the encryption for a minute or two and seeing if your speed increases? Which DNS settings are you using in the router setup? Have you set it to a dynamic connection or specified the DNS in the TCIP settings?