Poor wireless connection to my Belkin router
 

I'm not really certain whether this is hardware-related or a software change I need to make. When I use my Belkin 802.11N router in Windows, along with my provider, I have a VERY FAST connection, which almost never drops. When I use the same router on my desktop PC with Ubuntu 12.04 & a direct ethernet connection, same thing.
However, when I connect wirelessly from my Dell laptop in Ubuntu 12.04 to the same router, my connection is very spotty. The connection drops frequently from 54Mbps to 1Mbps, and often drops entirely.
Any suggestions on what's causing my problem? :confused:

Post the wireless chipset or the laptop model number. There are many factors that contribute to a spotty wireless connection. How far is the laptop from the router and what lies in between? What other wireless 2.4 GHz devices are you using near the laptop? Cordless telephones have more transmit power and can cause dropouts or zero signal strength. Your problems could be caused by a bad wireless driver.

Your problem could also be other routers operating at the same channel, as well,... and perhaps you were just lucky not to experience the problem in windows ...

One suggestion is that if you have an Android phone with Wifi capabilities, ... install an app called Wifi Analyzer... You can use it to visualize the Wifi trafic. Or as michaelk said, it could be a bad driver for your chipset...