Hi all

I am running Karmic Koala on a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop, and using 02 broadband on which I am supposed to get 7/8 mbps download speed.

I called O2 this morning as I am rarely getting anywhere near this on my laptop, and on testing a download from the 02 site just now (as instructed by the O2 call handler) I was getting just 100 kbps as opposed to what I should be getting, somewhere nearer 700 kbps.

It's strange,because when I use my windows vista PC, with a netgear wireless adapter (I haven't managed to go full Linux household just yet!) I am getting 4/500 kbps, on a wireless connection. When I connect my laptop to the router with the ethernet cable I am getting 700+ kbps download speed, and when I disconnect it drops immediately to 90/100 kbps....

I am a linux newbie, and only been using for about 4 weeks now. I have no idea how to access hardware details on my Vostro system so I wouldn't even be able to tell you what wireless adaptor I am using!

The 02 tech guy advised me to upgrade the driver on my wireless adaptor as he suspected that could be the issue.... but how on EARTH do I do that??!!

If anyone else also has any other suggestions please do advise...

I am determined NOT to go back to windows, and otherwise VERY happy with my Ubuntu KK system, but when I reach problems like this I am stumped. I knew my way round windows quite well, and this would not have caused me any problems, but that was after ten years of using it.....

Yours gratefully, Pete

Things to check:

• Are there any wireless networks on channels nearby? (iwlist scanning)
• Does the speed improve if you turn off encryption? (router may be too weak)
• Are you sitting too near (<2-3m) to or too far from the router?
• Can you download any faster from the local network?
• Is there any relevant information in dmesg?
• What does ifconfig / iwconfig say about your network interface?
• Paste your WIFI card's line in lspci please.

You might want to check out bug #417757 at bugs.launchpad.net as you may be dealing with a known issue. Sorry, can't post full URL as I'm being prevented from posting URLs in my first post.