[Telusman]

Heylo,

I have a Powerbook G4 15" Titanium Powerbook, Wireless networking enabled (airport card installed) I have been using a Linksys BFEW11SR4 router, version 4. I have been using this combination for a few years, with no issues what so ever. On a whim i installed an Apple Airport Update, that upgraded the system software, and the firmware of the airport card. Since the update, my wireless network performance is, lackluster and far far far more disappointing than it used to be.... Lets face it Wireless isn't *fast* by any means, but let me explain what i mean.

When i connect, I have got full signal strength, iStumber gives me a signal number of between 70 and 105, so there are no signal issues what so ever, and the problem even occurs when im right next to the base station, soooo no issues with signal.

When i upload data to my server (in the next room) i get between 600 - 800 k/sec (as shown in Activity Monitor). When i download, this is where the issue comes in, it doesn't matter which source i am downloading from, let it be the same server, any internet site, a known fast FTP site, known fast sites, etc. and i get between 7k - 20 k /sec, opposed to the 600 - 800 that i used to get... So naturally this makes my wireless connection almost useless, i can surf the web (slowly) and such, but i cannot download, go to high intensity sites, listen to streaming audio, etc.

No changes were made the router, the only change that occured, was with the software on my laptop. I re-installed Panther on my Powerbook, but the problem remained even after not installing the same airport update that crippled it, of course that makes sense, the card firmware was already updated.

I went to a friends house, they have a netgear router, and the problem does not exsist there, it's quite speedy. I went to my other good friends house and they have a Linksys Wireless G router, and the problem *does* happen there, so this seems to be just an issue with linksys routers. I was wondering if anyone else is having this issue and if perhaps they have any suggestions, I plan to buy a different router, however finances are tight for the newly unemployed, so thats not gonna be happening, but i am looking for a possible workaround, other than buying a 50 foot network cable to take everywhere with me, and thats because i already did that... (the 100mb wired segment on the same router works flawlessly)

I am 99% convinced that it's not the router, and that the problem occured *directly* after an airport card update seems like too much of a coincidence to discount.

i'd appreciate any help, comments, and will try to answer any questions.

Thanks in Advance

[ghporter]

I think that your firmware upgrade told the card to look for something that your wireless router can't provide. If you've been using the same equipment for several years, it is almost certainly 802.11b standard-the same standard as the original AirPort system. That means that it can go along, fat, dumb, and happy at 11Mbps (gross throughput) just fine. Your update changed the firmware to be able to look for 802.11g (AirPort Extreme) networks as well. It may also have told it to prefer the faster networks. The problem here is that your older router will never go that fast-there's an entirely different technology at play there. Your friend's Netgear box is probably much newer, and maybe even 802.11g. That makes your "altered" card much happier.

I believe that a fix to your problem would be to install an OLDER AirPort update, one that changes the firmware back to an earlier version. I can't help you there, but hopefully you'll see how, with everything working properly, it doesn't work together properly.