Why does Win 7 show wireless N speed as slower than XP?

[scajjr]

On my home network I have 4 computers (2-wired, 2-wireless N) thru a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH. Both wireless adapters (pcmcia card in laptop, PCI card in desktop) are Ralink RT2860 based.

The laptop sits about 15 feet from the router. The desktop is in a front upstairs bedroom (about 30 feet distance, 2 walls and a floor). Both dual boot XP Home and Win 7 Home premium (32 bit versions).

Under XP the wireless speed shows as 270 on both, in Win 7 both show as 54.
Doesn't matter whether I choose 20 or 40Mhz, change channels, etc.
Does Win 7 use something different than XP to gauge the speed?

Sam

 

[thiggins]

That "speed" you are looking at is link rate, which is only remotely related to the actual throughput you get.

54 Mbps means that the adapters are connecting using 802.11g, not N. Check your wireless security and make sure you're using WPA2/AES. WEP or WPA/TKIP will limit you to G connection speeds.

I don't know why XP is different than Win 7. Perhaps when you reconnected the clients using 7 you changed wireless security mode.