Macbook network problem

What wireless connection are you on? B? G?

Wireless has huge overhead/distance penalties as well.

Mine you, 802.11b is rated 12mbps, which is 1.5MBps theoretical max, but you'd have to be RIGHT next to the router to feasibly see that, and even then the network overhead would prevent that. 802.11g is 54mbps which is 6.75MBps, but again, distance= slower speeds. Also, WEP encryption has much more overhead than WPA/WPA2, so that could be an issue as well.

Definitely change channels on the router though, as that can get you off the same frequency range as any nearby routers as well.

One step beyond that even, do you have a 2.4ghz cordless phone in your house? That's something that can interfere with WiFi as well, which again, changing channels on the router/the phone can aid the problem.

From a routing perspective, you may need to adjust the MTU settings and what not in the router's preference panel. You can read up about those types of settings on the support sites for your router or google, as I'm not too terribly versed in those settings (the defaults with Linksys have always worked fine with my cable connection)

 

What wifi channel are you on? Most to my knowledge are on channel 6, though 1, 6 and 11 should be fine.
Slow wifi dl speeds can be down to a number of issues, including interference from devices such as telephones and microwaves.

Also try disabling network encryption.

EDIT: Beat to the channel thing by the ORLY owl

 

I forgot to mention actually, downloading a program called iStumbler will tell you the channel any surrounding WiFi networks are on, so you can choose a unique one (if possible for your area).

 

Any luck on this?

My Macbook will happily find about 8 or 9 networks using iStumbler.

Most of these will also appear

However - my two (one from a Thomspon ADSL Wireless Router, and one from a Time Machine ) take longer to appear in iStumbler, despite being reported as the best signal strength etc and often, will not show at all. Connecting to them is near impossible.

I'm hoping that 10.5.7 will have tackled this issue somewhat.