Wireless connection working great for 3 months now slow

As the thread title sta Mtes I have had my M15x hooked up wirelessly to my fios connection for the last three months with no issues. I get regular speeds of at least 20mbps on generic internet speed tests. For the last few days my internet has been painfully slow almost to the point of uselessness. When I plug the laptop into the router with an ethernet cable I get 45mbps+ on the same speed tests and downloads are blazing fast. What is going on here? Nothing in my setup changed the internet just started being slow one day. Could my wifi card be burning up? I have 3 months left on my dell warranty and I'm wondering if its worth calling a tech out to the house to look at. Verizon detected no issues with my service and the fact that download speeds are so high on a wired connection makes me suspect its hardware or software related any suggestions would be appreciated. My drivers are up to date.

 

Start by unplugging your modem/router and let it cool down. This sounds like a traditional case of a too hot router. If you have access to another wireless connection somewhere, try that one.

The last potential problem is interference. If you have a lot of wireless networks near you, they could be causing interference. It's the same for cordless phones, microwaves etc. If you recently got a new wireless device, try turning it off.

You can use inSSider to see all the wireless networks near you. If one channel on the 2.4GHz band is very crowded and it is the one you are using, then that might be the cause. inSSider will allow you to find that out easily.

 

First thing's first- don't expect speeds exceeding 20mbps without 802.11n
Real like transfer of 802.11g is up to 20-25mbps which is what you used to get.
In order to get full 45mbps you would have to buy an n-capable router (or if you already have one configure it to use 802.11n rather than 802.11g).

As for the 3-months-old issue tijo has already covered it. Most likely interference or issues with the router, Wi-Fi card dying is less likely but still possible.
Best way to test it is to simply take the laptop somewhere and see if it achieves better speed with another router/AP & different internet connection.

 

Do you use WEP security? If so, someone is leeching your wifi. Switch to WPA2 and use a strong password. Also do as others have mentioned and check the channel on your router, and if too many routers are found on the same channel as yours, change it to a less crowded one.

 

any new sources of 2.4gz interference in your neighborhood?