problems connecting to a wireless network

hi im trying to connect to the wireless network in my house but im having problems
it either dosent connect at all or connects but its so painfully slow
im using an Atheros AR5005G Wireless Network Adapter on my laptop
the drivers came with the acer cd and ive installed them
i troubleshooted the problem and the report is below...
is the problem with the 'authentication test' because 'authentication is not in use'?
but i have no idea what that means, im not very good with wireless networks
thank you for any help




Atheros Troubleshooting Utility
Troubleshooter report...
Report date: Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Name: Driver installation test
Description: This test is to check the radio driver installation.
The radio's registry keys are OK.
Nic name. . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5005G Wireless Network Adapter
Driver name . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5005G Wireless Network Adapter (Microsoft's Packet Scheduler)
Driver path . . . . . . . : C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\ar5211.sys
Driver version. . . . . . : 4.0.0.14001
Active Profile Name . . : Default
Test Done: The radio driver has been installed.

Name: Card insertion test
Description: This test is to check the radio insertion.
Test Done: The radio has been inserted.

Name: Card enable test
Description: This test is to check if the radio/driver is enabled.
Test Done: The radio has been enabled.

Name: Radio test
Description: This test is to check if the radio is turned on.
Test Done: Your radio is turned on.

Name: Association test
Description: This test is to check your client adapter's association to an access point.
Link Status . . . . . . . : Associated
AP Name . . . . . . . . . : unavailable
AP IP Address . . . . . . : unavailable
Test Done: Test passed

Name: Authentication test
Description: This test is to check authentication.
Test bypassed: Authentication test bypassed, because authentication is not in use.

Name: Network test
Description: This test is to check your network settings.
Atheros AR5005G Wireless Network Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . : 00-0E-9B-A4-95-AC
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.101
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=35ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 5ms, Maximum = 35ms, Average = 16ms
Test Done: Test passed

Test completed.

Getting an answer to questions on this forum can be equally painfully slow ... so i'll answer for you as best i know - but this is not my field of expertise, so i stand to be corrected.

I can see nothing wrong with those test results - and to the best of my knowledge - no, authentication as you have raised, I do not believe is the problem.

You are connecting, just that it is slow - and the one thing that will defineatly cause a poor connection speed is the db level of the Signal, and the db level of the Noise.

A high negative Signal reading number (i.e. a negative number below zero and a long way from it) indicates a weak rf connection. Likewise, a negative (-)Noise figure close to zero, or above zero (in which case the - symbol will not be present) indicates a lot of noise - and that too, will degrade your signal.

Another way of looking at these 2 parameters (i.e. Noise and Signal) is their relation to each other. You may have a very good signal strength figure, say -10db, but if the Noise is also reading -10db then the Signal to Noise ratio (SNR) is 1:1 - and that is not good either.

Even if the Signal figure is weak, so long as the Noise figure is even weaker, then in theory you should/could get a very good connection speed. The greater the numerical differance between these 2 figures, the better the quality of the signal

So - back to basics: with the above in mind, just what are your Signal and Noise reading figures (should be viewable in the setup/diagnostics section of each wireless cards software) and from this, as said above - what is their relation to each other.

If this is the problem, then you are going to have to look at the placement of the antenna's each wireless modem/router is using (relative to each other.

That all said, I notice under the Association Test, the AP name and more importantly, the AP IP adress is not avalible. This may well be very relivant to your problem, indeed it may be the cause - but I will leave it to others to comment on as its beyond my skill level, accept to say that, in the absense of an IP address, its not a case of poor connection - to the best of my knowledge it usualy becomes a case of NO connection - period - but, its not my area of expertise, so best left to others to comment on.