wireless hiccups

[akerman]

Sometimes I want to stream a video file from my notebook - ie. using my desktop computer to view it, while reading it directly from my notebook via the wireless network.

Problem is, that the video will freeze for a second every 10 seconds or so - as if the bandwidth available isn't great enough to accomodate streaming.
But there is plenty of bandwidth! For instance streaming a 30-minute video file, will produce hiccups - but copying it to my desktop drive takes like 5 minutes - is this a common problem, and can I fix it?

[atlacatl]

The hiccups you see are probably interference from something. 802.11 works like a radio with certain frequenceis, so anything emiting radio waves would interfeer with it. Of course, you have to take into account the frequency of your device: if G 2.4 GHz, others work at 900 MHz, also...

Viewing the movie requieres more resources than copying a file, as it needs to be decoded into something viewable. The hiccup is the computer catching its breath (so to speak) to buffer the next chunk of video. If you are unplugged, try to set everything to max power: the CPU, the netword card, the hard drive, and you may see an improvement (Your battery will drain faster, but you may not get the hiccup.

When you are copying a file, you may not see the hiccups. How could you, unless you had tcp/ip sniffer to see what's going on. However, the hiccup is probably still there.