Wlan speed varies

[Shiranai_Baka]

I'm new to the wifi thing so can someone tell me if its normal for the WLan speed to change from 54 to 48 to 36 and then back up to 54?

I've googled and the answers aren't that clear to me. Its probably cause I put the question wrong but i just need a clear answer.

[ilw]

its most likely to be that the signal power (to noise ratio) isn't quite high enough to achieve 54Mbps. when the signal is below a certain threshold the router and network card drop their transmit speeds down a step (i.e. to 48), if the power for some reason is still not good enough they drop down another step.
Its nothing to worry about unless you really need the extra speed and is fairly common i think

[lynx]

It is quite normal, 54mbps is the maximum achievable. What you need to look at is the quality, as long as that is good or excellent you have nothing to worry about.

However, you could try moving the antenna slightly to see if you get a steadier setup.

[dlbl]

Fluctuating between 36 and 54 Mbps is quite stable, unless the router and terminal are in the same room. My system varies all the way down to 1Mbps, but this is probably due to a software bug.

[Shiranai_Baka]

Well the router and the laptop are like 2 1/2 feet away so should it even be doing that since its so close in proximity?

[lynx]

Try changing the channel you are using.

If there are other people nearby who are using the same channel then you could be getting crosstalk.