Hoping someone can provide some input. We have 2 HP notebooks at home along with a wireless network w/ a Netgear router. The router is only 25 feet from the main area where the laptops are used, no walls in the way and on the same floor. I am continuously experiencing issues with my connection speed. We can have the PC's next to each other and her's is at 54Mbps at all times, my PC drops to 24Mbps almost all the time. Is there something I can check on to see what is happening. Both PC's using XP. I thought I'd ask here before I sit on hold for an hour w/ Charter.

I presume the speeds you quoted are not speeds you measured, but rather speeds you copied from software on the laptops. But that speed has nothing to do with the Internet access speed you get from Charter. You need to test the real speed by connecting to a speed test site like bandwidthplace or any other one. Do a Google search on "speed test" to find test sites. You will find that the Internet access speed is far lower than the wireless speed, whether it is 24 Mbps or 54 Mbps.

Don't assume that "internet connection speed" is the only speed that matters. Moving files between systems within a home network is an important consideration too. It sounds like his wireless adapter is reporting that it's falling back to a lower speed (24Mb/s) even though the distance between it and his router is small.

If the OP's laptop wireless adapter is a mini-PCI card and compatible with his spouse's, he should try swapping them between the laptops and see if the problem moves to the other laptop. If that's the case, I'd be calling HP and asking for a replacement. Of course, the problem may be as simple as a detached antenna in the laptop, so opening the access panel and checking it out is probably a good idea anyway.

OF course, if the wireless circuitry is embedded in the motherboard, there's not much he can do to troubleshoot without some guidance from HP.

It's not a Charter problem, though.

If connection speed is your only concern, try measuring it continually on both machines while experimenting. Great utility for such is DU Meter:

http://www.dumeter.com/main.php

first thing first. upgrade the device drivers and see if it persists.