Are you living in a neighborhood with lots of Wlan activity ? You can check this if you do search for Wlans on your computer and find lots of them listed. It does not really matter if they use an encryption like WPA, WPA2 or WEP, as long as they are listed there they might interfere with your own Wlan channel which can be the cause for bad download rates and sudden disconnects.
Visualize Wlans on a Map
Wlandscape is a Java application that displays the Wlans in a specified area on a street map making it so much easier to identify possible hotspots that can be used to access the Internet. The software needs some batch file editing before it can be used, nothing serious though.
Protect your Wireless Lan
More and more users use wireless connections to connect to the Internet, many do receive a wireless lan router by default from their internet provider and forget to protect the router and the connection properly. Insecure Wireless routers are a main target not only of hackers but also of neighbours in the vicinity who like to waste your bandwidth instead of their own.
