Time Capsule WiFi speed painfully slow

Hello. I've just bought a 500GB Time Capsule which I have connected to my 3COM ADSL modem/router/firewall with a Cat 6 cable. The Time Capsule has a Cat 6 connection to my Intel iMac and a wireless 802.11n (b/g compatible) connection to my MacBook. There are two 802.11g AirPort Express units on the network (Air Tunes only) and an HP network printer connected via Ethernet. Whilst the iMac shows quick speeds, web browsing and downloading etc on the MacBook is painfully slow. Any ideas? I've tried changing channels etc but no joy. Even switching to 802.11n only makes no difference. Could it be a faulty WiFi card? In case it makes any difference, the iMac is on Tiger and the MacBook on Leopard. Thank you.

UPDATE:

I have spent the evening playing with different browsers on the two Macs and by running the iMac on WiFi. I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the problem lies with Safari or possibly Leopard as opposed to the Time Capsule being faulty. Would general Safari slowness impact on my file download speeds though (e.g. OS X Software Update)? Thanks!

is your first time machine backup of the macbook running? If yes, that would explain the slowness of the WiFi. Just make sure your run the first backup with your cable on.

No, I did the first back-up with cable and it went a treat. This is just general web browsing and downloading updates to the iLife 2008 suite.

Safari loading sites has nothing to do with download speeds and especially software update. Are you sure you are connected at N speed? In the Applications/Utilities folder open Network Utility. The first tab should show the speed of the wifi connect.

Yes, N-speed is enabled. Clicking the Option and AirPort reveals transmission speed of up to 130. Prior to getting the Time Capsule and upgrading to Leopard, my old network was B/G and seemed noticeably faster.

I am beginning to think this is related to my upgrade (from 10.4.11) to 10.5.2: I have just turned off the wireless signal from the Time Capsule and restored the wireless signal on the 3COM router. What used to be a relatively snappy network (despite it being B/G only) seems to be as slow as the network under the Time Capsule. I'm guessing that something in the Leopard upgrade has hobbled the WiFi capabilities of the MacBook. Not a happy bunny.....

UPDATE:

I've swopped the TC box at the Apple Store and (touch wood) it is now running very swiftly. Interestingly, the frequent drop-outs on AirTunes have also stopped. I'm guessing the original TC box had a gremlin in its WiFi chip!

Pigchops said:

UPDATE:

I've swopped the TC box at the Apple Store and (touch wood) it is now running very swiftly. Interestingly, the frequent drop-outs on AirTunes have also stopped. I'm guessing the original TC box had a gremlin in its WiFi chip!

Click to expand...

one of those bad apples i guess