Why does my connection go slow when someone is on wireless?

[mckevstah]

So our connection has speeds of up 1.2mb a second. Pretty slow by todays standards,. but physically can't get faster until BT decide to built us some cable or fiber.

Anyway,. my laptop can only download at highest 250kb/s which is pretty slow,. but for some reason why someone is on my laptop it slows my down to like 100kb/s and when i'm gaming it shoots my ping up to like 700. How does it affect me so badly?
Can i cap any wireless signals at a certain speed so my physical connection isn't as badly impacted?

Thanks?

 

[mckevstah]

Old laptop on 802.11g or older?
Is the laptop on the fringes of the wireless range?
I would hazard a guess that the laptop isn't getting a clear signal and the data packets are being received corrupted and therefore being repeatedly re-requested thus flooding the network.
See if it improves at all when the laptop is near the wireless access point.

I think it's that,. the laptop is a good 2 - 4 years old.
And the laptop is usually being used downstairs,. and wifi is upstairs in my bedroom.
If that is the reason,. is there anything i can do?