Slow Internet Speeds

[#1]

Hello
Recently, i upgraded my old wired router to a new Thompson wireless router provided by plusnet as our household now use laptops instead of desktop computers. However, internet load times and ping in online games have become very unstable. For example, for online games, the internet will pause three times for about three seconds, every five seconds, every twenty minutes, now this wouldnt be a problem for browsing the internet but it normally results in extreme lag and failure of a objective as a result. I have also noticed that when one of the family now browses the internet and one plays the games, the gamer's ping drastically spike. I thought this might be because of the wireless but both laptops are less than half a metre away from the router. Further to this, i have noticed my profile speed now at 2500K compared to 4500K when i used a wired router.
I am on the 8mb gaming package and am still within my usage limit for the month. I was wondering whether these actions are normal for wireless or their is something wrong with my connection?
Regards, Matt Naughton

[#2]

Hi Matt,
I think a good idea to start with will be to try using a different wireless channel on the router as this may help.
What sort of experience are you seeing when wired into the router rather than wireless?

[#3]

Hello Jameseh,
Sorry but i don't really understand how to 'try a different wireless channel on the router'
When 1 person is just wired to the router and no one else uses it, gaming speeds do gain notable performance when when wired into my router and the ping spikes are signifcantly reduced, however general internet speeds remain unchanged and still very slow. Though, when two people use the router, one wired and one not, I still have the problem of pings increasing when one browses the internet.