Thanks Karl,
What's humorous is the difference between the words "Default" and "default". Most routers may allow you to log on, but subsequent packets of data may not verify correctly, hence the speed loss.
So these packets are being checked maybe more than once, to make sure they are really, really allowed to go where they're supposed to go. That's what I think was happening with mine. Luckily I managed to get a wire down to my room here, so I had the luxury of taking a break from trying to get this right. But I'll be back, since before the summertime I do want get the wireless working well in the non-wired parts of the house. If you feel like sharing sometime, I would be interested in seeing what your file /etc/network/interfaces looks like (minus the psk & stuff, of course). TY Liz