Wireless N card will only connect at 54 Mbps

I have a dell inspiron 1545 laptop with an intel 5100 Wireless a/b/g/n card. I have a netgear Rangemax wireless N gigabit router. I can connect to my network without a hitch but my connection bandwidth is only 54mbps. I need help configuring my wireless N card to give me the Wireless N speeds ~400Mbps. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Oh and in case you're wondering. The reason I didn't ask dell is because they want ~ $120.00 to tell me how to configure the card in the laptop ( a laptop that arrived at my home just this morning)

Do you have anything else n that connects at the proper speeds? I could be that your router is setup incorrectly.

I am guessing its a router issue not a card issue. Go into your router settings and make sure you have it set up to output an N signal.

You could have your router be only set to G

It would be helpful if you listed your router number. Also how do you know it is only doing 54mb/s

I have a desktop using wireless N on this router and right now the desktop has a connection speed of ~ 200Mbps. I have checked all settings so I can assure you that it is absolutely not a router issue. I have vista so I checked in the network and sharing center and checked the wireless network connection status. The connection speed is 54Mbps on the laptop.

Select your OS and download the latest drivers for your card here http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=3062&lang=eng

Security Restrictions - Wireless N Draft

The most likely cause of this issue is due to the security configuration set for accessing the wireless network.

Excerpt from Intel support..

Symptom(s):
Client device's Wi-Fi data rate will not exceed 54 Mbps when Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption is configured.


Cause:


The IEEE* 802.11n Draft prohibits using High Throughput with WEP or TKIP as the unicast cipher. If you use these encryption methods (e.g. WEP, WPA-TKIP), your data rate will drop to 54 Mbps. Newer Intel® wireless adapter client drivers connect using a legacy IEEE 802.11g connection rather than failing to connect altogether, which complies with the IEEE 802.11n draft.


Solution:


Contact your Wi-Fi access point (AP) or router manufacturer to download the latest firmware version, or to obtain information on particular models supporting High Throughput.
Disable 'packet bursting' or similar feature that may be enabled on the AP or router.
Configure the Wi-Fi client device's profile to use Wi-Fi Protected Access* (WPA2-AES or WPA2-TKIP). You may also choose to configure an unsecured profile, but this option is NOT recommended.
Configure the AP or router to match the client profile.