PicoStation won't connect above 11Mb

[consultech]

I just received a Pico2HP and have been playing around with the original setup to do some testing. I have it running in access point mode with none of the SuperG functions turned on( compression, etc) and I can't seem to connect above 11Mbps, most of the time I connect at 1mb by 1mb. I have configured quite a few airos devices and none have done this. I also noted that it did not like taking many of the settings changed especially changes to security. Many times when I hit apply it would take a long time and finally when it came back it was back to the original settings. I have been running continuous ping on it and normally when I make a settings change it drops one ping then comes back. Whenever it doesn’t take it will drop 3 pings. ping successfully three times then drop 6 more. Then it will come back in its original state. This has happened when trying to change modes from b/g to g and back, it has happened when trying to change the ssid and the security method. The signal strength is very strong and I have even turned it down some to make sure that wasn't part of the problem but I've also tested with multiple laptops as stations form the same room and from two rooms away. Seeing the notice on the new RC firmware I upgraded it to the 3.4 firmware( it shipped with 3.3.2) and it had the same issues. no improvement.

it's setup as follows

Access Point
B/G Mixed ( tried G only as well)
output power currently 21 dBm but was originally at 27
Data Rate is 54mbps Auto is checked
tried with no encryption, wpa and wpa2

Bridge Mode

EWMA Rate Algorithm
Noise Immunity is Off
Ack Timeout is 21 with auto adjust on and reporting 38
MultiCast Rate is set to 1mbps

Any ideas as to what might cause this?

also I have a Bullet2Hp that was setup the same way sitting 10 feet away( tried it with the bullet off as well) and I can always connect to the Bullet at 40-54Mpbs

[consultech]

Well as soon as I posted the question I think I found the problem. I changed the rate algorithm from EWMA to Optimistic and I started connecting at higher rates that made sense.

Can anyone provide detail on what the differences between EWMA, Optimistic, and Conservative mean and how they relate to what's going on?

Thanks