I am desperate!! slow choppy network speeds (not actual inability to cnnct)

I have a 13" macbook air that has the following problem: I can connect to wifi networks (including at home WPA and also tried WPA2 settings) but even though I may get proper speed at first, I soon lose that and it becomes much slower and choppy (if I open activity monitor I can see the speed going up and down like crazy...). My internet speed at home is 12mpbs set by my provider. When I perform speed tests (vis speedtest.net or downloading files from other speed test sites) on my windows PC that is also on this network I get the full download speed. However with this MAC while I initially did get the full speed, it is now down to an average of 3-5mbps and the activity monitor, again, shows choppy behavior so it will be at 8 then at zero almost and then up and down again but never near the full speed. I tried to connect to other networks and I have the same problem - once this happens it stays. I tried removing the airport connection in network preferences and adding it again it does not help.
I TALKED TO APPLE AND HAD MY COMPUTER TESTED BY THEM - they didn't find any hardware issues (they said it was fine - but it isn't) but they still replaced the airport hardware in the computer - both the chip and the antenna (which meant replacing the entire screen). I brought the computer home, ran a speed test and everything was fine. I thought GREAT but then something happened and the problem returned. What I did (which I think was unrelated) was connect via SMB to a PC at home and I tried to stream a movie file. I noticed it kept 'pausing' so I opened up activity monitor again and to my HORROR I saw the choppy wave with network speed very inconsistent going up and down like crazy... I tried connecting to my slingox using the sling web access after disconnecting from my home PC but got partial speed and lots of drops too. I tried the speed test again multiple times, nothing seems to work.
SO I don't know what to do at this point. I have 10.6.6 running. I heard something about a firmware update but I am new to mac so not sure how to even do that or what else I can do to solve this problem or what is causing it. BTW - logging in now from the guest account still does not fix the issues and they remain the same.
I am desperately looking for help!!
Thanks a lot!

Have you been able to reproduce your problems on other wireless networks other than at your house? It appears you are saying that this occurs on all wireless, but I'm not sure from your comment. If it's only at home, it would appear to be a compatibility issue between your wireless access point and the Macbook Air, which isn't uncommon. Sometimes a firmware upgrade to the access point can fix it, sometimes it might require switching to a different brand of access point. It would be great if you could borrow (or buy and return) a different access point/router to test. An Apple airport would be the best to use of course. Not the easiest solution, but lets you help rule out a hardware issue with your air.
My isp provides 15mbps but my wireless devices such as my iphone, ipad, laptop usually only get 6.5-8 mbps when testing speeds to the internet. I don't expect it to be as good as the wired due to interference, signal, etc. I don't get the choppy behavior however. Firware updates from Apple will appear in the same manner as standard software updates. If there is one available for your system it should appear when you check for software updates. That being said, I believe you can also manually download them from the Apple site.

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