Thanks for the posts.

I'm such a dork. I should have questioned the hardware earlier. I didn't check till you guys questioned the NIC.

I'm using a wireless card on one of the laptops and it is what seems to be the problem. I connected to the router via ethernet and I got my full speed.

Now to find out what the heck is wrong with my wireless-g card. Its brand new; not the greatest brand but it shouldn't be this bad.