Sorry to hear about your network problems...how frustrating! For a number of reasons an iPad's network speed won't generally be as fast as a regular computer's (and certainly not if the computer is connected via Ethernet rather than WiFi). For instance we have a 25Mbps/25Mbps FiOS broadband connection. Our Macs generally hit pretty close to those speeds, however our iPad's best is always around 20/19. That kind of differential is pretty common for most folks.
Of course a lot of it will have to do with where you're using your iPad with relation to the WiFi source...expect it to drop the further away you get. Interference from other sources (including wireless phones, microwaves, cell phones, etc.) can cause problems as well. Security settings are a big source of problems...the iPad prefers WPA or WPA2 and many folks have their networks set to the older (and less secure) WEP.
Sometimes just rebooting everything on your network (modem/router/iPad) can resolve a network issue. Other times a modem firmware update is all that's needed.
If that doesn't do it, try giving some of these recommendations a try:
iOS: Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections
Hope that helps and let us know how it goes!