massive speed drop when using wireless??

secret-stu

Hi,
I have a question on wireless speeds against hardwired connections.
I have BT infinity 2 (had it just over a week) with my office PC connected via Ethernet cable direct to the Home hub and on test shows download speeds of around 75MB and upload speeds of around 12Mb but when I do a speed test on any of my wireless devices the download goes down to 30MB at best but upload stays the same at 12MB ?? BT say a large drop in speed when using wireless is normal but I just to accept it should be that great a drop (45MB!).These test were carried out in the same room as the Home hub 5 no more than 3 meters away from it. Any help would be most appreciated.

JJ_Egan

Depends upon many factors .
Try turning off smart settings in the router .
Try posting on the BT community forum .
You will need to find out what speed your wireless devices are .
Positioning of the router and congested channels are two of the common problems .
Its also worth factory resetting the router .


Similar topic .
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5342497

thescouselander

I'd try changing the wireless channel first - don't leave it on Auto as this feature is useless. If your devices are compatible I've always found channel 13 to be a good bet as nobody else seems to use it. Otherwise download a wifi scanner and find the least congested channel.

Also, while you're in the wireless settings make sure you set the interface type to 802.11 b/g/n

almillar

Changing to another random channel (at least 3 away from the current one) is like fumbling around in the dark. It may work of course. If you've an Android phone or tablet, WiFi Analyzer will tell you the networks around you, the channels they're on, and will even suggest the best channel to be on. All these 'smart' routers that hunt around for the best channel are good if everything stays the same but I think they would end up chasing each other around looking for clear space if there are too many near each other!

Neil_Jones

secret-stu wrote: »

Hi,
I have a question on wireless speeds against hardwired connections.
I have BT infinity 2 (had it just over a week) with my office PC connected via Ethernet cable direct to the Home hub and on test shows download speeds of around 75MB and upload speeds of around 12Mb but when I do a speed test on any of my wireless devices the download goes down to 30MB at best but upload stays the same at 12MB ?? BT say a large drop in speed when using wireless is normal but I just to accept it should be that great a drop (45MB!).These test were carried out in the same room as the Home hub 5 no more than 3 meters away from it. Any help would be most appreciated.

The connection speed of a hardwired connection is 100Mbps, or 1000Mbps in some circumstances.

The connection speed of a wireless connection can be anywhere between 54Mbps and 300Mbps (or 600Mbps if you have a really posh expensive router) depending on the age of the hardware.

Wireless is affected more by atmospheric conditions, line of sight, something else interfering, etc. Drop-out is common as well. Basically on the common spec for the wireless, every man and his dog has it now and it's quite crowded.

It will be slower, yes, but how much slower is like asking how long is a piece of string.

Strider590

IIRC the Homehub will use the WiFi speed of the slowest device connected to it, so one device at 54Mbps will limit all Wi-Fi devices to that speed. I have a dual channel router so I don't get that issue, but devices connected at 54Mbps over Wi-Fi typically get 12Mbps downhload, whilst my ethernet devices get 43Mbps.

enfield_freddy

Strider590 wrote: »

IIRC the Homehub will use the WiFi speed of the slowest device connected to it, so one device at 54Mbps will limit all Wi-Fi devices to that speed. I have a dual channel router so I don't get that issue, but devices connected at 54Mbps over Wi-Fi typically get 12Mbps downhload, whilst my ethernet devices get 43Mbps.

no this is incorrect , I have about 8 devices here connected by wifi , the slowest (elenext dongle) gets about 15Mps , others othe the same band get 54Mps


by your reckoning , in a public Wifi area , if one person connected with a faulty device , it would slow down/stop everyone else

Xsdna

First thing, if your bt router is new model (sounds like it should be) then the WiFi technology it uses should be more than happy to transmit above 100mbits

We need to ensure all on same page

8mbits = 1mbps (appx - 8 bits in a byte and all that)

Usually adverts say something like "your fibre will work upto 100meg"

Divide that by 8, and you get your maximum theoretically possible speed in what I call "real terms" ie MB or GB . This applies to WiFi also,

But WiFi isn't just WiFi. There are several standards and technologies. Both devices must obviously use the same technology to benefit, and will usually default to the lowest common denominator, but to the maximum there in possible.

The posts above slightly confused this issue. If channel 7 operates on a certain technology, eg 802.11g then regardless of speeds different devices connect to it at, it still operates on that technology. So just because device A only connects at 20mbit, doesn't limit device B from connecting at say 40mbit, but... It does limit the technology used for that channel to 802.11g (obviously, or nothing older could work). Obviously public routers can mitigate this by providing different techs on different channels, or "locking out" inferior techs. Again, this is separate issue than the individual connection speed of each device, just the tech used.

Eg tech 802.11g I believe max out at 56mbit while the newer 802.11ac standard can go well over 700mbit. Newer ones currently in the works run into many gbits!

So if you have a router with a single channel, and a device on your WiFi network is only capable of say 108.11n, then regardless of the fact your router might happily send out 108.11ac all day, your poor old device won't work at all. So your router kindly downgrades so this old device will work, at the expense of not utilising all that extra speed of the newer tech.

The way to resolve this issue (aside from cables) is to find out WiFi tech (or protocol) all your connected devices use. Upgrade the device with the slowest WiFi. Or just switch it off when you need a faster speed -- you may need to reset your router for it to reset the standard it uses.

Alternately, you can go into router / WiFi settings, and force it to operate at a certain standard, but we warned, any device not able to use that will instantly lose its internet connection until you set it back to auto, including any pc or laptop. So do check first (or have your cable handy! )

Hope that clears it all up