Slow wifi connection

Coveredinbees!!!!

I have 2 laptops when I run a speed test on 1 it shows a download speed of 36Mbps, sitting in the same place the other laptop shows a speed of 60Mbps (using the same speed test site and server). The ping time and upload speeds are the same on both.



The slow laptop is a Toshiba L855-188 which is about 5 years old and the faster one is a Dell Latitude E6410atg.



If I plug in a cable to the router the slow laptop jumps to 66Mbps.



What can be the problem?

arciere

The WiFi card may be using a different standard.

Click on the WiFi icon (locations changes depending on your operating system), check what speed is used between the laptop and the router, which is still in Mbps but this is not your internet connection. Also have a look at the quality of the connection (it should say there).

If the speed between laptop and router is, say, 30 Mbps, you can't get any higher speed when you check online.

Coveredinbees!!!!

the slow one say 72.2 whilst the fast one says 150.


The wifi adapter is a Qualcomm Atheros AR9485WB-EG it has the latest drivers.


Is it worth just spending £10 on a usb wifi adapter?

Neil_Jones

The 72.2 and 150 figures are internal speeds between the computer and the router. They mean nothing on their own.

You shouldn't really be doing internet speed tests on wireless anyway as the figures generated aren't representative of, well anything really.

arciere

Neil_Jones wrote: »

The 72.2 and 150 figures are internal speeds between the computer and the router. They mean nothing on their own.

That was the point of the test, if you didn't read what was written earlier.
You can't expect to have a 60 Mbps internet speed if your connection to the router only reaches 30 Mbps.

arciere

Coveredinbees!!!! wrote: »

the slow one say 72.2 whilst the fast one says 150.


The wifi adapter is a Qualcomm Atheros AR9485WB-EG it has the latest drivers.


Is it worth just spending £10 on a usb wifi adapter?

Maybe not, for general internet browsing you won't notice any difference between 30 and 60 Mbps.
If you know how to do it, check that you are not using 'fat' channels (40 Mhz wide channels). This can double your speed but it reduces the throughput considerably because of all the interference it generates.