WiFi Speeds

Terrysdelight

Hello

I have a relatively new internet provider - coverage is brilliant as it is Fibre to the House.   It transpires everyone in my household is getting over 100mega bites download.  My laptop, is only getting about 20mega bites download.   I was getting the same as everyone else.

How do I work out where the problem is - it's definitely my laptop.   It's only 2 years old Lenovo i5 ideapad 330s.

Could the problem be the wifi card in my laptop has become faulty?

Many thanks
Terrysdelight

neilmcl

Can we assume you're running a speed test when everyone else is not using the internet, else you're speed is going to be impacted to what everyone else is also doing.

First thing first, connect to the router directly via ethernet and try a speed test using a variety of testers such as

https://speedtest.btwholesale.com/
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest
https://www.speedtest.net/

Once you know that your laptop is working OK and whilst you're near the router perform the same tests using wifi only. If your laptop supports it you could see if it makes a difference using either a 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz connection.

Cisco001

Do you test with different device at the same location?

Terrysdelight

neilmcl said:

Can we assume you're running a speed test when everyone else is not using the internet, else you're speed is going to be impacted to what everyone else is also doing.

First thing first, connect to the router directly via ethernet and try a speed test using a variety of testers such as

https://speedtest.btwholesale.com/
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest
https://www.speedtest.net/

Once you know that your laptop is working OK and whilst you're near the router perform the same tests using wifi only. If your laptop supports it you could see if it makes a difference using either a 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz connection.

Hi

I had the internet company out this morning.  They got correct readings off of every device except my laptop.   Even out in the garden.

I have just connected to the internet using the 2.4ghz setting and the upload speed has increased to 34mbps.   Still not 100 that everyone else is getting.     All testing done with every device switched off and just my laptop on.

The internet company said they believed the problem was with my laptop.   As I said earlier, I did originally use to get over the 100gbps.   I have the very same spec laptop as my son and he has no problems.

neilmcl

Try changing to 5Ghz.

If it is an issue with your onboard wifi then you could try an external wifi dongle like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FIDECO-WiFi-Adapter-867Mbps-300Mbps/dp/B08523KPP9/ref=sr_1_6

Terrysdelight

neilmcl said:

Try changing to 5Ghz.

If it is an issue with your onboard wifi then you could try an external wifi dongle like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FIDECO-WiFi-Adapter-867Mbps-300Mbps/dp/B08523KPP9/ref=sr_1_6

I have just changed back to the 5Ghz.  I'm now getting 20mbps upload.

I never had a problem getting 100mbps upload until recently (last couple of weeks).   I don't want to try an external wifi dongle if I can discover what the problem is.   If I was getting 100mbps a couple of weeks ago, then I am hoping I can fix it to return to the speeds I was getting.

neilmcl

Terrysdelight said:

neilmcl said:

Try changing to 5Ghz.

If it is an issue with your onboard wifi then you could try an external wifi dongle like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FIDECO-WiFi-Adapter-867Mbps-300Mbps/dp/B08523KPP9/ref=sr_1_6

I have just changed back to the 5Ghz.  I'm now getting 20mbps upload.

I never had a problem getting 100mbps upload until recently (last couple of weeks).   I don't want to try an external wifi dongle if I can discover what the problem is.   If I was getting 100mbps a couple of weeks ago, then I am hoping I can fix it to return to the speeds I was getting.

Upload or download?

[Deleted User]

Get a shot of the same screen as below - it will be very helpful:

To get there, go into Settings > Network & Internet > Wifi > Hardware Properties 



Don't show the MAC address, everything else is ok.

There is a "Copy" button to grab the text so you don't have to screenshot like I did.

Terrysdelight

Thank you.

SSID:     JurassicFibre_MW107X_5

Protocol:            Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)

Security type:    WPA2-Personal

Network band:  5 GHz

Network channel:           112

Link speed (Receive/Transmit):  54/54 (Mbps)

Link-local IPv6 address: fe80::b0a0:b4ed:a5e1:7d22%18

IPv4 address:     192.168.1.66

IPv4 DNS servers:            45.89.6.9

45.89.6.10

Manufacturer:  Qualcomm Atheros Communications Inc.

Description:       Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 Wireless Network Adapter

Driver version:  12.0.0.835

Physical address (MAC):

[Deleted User]

Terrysdelight said:

Link speed (Receive/Transmit):  54/54 (Mbps)

Great, above is the problem, your laptop is only connecting to the Wi-Fi at a very slow speed. That Wi-Fi adaptor is capable of 433 max speed with a good signal and it appears to be falling back to one of the slowest available speed.

Why is it doing that though, not really sure so some guesses and things to try. It also seems too slow on the 2.4Ghz, 36mbps is not good either so seems to be something really fundamentally wrong.

1. Drivers look up to date so I think that is ok but you could try remove the device from device manager and letting Windows re-install it to reset everything.

2. Could be a incompatibility with Wifi of the new router - have you tweaked any Wifi settings in the router? Is it all default? Has somebody switched off WMM in the settings which could cause this? Also the security level - ensure it is WPA2/PSK rather than TKIP or WEP which would could cause it to drop to 54/54.

3. Try connecting the laptop to a hotspot generated by a phone for example and see if you still get 54/54

4. Could be that the Wifi module has died, personally I'd take it out, re-seat and check the aerial connector is on properly but that will involve taking the back off your laptop.

5. Could be that the aerial in your laptop - usually in the screen section - has a faulty wire / connection somewhere.

I think number 3 would be a good next step to help eliminate the router vs the adaptor itself.

Terrysdelight

Thank you so much for this.  I really appreciate it.   I have to go to work now, so I will try all suggestions tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks again.