Slow wifi speeds on desktop wifi but not mobile

[stormdragon]

I am currently seeing a bit of an odd issue and wondering if there is a setting I am missing somewhere.

A few months back I upgraded to Fibre+ 300 and noticing that the speed tests for my desktop (running Windows 10) is much lower than my speed tests on my mobile devices (iPhone 8, iPad Pro). They all use wifi (the desktop is no where near a cable line) and are on the same 5 GHz network.

Desktop (ipv6 disabled, only using ipv4)

speedtest.net: ~130 Mbps (13 ping)

speedtest.shaw.ca: ~118 Mbps (11 ping)

iPad

speedtest.net (app): ~311 Mbps (19ms ping)

Router (Orbi)

speedtest: ~327 Mbps

So it seems to me there might be perhaps some setting in my wifi adapter on the desktop or something else?

Previously I was able to attain > 200 Mbps on my desktop but that was mainly due to my old Netgear 6400 router and using the QoS settings (which Orbi does not allow for manually setting). However, it was all or nothing...anything on wifi would either be fast or slow together, not different between desktop and mobile on the same network and connected to the same 5 GHz band.

Any thoughts, tips, etc.?

[rickatk]

---

@stormdragon wrote:

I am currently seeing a bit of an odd issue and wondering if there is a setting I am missing somewhere.

A few months back I upgraded to Fibre+ 300 and noticing that the speed tests for my desktop (running Windows 10) is much lower than my speed tests on my mobile devices (iPhone 8, iPad Pro). They all use wifi (the desktop is no where near a cable line) and are on the same 5 GHz network.

Desktop (ipv6 disabled, only using ipv4)

speedtest.net: ~130 Mbps (13 ping)

speedtest.shaw.ca: ~118 Mbps (11 ping)

iPad

speedtest.net (app): ~311 Mbps (19ms ping)

Router (Orbi)

speedtest: ~327 Mbps

So it seems to me there might be perhaps some setting in my wifi adapter on the desktop or something else?

Previously I was able to attain > 200 Mbps on my desktop but that was mainly due to my old Netgear 6400 router and using the QoS settings (which Orbi does not allow for manually setting). However, it was all or nothing...anything on wifi would either be fast or slow together, not different between desktop and mobile on the same network and connected to the same 5 GHz band.

Any thoughts, tips, etc.?

---

Delete your old wifi setting to the old route and the new Gateway. Reboot, reconnect to your new router. If you are using discrete bands be sure to use distinct SSID’s and passwords.

[mdk]

@stormdragon -- Any thoughts, tips, etc.?

Open the Windows "Device Manager", and expand the "Network Adapters" branch of the tree, and tell us exactly which WiFi network adapter that is installed.

From a web-site:

Below is a breakdown of the various 802.11 WiFi standards and their corresponding maximum speeds.

Theoretical wireless speeds (combined upstream and downstream) are as follows:

802.11b - 11 Mbps (2.4GHz)
802.11a - 54 Mbps (5 GHz)
802.11g - 54 Mbps (2.4GHz)
802.11n - 600 Mbps (2.4GHz and 5 GHz) - 150Mbps typical for network adapters, 300Mbps, 450Mbps, and 600Mbps speeds when bonding channels with some routers
802.11ac - 1300+Mbps (5 GHz) - newer standard that uses wider channels, QAM and spatial streams for higher throughput.

So, which protocols are supported by your desktop computer's WiFi adapter?  One of the "slower" ones?

[stormdragon]

The adapter is a Realtek RTL8822BE 802.11ac PCIe.

[stormdragon]

For clarity, where to delete the old wifi settings? Do you mean in the router admin or to do a network reset on the Windows 10 machine?

[mdk]

@stormdragon -- Realtek RTL8822BE 802.11ac

The "AC" protocol is capable of 1300 Mbps -- faster than your current "Internet 300" speed.

> Desktop (ipv6 disabled, only using ipv4)

> speedtest.net: ~130 Mbps (13 ping)

> speedtest.shaw.ca: ~118 Mbps (11 ping)

> iPad

> speedtest.net (app): ~311 Mbps (19ms ping)

The speeds observed on your iPad indicate that your cable-modem is receiving at the correct rate for your "Internet 300" service.

It's too bad that you cannot move the desktop computer to be in physical proximity to the cable-modem, and then repeat those speed tests.  Or, if you have an active coaxial wall-port in the same room as the desktop computer, temporarily move the cable-modem, connect it to the wall-port, and rerun the speed tests.

After you move the computer (or the cable-modem), use a CAT-5e Ethernet cable to connect the desktop to the cable-modem, and repeat those speed tests.

How fast is your computer's processor? It needs to be at least 2.5 Ghz, in order to run the Shaw Speed Test at its full speed.

[stormdragon]

My router too is seeing the proper speeds so I agree that I am getting the correct rate (i.e. it is not Shaw causing the issue by an incorrect account setting).

I did the same tests for both desktop and wifi from the same distance (i.e. at my desk) so not sure that is proximity...which is why it seems to be an adapter issue/setting. Though I honestly suspect I will have quicker to be hard-wired, I could see if I can run a really long cable to the machine.

The machine has an Intel i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20 GHz, 6 cores and 16 GB of RAM.

[mdk]

@stormdragon -- at my desk

Is your "desktop" computer actually sitting ON your desk, or is it sitting on the FLOOR ?  If it is on the floor, put it on top of your desk, and remeasure.

Does your desk have a "modesty panel" on its back, made of signal-blocking metal ? If so, lift the computer above the height of that panel.

Does your desktop computer have an external antenna?  If so, can it be pivoted to various orientations in a vertical plane, such as "12 o'clock", or "3" or "6" or "9". Also, in the horizontal plane, try pointing it towards the WiFi modem wherever it is, or pointing it at 90 degrees to the direction of the WiFi modem.

If there is no external antenna, go "hard-wired" as an experiment. 

Also, try physically rotating the whole desktop computer in the horizontal plane, and repeating the test.

The Shaw Speed Test runs on just one of your 6 cores.  But, Windows could "time-slice" the 6 processors -- "#1 run at 100% for 5 milliseconds, then #2, it is your turn to do the same, then #3, .....".  Average them out, and each processor is 16% "busy" over any one second.  But, 3.2 Ghz is fast-enough to run the Shaw Speed Test at full speed.

[stormdragon]

Thanks again for the suggestions.

There is no external antenna. For the cable test I will have to do this later.

I moved the computer away from my desk, elevated it off of the floor, and tried many tests with different rotations but no real difference in the speed (maybe ~5 Mbps gain sometimes). I also tried to reboot the router but did not see any improvements.

I changed the channels of the 5 GHz settings and that actually did yield a little improvement but it was very sporadic...

Shaw speed test: as low as 80, as high as 138

Speedtest.net: as low as 116, as high as 160 (hit this twice only...usually 140)

I decided to also try out fast.com (though I know this is a Netflix server and might not be as valid as the other speed test tools) and with that I am getting 160 - 170 Mbps.

[mdk]

@stormdragon -- the Shaw Speed Test connects to a Shaw server in your city/town. All the other sites that you mention are many "hops" away on the Internet, which would cause lower numbers to be reported.

Also, while running the Shaw Speed Test, open the Windows Task Manager, and switch to the Performance tab, and click on the icon for your WiFi adapter, to show the instantaneous speeds of your WiFi adapter, not the "averaged" graph that the Shaw Speed Test is drawing.