Speed Test

[wynford]

Why is Shaw's speed test so much faster on my cell (500 Mbps give or take) and yet on my wired laptop it's only on average 200 Mbps... https://shaw.speedtestcustom.com/result/9bd3dbf0-a2fa-11ed-b50b-69023863b70b

My laptop is a little faster wireless... https://shaw.speedtestcustom.com/result/2e9b3cd0-a2fb-11ed-abf9-31d172afb307

My internet is Fibre 500

[mdk]

@wynford -- to run the Shaw Speed Test, you need a fast CPU inside your laptop.

Any laptop with a 1.3 or 1.6 Ghz processor is not fast-enough to run the test at full speed.

Open the Windows "Task Manager" and switch to the "Performance" tag while running the test, to see if the CPU is 100% busy, and to see the "raw" speed of your Internet adapter.

Also, read the small print labeling on your network cable.  If you see "CAT-5", not "CAT-5e" nor "CAT-6", the cable is limiting you to a maximum of 100 Mbps. Replace it.

[wynford]

That could explain the speed, I’m 71 and didn’t need a big fancy laptop, mine’s dual core 1.10 GHz. I could not find a label on my Ethernet cable.

Thanks for the explanation

[mdk]

@wynford --  I could not find a label on my Ethernet cable.

Look for letters along the cable -- sometimes it is hard-to-see "black" letters along the "blue" cable.

But, in your case, the processor inside your laptop is much slower than the processor inside your mobile-phone.

[wynford]

I see blue lettering along a beige cable... says a bunch of stuff and CAT EE...

But no worries, you've already explained it

[mdk]

@wynford -- says a bunch of stuff and CAT EE...

Close. One cable I have says "CAT.5E" -- namely "five-E".

Can you use the camera on your smart-phone as a magnifying glass, to re-check your cable?

Any "5E" (five-E) cable is certified to 1000 Megabits per second -- faster than the speed that Shaw provides you, and thus not a "bottle-neck" when doing a Speed Test.

[wynford]

My mistake... I just checked with a lit magnifying glass and it say CAT 5E

[wynford]

Finally broke down and bought a new laptop, my old one had a 1.10 GHz processor and the new one has a 2.5 GHz processor and man the download speeds are incredible... I have internet 500 and getting on average 540 Mbps strictly wireless and I am no longer complaining about speed.. the processor makes a huge difference... I can download a windows ISO in about 3-4 minutes... woohoo