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Diagnosing an internet speed problem


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I pay for gigabit intenet (Surly 1%, hollah).  My desktop was a fairly high end model when I bought it 5 years ago.  Whatever the good wifi "spec" was back then, that's what I have.

Right now, with no other devices using internet, I ran a speed test on my desktop (on my provider's speedtest listed on their webpage) and got 160 kbs.  That's the high range of what I usually see.  Usually 110-160kbs.  iPad and iPhone (through the Speedtest free app) showed the same.  

I have no problem streaming, YouTubing and Surly posting. No glitches, even with 2-3 devices running.  Where I DO complain is downloading/uploading bigger files for work.  They can take up to 2 minutes.  NBD there, but if I can get more speed through the desktop, I want it.  Are my desktop and other devices capable of >160 kbs?  Or is that the limitation of the system?

 

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10 minutes ago, Parliament said:

I pay for gigabit intenet (Surly 1%, hollah).  My desktop was a fairly high end model when I bought it 5 years ago.  Whatever the good wifi "spec" was back then, that's what I have.

Right now, with no other devices using internet, I ran a speed test on my desktop (on my provider's speedtest listed on their webpage) and got 160 kbs.  That's the high range of what I usually see.  Usually 110-160kbs.  iPad and iPhone (through the Speedtest free app) showed the same.  

I have no problem streaming, YouTubing and Surly posting. No glitches, even with 2-3 devices running.  Where I DO complain is downloading/uploading bigger files for work.  They can take up to 2 minutes.  NBD there, but if I can get more speed through the desktop, I want it.  Are my desktop and other devices capable of >160 kbs?  Or is that the limitation of the system?

 

How is your desktop connected?  Wired or wireless?  The various wireless protocols have speed limits.  No harm in making sure the driver and firmware are fully updated on your wireless adapter on your desktop.

Edited by Dr Fear
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My ATT giga internet hits 900+ Mbps via speedtest.net over cat5/ ethernet, using an Asus router.  Newest laptop gets ~500Mbps or so over wifi (5Ghz band) in the same room, and about half that speed on the opposite side of the house.  Old 2012-era macbook is 150 or so in the same room.

My experience is that wifi usb-dongles are slower than dedicated wireless cards w/ antennas, so depending upon how you're set up on your pc, your speeds may be impacted.  Same, if your wireless router is blocked, in an enclosure, etc.

How large of files are you downloading?  What kind of speeds do you get if you try your iphone/ ipad right next to the router?

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2 hours ago, LosIllini said:

How large of files are you downloading?  What kind of speeds do you get if you try your iphone/ ipad right next to the router?

I don't know the size of the files.  300+ iPad and iPhone right next to it.  Office is 20' and 2 walls away.  Had no idea it would matter that much.

2 hours ago, beer said:

also are you on a vpn for work?  going to need to be direct wired connection for testing purposes to figure out if it is a wifi or bandwidth issue

I'm not on a VPN.

 

I'm gonna call my provider.  They need to fix something.

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23 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

This is ridiculous. Run a cat 5 or 6 cable from your gateway/router to your desktop. Make sure your desktop NIC is set to Gig. If you are still getting super slow speeds, call your provider, but this is 99.9% user error.

I believe the proper term in an Id10T error.

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How is it?  Does it use a cell network?

Yep. Works great. I’ve had 3 phones going while streaming YouTube tv and someone else streaming shut upstairs and it works great.

Every few months I have to update it (turn it off, wait 60 seconds, turn it back on) but that’s it.
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On 3/23/2022 at 3:06 PM, Parliament said:

I pay for gigabit intenet (Surly 1%, hollah).  My desktop was a fairly high end model when I bought it 5 years ago.  Whatever the good wifi "spec" was back then, that's what I have.

Right now, with no other devices using internet, I ran a speed test on my desktop (on my provider's speedtest listed on their webpage) and got 160 kbs.  That's the high range of what I usually see.  Usually 110-160 mbps.  iPad and iPhone (through the Speedtest free app) showed the same.  

I have no problem streaming, YouTubing and Surly posting. No glitches, even with 2-3 devices running.  Where I DO complain is downloading/uploading bigger files for work.  They can take up to 2 minutes.  NBD there, but if I can get more speed through the desktop, I want it.  Are my desktop and other devices capable of >160 kbs?  Or is that the limitation of the system?

 

Megabytes

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Here is my question.  I have T-Mobile unlimited.  Customer Service said they limit when we exceed certain guidelines.  Another Customer Service Rep said you have unlimited.

On my Mac speed isn't really a problem I get great speed and it is cut in half when the AVG VPN is on but still well above 130.

The problem is my HP Windows 11.  I get great speeds without AVG VPN but the VPN cuts the speeds to useless and so far AVG has no reply.

The HP and Mac sit side by side and I eliminated McAfee on HP thinking maybe another protector was slowing things down.  No change.  Here is a picture of the fast HP (No VPN) and slower speeds with VPN activated.

 

 

Screenshot 2022-03-27 153654.png

Edited by BevoSwag
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Here is my question.  I have T-Mobile unlimited.  Customer Service said they limit when we exceed certain guidelines.  Another Customer Service Rep said you have unlimited.
On my Mac speed isn't really a problem I get great speed and it is cut in half when the AVG VPN is on but still well above 130.
The problem is my HP Windows 11.  I get great speeds without AVG VPN but the VPN cuts the speeds to useless and so far AVG has no reply.
The HP and Mac sit side by side and I eliminated McAfee on HP thinking maybe another protector was slowing things down.  No change.  Here is a picture of the fast HP (No VPN) and slower speeds with VPN activated.
 
 
1703788996_Screenshot2022-03-27153654.png.74868ce8bd094e3fd4f967ab7feaeaa5.png

Sell the HP.
Buy another Mac.
Profit?
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Going to hijack a little. At work we went from iPhone 10 to 13 as the 10s have needed to be replaced. I was the 2nd or 3rd to get one. All 3 of us have almost no speed when off WiFi. Something like 0.1 down 0.1 up. 5g or lte. Doesn’t matter what part of houston. We have ATT. All the iPhone 10s still work fine. IT guy hasn’t figured it out. Any recommendations?  

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On 3/25/2022 at 8:57 PM, Parliament said:

Megabytes

megabits

 

 

if you have an N router you're 2+ generations behind on wifi.  if you have an AC router you're a generation+ behind.  the new stuff is AX/wifi 6E, which can give speeds around a gigabit with the right equipment. 

Edited by elfenix
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Are you using the wifi from the ATT router, or do you have it in passthru mode with another router? (ATT doesn't allow a true 'bridge' mode, but, you can work around it)

I've always used an Asus router- running Merlin firmware, and have gotten speeds mentioned above.  Sometimes I've seen channel interference from neighbors, but, the Asus seems to handle switching/ overlap pretty well.

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1 hour ago, Parliament said:

How do I know what i have?  And how about the wifi reciever on my desktop?  It's a 2018 model.

The wifi standards are, in descending order of speed and modernity:

802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11b/g/n, 802.11a

I'm a little rusty on Windows, but if you go to "Network & Internet" or "Device Manager" and find your wifi adapter, the properties should tell you which standards it supports.

From 2018, unless it's a pretty cheap computer, it should be 802.11ac or better.

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4 hours ago, Parliament said:

How do I know what i have?  And how about the wifi reciever on my desktop?  It's a 2018 model.

look on the router for its model.  as for the computer, built-into-motherboard wifi usually sucks.  so do usb sticks (though the big antenna externals can be pretty decent, particularly if you can remote mount them).  for example, the 802.11ac built into my board only supports 1x1 with a peak rate of 433 Mbps.  an add in AC card with proper mimo support can get up to 1733 Mbps.  802.11ax/wifi-6 can be even faster (and shares bandwidth with multiple devices better - your router's bandwidth will be split between whatever is using it and AX does the split better).   note that to take advantage of the speed you need both the router and the computer on the better standards and with MIMO support. 

Edited by elfenix
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Final update:

Landlord says no drilling in the ways to put in a Cat 6 outlet, which I understand.  So I got a wif booster and got up to 180 M/sec.  Better.  I noticed the booster has a Cat 6 port on the side, so I ran a wire from there to my computer.  Computer wifi turned off.  Bam.  300m/sec.  So no I have wifi from my router to the booster, then a wire from the booster to the desktop.  That'll do.

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