Download connection is very bad

[billd766]

1 hour ago, tomazbodner said:

There were some lower end laptops and AIO PCs of several brands that installed 100 mbps network cards in them for a couple of years to cut cost and recognise most used Wifi anyway and wouldn't notice. But Your your network card does seem to be of Gigabit variety already, from name. Now if you wanted to test external one, do NOT buy anything that comes with USB-A (you know the big USB plug), but only USB-C, provided your computer has USB-C socket. Most of USB-A only work in 100 mbps speed.

Alternatively, you could try to uninstall and reinstall the drivers for network card. It's of course handy if you can connect with Wifi while you're removing Ethernet adapter drivers, to have ability to download the new ones.

 

Let us know how it goes and what comes out of it.

I have just disconnected the LAN cable and done a 3BB speed test using WiFi. Both download and upload were between 40 and 50 Mb.

 

I reconnected the LAN cable and re-ran the speed test.

Download around 150 Mb and upload around 350 Mb.

 

In settings it tells me

 

Link Speed (Receive/Transmit)  1000/1000 Mbps

 

My 3BB plan is Download 1000 Mbps and Upload 300 Mbps.

[tomazbodner]

14 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I have just disconnected the LAN cable and done a 3BB speed test using WiFi. Both download and upload were between 40 and 50 Mb.

 

I reconnected the LAN cable and re-ran the speed test.

Download around 150 Mb and upload around 350 Mb.

 

In settings it tells me

 

Link Speed (Receive/Transmit)  1000/1000 Mbps

 

My 3BB plan is Download 1000 Mbps and Upload 300 Mbps.

So network card is surely using gigabit, else it would be limited to below 100 mbps, and yours is 150/350. What are you testing against? 3BB server locally or something overseas?

 

What is the spec of the computer? Is it like a Pentium or Athlon processor, or is it Core i3/5/7/9 or Ryzen 3/5/7/9 processor? Sometimes processor of the computer is also slowing things down, as could insufficient memory, if something else is loaded.

 

Your Wifi is also very low. Is it supporting AC standard? AC (Wifi 5) on 5 GHz should go to about 600-700 mbps over Wifi 5 or 6 (AC or AX) capable router. But would be below 100 mbps if you used 2.4 GHz band no matter what standards it supports. 5 GHz bands with relative proximity (up to 5m or so away from router) should run at 600-700 mbps, depending also on quality of the wifi card in computer. Make sure you're not connected to 2.4 GHz.

 

That's all I can think of. If port was defective, it would not negotiate 1000 mbps connection. If cable was defective it would either run at lower speed or keep dropping connection. So these don't make much sense, especially as technician's computer could do full 1 Gbps.

 

Not sure any of above helps.

 

Note you should use Speedtest app, not website for testing over 100 mbps. Website isn't accurate.

 

 

 

[billd766]

13 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

So network card is surely using gigabit, else it would be limited to below 100 mbps, and yours is 150/350. What are you testing against? 3BB server locally or something overseas?

 

What is the spec of the computer? Is it like a Pentium or Athlon processor, or is it Core i3/5/7/9 or Ryzen 3/5/7/9 processor? Sometimes processor of the computer is also slowing things down, as could insufficient memory, if something else is loaded.

 

Your Wifi is also very low. Is it supporting AC standard? AC (Wifi 5) on 5 GHz should go to about 600-700 mbps over Wifi 5 or 6 (AC or AX) capable router. But would be below 100 mbps if you used 2.4 GHz band no matter what standards it supports. 5 GHz bands with relative proximity (up to 5m or so away from router) should run at 600-700 mbps, depending also on quality of the wifi card in computer. Make sure you're not connected to 2.4 GHz.

 

That's all I can think of. If port was defective, it would not negotiate 1000 mbps connection. If cable was defective it would either run at lower speed or keep dropping connection. So these don't make much sense, especially as technician's computer could do full 1 Gbps.

 

Not sure any of above helps.

 

Note you should use Speedtest app, not website for testing over 100 mbps. Website isn't accurate.

 

13 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

 

 

This is probably the best I can do as the system won't allow me to copy and paste.

 

Processor   AMD A9-9425 RADEON R5, 5 COMPUTE CORES 2C+3G      3.10 GHz

Installed RAM   8.00 GB (7.45 GB usable)

System type   64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

 

Windows 10 specifications   

Edition   Windows 10 Home Single Language

Version   22H2

 

If I use WiFi it is 2.4 GHz band and less than 50 cm from the router. I cannot connect to the 5 GHz link for some reason. I must call 3BB to see if they can set it up for me.

 

The LAN port is OK no matter which one I use and my son's pc has no download problem. I have swapped the LAN cable twice and the new one is a cat5e cable.

 

I have used the speed test site as well and it is a little better but as the network is 3BB that is what I use.

 

The first image is the 2.4 GHz LAN connection.

The second is the speed test rate.

The third is the Internet status.

The fourth is 3BB speedtest

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tomazbodner]

53 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

This is probably the best I can do as the system won't allow me to copy and paste.

 

Processor   AMD A9-9425 RADEON R5, 5 COMPUTE CORES 2C+3G      3.10 GHz

Installed RAM   8.00 GB (7.45 GB usable)

System type   64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

 

Windows 10 specifications   

Edition   Windows 10 Home Single Language

Version   22H2

 

If I use WiFi it is 2.4 GHz band and less than 50 cm from the router. I cannot connect to the 5 GHz link for some reason. I must call 3BB to see if they can set it up for me.

 

The LAN port is OK no matter which one I use and my son's pc has no download problem. I have swapped the LAN cable twice and the new one is a cat5e cable.

 

I have used the speed test site as well and it is a little better but as the network is 3BB that is what I use.

 

The first image is the 2.4 GHz LAN connection.

The second is the speed test rate.

The third is the Internet status.

The fourth is 3BB speedtest

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fearing CPU could have something to do with it... Checked the actual benchmarks of that AMD A9 processor and it's about same speed as first Core 2 Duo processors from 10 years ago. Maybe that in combination with a network card that offsets lots of processing to CPU could bring the limit to what bandwidth the computer as a whole can handle.

 

And if you see 5G network on your son's computer but not your computer, it might be that your Wifi card is a single band 2.4 GHz adapter. That was seen on some budget computers from 2016-2020... usually computers that only had a number in the name, but not a series name printed on them...

 

Here's comparison of A9 processor with prehistoric Intel Core2Duo (that's even before first i3/i5/i7 processors), which is still 2% faster than AMD A9-9425:

 

 

Comparing it with processors of today, the difference is quite significant, with i5 being 208% faster and i7 performing 233% faster. i5 is generally a mid-range processor, while i7 and i9 are high end workstation processors:

 

 

As such there might not be so much you can do about it. The good part is that 300 mbps is plenty, but the bad part of course is that you're paying for something you can't use fully.

Edited September 26, 2022 by tomazbodner

[billd766]

6 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Fearing CPU could have something to do with it... Checked the actual benchmarks of that AMD A9 processor and it's about same speed as first Core 2 Duo processors from 10 years ago. Maybe that in combination with a network card that offsets lots of processing to CPU could bring the limit to what bandwidth the computer as a whole can handle.

 

And if you see 5G network on your son's computer but not your computer, it might be that your Wifi card is a single band 2.4 GHz adapter. That was seen on some budget computers from 2016-2020... usually computers that only had a number in the name, but not a series name printed on them...

 

Here's comparison of A9 processor with prehistoric Intel Core2Duo (that's even before first i3/i5/i7 processors), which is still 2% faster than AMD A9-9425:

 

 

Comparing it with processors of today, the difference is quite significant, with i5 being 208% faster and i7 performing 233% faster. i5 is generally a mid-range processor, while i7 and i9 are high end workstation processors:

 

 

As such there might not be so much you can do about it. The good part is that 300 mbps is plenty, but the bad part of course is that you're paying for something you can't use fully.

My son's pc is more a gaming pc but it is running on a LAN cable.

 

Have you any idea where I can find out if my WiFi can run on 5 GHz/

 

Meanwhile thank you very much for you ideas. Some work for me and some don't, but I am willing to try them.

 

[tomazbodner]

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

My son's pc is more a gaming pc but it is running on a LAN cable.

 

Have you any idea where I can find out if my WiFi can run on 5 GHz/

 

Meanwhile thank you very much for you ideas. Some work for me and some don't, but I am willing to try them.

 

If you search for "Device manager" (without quotes) in Windows, it should open up a window with all the hardware bits and pieces of your computer. Scroll down to Network Adapters and expand that (click on > at the front of the icon). Locate any network card that has the word "Wireless" in it... in my case on one of laptops that is "Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265". Now this is because Wifi adapter is part of the Intel Core processors, but yours will most likely have some Realtek or alike separate adapter. The clue in the name above is "Dual Band", which is 2.4+5 GHz as well as AC (so it works in Wifi 5 - AC standard). Older adapters that are N (Wifi 4) won't work as fast as AC (which is likely what your 3BB router supports), but should still support both 2.4 and 5GHz however on early N adapters, 5 GHz wasn't mandatory. It will most likely have Dual Band in the name if it supports both.

 

If you double click your Wireless adapter in there, and click on Advanced tab, you should see something about standards that the adapter supports. It should look something like this:

 

 

If there is no 5GHz listed, it is likely not supported.

 

Last attempt - scan for networks. Install Wifi Analyzer (free) tool to your phone, and display networks (assuming your phone supports 5G). You can switch between 2.4 and 5GHz at the top left corner. See networks your phone (or another computer) finds that are 5GHz. Then check through the list of networks on your computer. If there is not a single 5GHz network listed, then your computer's wifi card doesn't support 5 GHz.

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by tomazbodner
Sorry for lousy photo. Using Mac, so this was a photo of laptop screen, only one left on Windows 10...

[billd766]

3 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

If you search for "Device manager" (without quotes) in Windows, it should open up a window with all the hardware bits and pieces of your computer. Scroll down to Network Adapters and expand that (click on > at the front of the icon). Locate any network card that has the word "Wireless" in it... in my case on one of laptops that is "Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265". Now this is because Wifi adapter is part of the Intel Core processors, but yours will most likely have some Realtek or alike separate adapter. The clue in the name above is "Dual Band", which is 2.4+5 GHz as well as AC (so it works in Wifi 5 - AC standard). Older adapters that are N (Wifi 4) won't work as fast as AC (which is likely what your 3BB router supports), but should still support both 2.4 and 5GHz however on early N adapters, 5 GHz wasn't mandatory. It will most likely have Dual Band in the name if it supports both.

 

If you double click your Wireless adapter in there, and click on Advanced tab, you should see something about standards that the adapter supports. It should look something like this:

 

 

If there is no 5GHz listed, it is likely not supported.

 

Last attempt - scan for networks. Install Wifi Analyzer (free) tool to your phone, and display networks (assuming your phone supports 5G). You can switch between 2.4 and 5GHz at the top left corner. See networks your phone (or another computer) finds that are 5GHz. Then check through the list of networks on your computer. If there is not a single 5GHz network listed, then your computer's wifi card doesn't support 5 GHz.

 

I am still finding my way around the upgraded Win 10, which is much the same as the older version, except this version seems to update anytime someone as much as sneezes.

 

I followed your instructions and this is what I have.

 

It looks as though I don't have 5G WiFi

 

While the system still works though the download isn't what I hoped, I will come back to this thread and have a better idea of what I need.

 

Thank you for your help once again, and to all the other posters who helped as well.

 

 

[tomazbodner]

50 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I am still finding my way around the upgraded Win 10, which is much the same as the older version, except this version seems to update anytime someone as much as sneezes.

 

I followed your instructions and this is what I have.

 

It looks as though I don't have 5G WiFi

 

While the system still works though the download isn't what I hoped, I will come back to this thread and have a better idea of what I need.

 

Thank you for your help once again, and to all the other posters who helped as well.

 

 

Qualcomm QCA9377 supports 5GHz AC mode: https://www.qualcomm.com/products/technology/wi-fi/qca9377 but only about 4xx mbps.

 

Click on Preferred Band and choose 5GHz, and Wireless Mode choose 802.11ac, as per your screenshot. Hope that shows 5G networks when searching for them.

[billd766]

5 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Qualcomm QCA9377 supports 5GHz AC mode: https://www.qualcomm.com/products/technology/wi-fi/qca9377 but only about 4xx mbps.

 

Click on Preferred Band and choose 5GHz, and Wireless Mode choose 802.11ac, as per your screenshot. Hope that shows 5G networks when searching for them.

My 3BB router doesn't support the 5 GHz mode.

[tomazbodner]

12 hours ago, billd766 said:

My 3BB router doesn't support the 5 GHz mode.

That is quite hard to believe. Every router 3BB had in past 10 years supports 5GHz, although it is possible to turn that off in settings - in Wifi settings in router you need to enable 5GHz and create another network (give it a name and password... say same as your other Wifi but add 5G at the end or something) and choose channel - the lower channels have longer range, but are more popular and hence could have more interference, if you live in a condo. You can download a free app "Wifi analyzer" for your phone (there is one for Android, never checked for iPhone), and if your phone supports 5GHz, you can see both 2.4 and 5GHz networks on a graph, so you can select channel that has nothing else, as low as possible.

 

Else if router is really old, complain to 3BB that router is unstable and loses Wifi many times in the day (which you know because all your devices tell you that there is no internet at the same time), and ask for a new one. You can't prove that, but neither can they, so to keep customer they'd likely give you a new one.

[The Fugitive]

I have learned much from this thread. Thanks for taking the time and trouble to assist.

[somchaismith]

???? Reading back through p.3 posts leads me to believe that the OP doesn't know the difference between 5G and 5Ghz.

[billd766]

4 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

That is quite hard to believe. Every router 3BB had in past 10 years supports 5GHz, although it is possible to turn that off in settings - in Wifi settings in router you need to enable 5GHz and create another network (give it a name and password... say same as your other Wifi but add 5G at the end or something) and choose channel - the lower channels have longer range, but are more popular and hence could have more interference, if you live in a condo. You can download a free app "Wifi analyzer" for your phone (there is one for Android, never checked for iPhone), and if your phone supports 5GHz, you can see both 2.4 and 5GHz networks on a graph, so you can select channel that has nothing else, as low as possible.

 

Else if router is really old, complain to 3BB that router is unstable and loses Wifi many times in the day (which you know because all your devices tell you that there is no internet at the same time), and ask for a new one. You can't prove that, but neither can they, so to keep customer they'd likely give you a new one.

That is a good idea, I might try that.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, somchaismith said:

???? Reading back through p.3 posts leads me to believe that the OP doesn't know the difference between 5G and 5Ghz.

The OP knows how to build commission and integrate cellular base stations world wide. Do you? I have been in the cellular industry since 1987 and cut my teeth on 1G, if you know what that was.

 

Many people know far more than me about computers because I was never an IT engineer, which is why when I get stuck I am not too proud to ask for help.

 

Your post however, is of no help at all.

[Rimmer]

A troll post has been removed