Question 2 laptops side by side but wildly different wifi/internet speeds?

[JEDI]

home network (verizon).
google speed test in Chrome.

both laptops are side by side and 5' from the router.

laptop1 (win 10 home, intel 10th gen processor, 2020): 3.6 mbps d/l, 8.4 mbps upload
laptop2 (win 7 pro, Intel 4th gen processor, 2016): 52.7 mbps d/l, 6.5 mbps upload

i also tried running the speedtest on laptop 2 first, then laptop1.
same results.

Why is wifi so much slower on the newer laptop?
What's going on???


edit:
so i decided to connect a 'cat 6' cable from the router to the laptops.
laptop 1: 15mbps d/l, 54mbps upload
laptop 2: 80mbps d/l, 11mbps upload

i used the same cat6 cable and used the same Ethernet port on the router.

What is wrong with laptop 1?!?!
why is it so slow?

 

[SamMaster]

What are the specific models of the laptops in question? What model / brand are the WiFi and Ethernet devices?

One using W10H and the other W7P tell me there are part quality differences. What hard drives they are using might affect performance as well, though a bit of a stretch.

 

[JEDI]

What are the specific models of the laptops in question? What model / brand are the WiFi and Ethernet devices?

One using W10H and the other W7P tell me there are part quality differences. What hard drives they are using might affect performance as well, though a bit of a stretch.

Laptop1 (win10) is Dell Inspiron 3593:
(will update with network specs)

laptop2 (win7) is an old Dell e5250:
Intel wireless ac-7265
ethernet: i218-LM
128gig ssd

 

[mxnerd]

Turn off SmartByte Network Service?

New Inspiron 15 - slow wired and wireless Internet | DELL Technologies

I am having an issue with download speeds on a brand new Inspiron 15 3000 series. It arrived a couple of days ago. Both wired and wi-fi internet is very slow compared to other devices on my networ...

www.dell.com

 

[JEDI]

Turn off SmartByte Network Service?

New Inspiron 15 - slow wired and wireless Internet | DELL Technologies

I am having an issue with download speeds on a brand new Inspiron 15 3000 series. It arrived a couple of days ago. Both wired and wi-fi internet is very slow compared to other devices on my networ...

www.dell.com

disabled it and the other Rivet software (ap selector service).
rebooted.

same

 

[SamMaster]

With a quick search, looks like it comes with a Qualcomm WiFi, witch I consider to be subpar as an ex on-site Dell tech. And according to this document here, the Ethernet port is only 10/100.

Matter of fact is your older laptop is an enterprise class that has better hardware versus a cheap home system designed to cut costs.

 

[JEDI]

With a quick search, looks like it comes with a Qualcomm WiFi, witch I consider to be subpar as an ex on-site Dell tech. And according to this document here, the Ethernet port is only 10/100.

Matter of fact is your older laptop is an enterprise class that has better hardware versus a cheap home system designed to cut costs.

you were right about the Qualcomm wifi:

Slow wifi download speed - solved (not Smartbyte) | DELL Technologies

Hello, I found solution for very slow wifi speed for my new inspiron 3000 on reddit. I still had the problem after I uninstalled Smartbyte, so this saved me from returning the product. The downloa...

www.dell.com

following the steps in the link increased wifi to 18 mbps d/l.
great improvement over the 4mbps but still not the 50mbps that my older laptop got.


also doesnt explain why the internet speed is so slow when i connect lan cable directly from the router?

 

[SamMaster]

100Mb ethernet on laptop 1 vs 1Gb ethernet on laptop 2. Doesn't explain the discrepancy, but it might also show the card quality.

A quick research shows that Qualcomm can have issues with QoS and WMM so try disabling those on your router. Also Smart byte can also affect wired connections, so if you haven't uninstalled it you could try now.

Edit: so I noticed just now you already did the QoS, sorry.

 

[JEDI]

100Mb ethernet on laptop 1 vs 1Gb ethernet on laptop 2. Doesn't explain the discrepancy, but it might also show the card quality.

A quick research shows that Qualcomm can have issues with QoS and WMM so try disabling those on your router. Also Smart byte can also affect wired connections, so if you haven't uninstalled it you could try now.

Edit: so I noticed just now you already did the QoS, sorry.

yup, Smartbyte uninstalled and WMM turned off.
(Smart byte seems to stay uninstalled after multiple reboots. maybe Dell updated the software to stop being a reanimated zombie?)

but something in the networking in laptop1 is screwed up since both wifi and lan cable isnt reaching the internet speeds of the older laptop2.

ran Dell software update and everything is up to date.

 

[SamMaster]

Might need to install a clean installation of Windows 10 I guess, or maybe test with a linux bootable USB? Some have reported that it helps.