Help me understand my router Speedtest results

[Denis54]

I have a 10 Mbps internet plan.

When I connect my computer to my router with a cable, my Speedtest result is 10.45 Mbps. Which is fine.

When I use wireless, I get 6.45 Mbps. My router is rated at 300 Mbps and my wireless adapter is rated at 300 + 300 Mbps

Is it normal that I get such significantly slower results when using wireless?

 

[smitbret]

I have a 10 Mbps internet plan.

When I connect my computer to my router with a cable, my Speedtest result is 10.45 Mbps. Which is fine.

When I use wireless, I get 6.45 Mbps. My router is rated at 300 Mbps and my wireless adapter is rated at 300 + 300 Mbps

Is it normal that I get such significantly slower results when using wireless?

Not that low.

How far away from the router are you when you run the test?
How many obstructions?
Are you using 2.4GHz or 5GHz?

 

[Denis54]

I am only about 6 feet away from my router with no walls in between. I use 2.4 GHz

 

[JackMDS]

The rating of Wireless devices (like 300+300 etc.) has little to do with the Real World performance of the Wireless.

The rating defines the "Speed's" capacity of the core chip-set.

OEM Chipset's manufacturers (there are only 6 companies that actually design and sell core Wireless products) can Not account for the overall design of the electronics and it is put together by the general manufacturers (Dell, HP, Sony, Lenovo, Asus, Linksys, Buffalo, etc.).

Wireless is highly dependent on placement of the components, Antenna construction, Matching impedance and the environment.

The vendors that put together the components of the Computing devices (Wireless cards, Wireless Router,Laptops, Computers. etc.) do not provide us with the overall performance of their particular Devices. They just use the core specs of the product for marketing purposes.

Thus you are the proud tester that told us that when using your specific system (which you did not even bothered to mentions its make) in your specific environment you get only 60% of what the core chip set states as provided by the OEM components' manufacturer.


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That said what a user can do is to make sure that his/her Network is configured correctly.

This can be used to tune Windows parameters.

TCP Optimizer v3.0.8

Make sure that your Wireless router is set correctly and the Wireless Card in the Computer is set for MAX performance.

 

[VirtualLarry]

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That said what a user can do is to make sure that his/her Network is configured correctly.

This can be used to tune Windows parameters.

TCP Optimizer v3.0.8

Just a note: From Windows 7 onwards, Microsoft's built-in TCP/IP stack is "Autotuning". Meaning, that if you use an "Optimizer", it may do more harm than good. You should familiarize yourself with doing a "TCP/IP stack reset" in those OSes, as well, so that you can do some A/B testing, between the "optimized" and "default (autotuning)" TCP/IP stack states.

 

[azazel1024]

Typical performance when close to a router or access point with the client, with a relatively clean RF environment is 50-65% of the rated speed. Under the most pristine and ideal circumstances with an excellent hardware and software stack, you are looking at around 80% for 802.11n depending on any possible extensions and optimizations that the base station and client can do.

The rest is lost through forward error correction overhead (IE the extra 1's and 0's inserted as parity data so that the base station and client can check to make sure that the data it is getting isn't corrupted by interference). It is quite litterally impossible to get better than 80% performance without extensions to the 802.11n specifications.

That said, ideally the chipset/radio is speaking at 300Mbps per second, just 20% of the 300 megabits every second is error correction. Of course rare is there an "ideal" chain, so you have loses do to resending packets, chipsets that can't keep up with the radio, poor amplifiers which distort some of the received or transmitted RF, etc.

Anyway, in your specific case, you haven't said where the client and the router are located. I'd assume not terribly close if you are only getting ~6Mbps on a 10Mbps connection. If far away/through several walls, old crappy router, etc that is entirely likely to only get 6Mbps.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I have an Engenius ESR1200 AC1200 router, in my bedroom where the FIOS is. I have several PCs in my living room with PremierTek PT-8812AU USB3.0 AC1200 adapters. Not all of the PCs have USB3.0. Regardless, I get link speeds of 580Mbit/sec, and actual file-copy throughput (using Windows File Sharing) to my NAS in the bedroom connected via gigabit wired to the router, of up to 16-17MB/sec.

On all of the PCs, I can easily hit my max internet speed of 30Mbit/sec.

Granted, that's just one room over, with one wall in-between, and not a huge distance to travel.

However, when I was on N150 2.4Ghz, on one of the PCs with a Realtek USB N300 adapter from Monoprice, I struggled to hit more than 1.5-2Mbit/sec. 802.11ac has really helped me, along with those AC1200 USB adapters.

 

[JackMDS]

Just a note: From Windows 7 onwards, Microsoft's built-in TCP/IP stack is "Autotuning". TCP/IP stack states.

While the above is true, the tool that I mentioned is different from most tools of this kind.

I.e., it does not do every thing on Auto, it lets you examine the current status and make an informed decision before you change anything.

That said if One is a total "ignoramus" in thess issues he should not not use the tool or any other tool for this matter.

 

[Denis54]

The problem was the brand new Linksys EA6200 router that my daughter had just bought for her condo.

I did the same test with my TrendNet TEW-639GR router that is about 5 years old and got 10+ Mbps with both RJ45 and wireless.

The Linksys is going back to the store.