Internet speed troubles - Anyone know whats going on here?

[jimrawr]

Yesterday I had AT&T come out to my house and upgrade me to a 100mb/100mb connection. On some devices I am getting good speeds, on others really terrible speeds. I do not know what could be the cause so I am looking for some insight.

iMac - 1mb/5mb
Samsung S6 - 100/100
Samsung S7 - 100/100
Custom Gaming PC
*w/ Netgear WNCE2001 - 40/40
*w/ Panda PAU06 Wireless Adapter - 15/15
Surface Pro 3 30/30 (I have tested the surface at other times when it got 100/100, but its generally lower)

When I connect to the modem wired, the speed is 100/100.

So what's allowing my Galaxy phones to have much higher speeds than my other devices? Why the heck is the iMac only getting 1mb download speeds? Since my Gaming PC gets different speeds depending on wireless adapter I am using, it makes me think I dont have wireless devices on my computers, but everything I have is rated for 300MB.

Thanks for any help

 

[VirtualLarry]

Welcome to the wonderful, wild, wild, world of wireless, and compatibility / signal-strength / interference issues.

Your experience is not abnormal, sad to say.

"N300" wireless, is just a theoretical maximum, and applies to a single device, generally.

If you want faster wireless, move up to AC1200 or AC1750. That's what I did. PremierTek AC1200 Realtek-chipset USB3.0 adapters, and an AC1200 AP, grafted onto my network.

 

[Fardringle]

The "rating" on a wireless device is just a theoretical maximum, as VirtualLarry said. If you want to get anywhere near (but never actually AT) the realistic maximum speeds, you need to have good quality equipment, good environment (little to no interference from other wireless radio sources), short distance between devices, and some luck.

How old is the iMac? It's entirely possible that it only has a B wireless adapter in it, which will never get good speeds even in an absolutely perfect environment. Using a B adapter in an N environment can sometimes cause problems with speed on the other devices as well.

For the gaming PC, I've never had good results from any "stick" USB wireless adapter like the Panda. Even when they do work fairly well, they tend to overheat quickly and then performance suffers a lot. The Netgear bridge should work acceptably as long as it is configured properly and is not too far from the main router since it has VERY limited useful range. However, for a gaming PC you really should run a wire directly to the router as wired is always better for situations that depend on a reliable connection with low latency (games).

 

[VirtualLarry]

For the gaming PC, I've never had good results from any "stick" USB wireless adapter like the Panda. Even when they do work fairly well, they tend to overheat quickly and then performance suffers a lot. The Netgear bridge should work acceptably as long as it is configured properly and is not too far from the main router since it has VERY limited useful range. However, for a gaming PC you really should run a wire directly to the router as wired is always better for situations that depend on a reliable connection with low latency (games).

Generally, for best connection for gaming, you want a Wired Ethernet connection. If that's not available, then consider a Wireless Media Bridge, and connect the PC wired to the bridge, and configure it wireless to talk to your AP. (Preferably, both will be AC1200 or better.)

Worse yet, is a USB wireless dongle, which, you may need to get a USB3.0 extension cable, so that you can maneuver the dongle to where you get the best signal, and get it up higher, like on a desk. That's a full-size dongle, that I'm talking about.

Pretty-much, NEVER use those little "nano wireless dongles". They overheat easily, when subjected to a constant connection load, and burn out. The distinct lack of antenna on them, means that they have poor connection / speed, even when they are functional.

Edit: I've had good luck with the PremierTek PT-8812 USB3.0 AC1200 Wifi dongles, which have the RealTek RTL8812AU chipset. They work with the built-in drivers in Windows 10, and I use the Edimax-branded RealTek drivers for the units in Windows 7. Linux support is also possible, although not built into the kernel. You have to download from a GIT repository, and compile your own kernel modules. (I believe that Mint 18 will do that automagically for you, if you go into Driver Manager.)

 

[John Connor]

Ditch WIFI. I wired the house up myself. Only thing that now uses WIFI is the phone and laptop.

They do sell WIFI amps on eBay (which may be illegal) and this: https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wi-Fi-Extender-Essentials-EX2700/dp/B00L0YLRUW?tag=techu4ria-20