PC Slow On Fast WiFi Network

[ExPatLondoner]

Last week I upgraded my AT&T home network to 100Mbps fiber.

All my devices run at close to 100Mbps (Macbook, iPhone, iPad) except my Win 10 v1803 PC.

I installed a new TP-Link T9E AC1900 dual-band PCI card, but I'm getting 20Mbps download speeds from Speednet.

Originally my PC was far from the router, but I moved it to 6ft away, and still getting same slow speeds.

The PC is a 2011 Dell 8300 with i7-2600 3.4Ghz CPU. There is an existing 2.4GHz wifi mini-card which I disabled.

I'd be grateful for any help in figuring out why my PC wifi speed is slow.
Thanks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wifi sucks. You need an AC (802.11ac, 2x2 stream or better) to get decent speeds.

PCI-E cards don't have the CPU overhead that USB3.0 AC wifi dongles do, but likewise, unless they have antennas that come with a cable, so that you can mount them higher and away from the back of the PC, then you're probably going to have signal problems regardless.

I recommend a 5-6 foot USB3.0 (blue, shielded) Extension cable, plugged into a rear USB3.0 port on the back of the PC, and then route that cable up to your desk, and plug in a USB3.0 AC wifi dongle. I recommend the PremierTek one, with the RealTek 8812AU chipset (2x2 AC), or the Aukey, with the RealTek 8814AU chipset (3x3 AC). Both can be had under $30, check ebay. PremierTek has their own store on ebay, best bet for good pricing on that one, I haven't found an official Aukey dealer yet, but there are smatterings of smaller dealers that carry them, including US sellers.

I get 500-600 Mbit/sec to my 3x3 AC1900 Asus AC68R, when I configure 80Mhz channels.

Is there a reason that you can't go wired, for your desktop PC? If it's not mobile, then it should be wired. Even consider a MOCA bridge unit, if you have CATV Coax handy at both locations, or consider a Powerline networking kit. Or a Wireless Media Bridge, those can be had fairly inexpensively, although you'll pay for an AC1900 one.

 

[ExPatLondoner]

Thanks for your help.

The antennas on TP-Link AC1900 card don't come with a cable. They're on the card bracket.

I have an older PC, so my USB ports are not USB3, but thanks for the idea.

Unfortunately my router had to be placed on the other side of the house to where my PC is, so I can't go wired.

I have someone from TP-Link trying to figure out my problem. If that fails, I'll try Powerline, or a Wireless Media Bridge. Am I right in saying that a WMB is just a router configured as a bridge?

 

[VirtualLarry]

If that fails, I'll try Powerline, or a Wireless Media Bridge. Am I right in saying that a WMB is just a router configured as a bridge?

Correct. It's just a router or AP, configured as a Wireless Bridge. I'm using a TrendNet model, I forget which one offhand, it's an AC1200 model, probably 2x2, for a couple of my PCs in the living room that I couldn't easily run a cable to, without tripping over it daily. Most of my other PCs are all wired, though.

I find that in most cases, WMB are the way to go, if you have separate network "Zones", that aren't easily wired together. Having a separate appliance to connect to your main router, and then just wiring those PCs from there, tends to be more reliable for 24x7-type operation, than giving each of those PCs a wifi card, and expecting it to work 24x7. (It also tends to be more compatible with Linux and dual-booting.)