Question upgraded internet to 1gig, not getting full speed on wireless

[905doc]

Hello,

I just recently upgraded to att gigbit internet. I have a Dell xps 9550 laptop and asus rt-ac66r router. On wifi I only get max speeds of 300ish mbps down, this is on my laptop and even worse on my iphone and pixel. I went and bought a ugreen ethernet to usb adapter to try and see if hardwiring is better and behold it is, hardwired I get full speeds at 900 mbps roughly. My question is do I need to upgrade my router or network adapter in my laptop to see the same speeds on wifi? Ideally i'd like to hardwire it but the rooms are too far apart so it is not feasible, plus I'm renting so drilling holes and adding new wall outlet's isn't a option.

 

[mnewsham]

You'll pretty much never see full gig speeds over wifi.

Also, remember, wifi is a two part equation, it depends on the wifi router or access point, as WELL as the client device (your laptop or cell phone).

If you have a 4x4 or 8x8 high end router, then you try and connect to it with a 1x1 or 2x2 client device, then you're going to be limited to the maximum speed of that 1x1 or 2x2 radio, NOT the 4x4 or 8x8 radio on your router.

Beyond that, signal strength will also heavily impact performance, unless you're in the same room with no large obstructions between you and the router, don't expect full speeds. Another issue can be wireless frequency congestion in your local area, this can be especially bad in urban apartment settings.

You can also look into using wider wifi channels, 40mhz, 80mhz, or 160mhz if your devices support it.


Your current router supports 3x3 802.11ac, as does your laptop. So theoretically you should be capable of 600mbps or more, but you'd likely need to be standing within 5 feet of the router for that.

 

[905doc]

You'll pretty much never see full gig speeds over wifi.

Also, remember, wifi is a two part equation, it depends on the wifi router or access point, as WELL as the client device (your laptop or cell phone).

If you have a 4x4 or 8x8 high end router, then you try and connect to it with a 1x1 or 2x2 client device, then you're going to be limited to the maximum speed of that 1x1 or 2x2 radio, NOT the 4x4 or 8x8 radio on your router.

Beyond that, signal strength will also heavily impact performance, unless you're in the same room with no large obstructions between you and the router, don't expect full speeds. Another issue can be wireless frequency congestion in your local area, this can be especially bad in urban apartment settings.

You can also look into using wider wifi channels, 40mhz, 80mhz, or 160mhz if your devices support it.


Your current router supports 3x3 802.11ac, as does your laptop. So theoretically you should be capable of 600mbps or more, but you'd likely need to be standing within 5 feet of the router for that.

Thanks, and makes sense what you mentioned. I just figured maybe I could get in that 600-700mbps range, I'm about 8-10 feet from the router, but seems like with 1 gig connection wired is the only way to go.

 

[mnewsham]

Thanks, and makes sense what you mentioned. I just figured maybe I could get in that 600-700mbps range, I'm about 8-10 feet from the router, but seems like with 1 gig connection wired is the only way to go.

As I said, you can try to configure DFS channels with 40mhz channel width or more to try and eke out more performance. But it's highly dependent on radio frequency in your area and your specific devices.

Generally, with wifi i'm satisfied if i'm getting more than 300mbps, though sitting directly next to my router I can manage 500-600mbps.

 

[pcslookout]

I am happy getting 50 Mbps on wireless or at least 100 Mbps.

Who needs more than 100 Mbps on a wireless device ?

 

[Fallen Kell]

Who needs more than 100 Mbps on a wireless device ?

People trying to stream HD video to a 4K TV that they didn't hardwire....

 

[mnewsham]

People trying to stream HD video to a 4K TV that they didn't hardwire....

Nah, even HDR 4K60FPS YouTube videos are only ~30mbps. I don't know of any streaming service that can break 100mbps with a single stream.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Honestly, I get 200Mbit/sec from my FIOS G1100 router on 5Ghz AC band, that's good enough for me. The rest of my network (aka NOT my laptops and cell phone(s)), are all wired. When I had gigabit service from FIOS, they all connected at 900Mbit/sec+.

Yes, for "true gigabit" you REALLY need wired. Although, AX ("wifi 6") with 160Mhz channels gets pretty close, so I hear. I don't have any AX client devices yet.