Drop In Download Speed On Fibre Plus

[#1]

HI.

I bought a new laptop the Predator Helios 300 and I downloaded my games from steam, using wifi now the wifi on these laptops are MIMO which is says is 2x faster wireless. Not sure if that means anything to be honest. Anyway, im downloading using wifi at 2.5mbps. This to me is really bad, considering Im on Fibre Plus.

I insert an ethernet cable and stick the laptop near the router and Im downloading at 8.7mbps. So I leave it there for a bit while I download, I take out the ethernet cable and with leaving the laptop right were it is, next to the router/hub, it drops again, so is there a problem with the wifi on the Plusnet Router/Hub?

To be honest, im not happy at all. I know your not supposed to get top download speeds via WIFI, but come on 6mbps drop from ethernet to WIFI is alot to consider there is a problem somewere.

[#2]

Are you saying that on a wired connection you were only getting 8.7 Mbps download speed?

What speed did Plusnet promise you when they moved you to fibre? Is it a recent move?

[#3]

I honestly cant remember what they promised me, But im gonna say something between 70 and 80mbps connection when I went to Fibre extra/plus or whatever it is called.

I will submit a picture of my connection when its connected via a cable.

But yeah that is all im getting 8.7mbps. Im happy with that to be honest, its the wifi that im not happy with.

I use speedtest.net website for my results, I also get the same results using the BT speedtest website.

[#4]

I'm confused. That is showing 71 Mbps download and 18 Mbps upload, which is what you might expect from Fibre Plus, not the 8 Mbps that you mentioned in your posts. Is the lower speed perhaps something that you get at particular times of day, for example in the evening?

Going back to your original question, could you post a speedtest using wifi please, similar to that you just posted for the wired connection?

[#5]

When I am downloading, Im downloading at 8.7mbps using an ethernet cable. That isnt the problem, the problem I have is when I take out the ethernet cable the speed drops to around 2mbps, even when the laptop is right next to the Plusnet Hub.

Ive attached a picture of my connection using WIFI.

[#6]

Are you confusing units?

Download speeds are usually measured in Mbps (mega bits per second). When downloading files, the pop-up or status shown on-screen often displays the download rate in MBps (upper case B in this case is bytes, not bits).

Eight bits make up one byte, so a download rate reported in MBps is around 1/8th the rate compared to Mbps.

8.7 MBps x 8 bits/byte is approx 70 Mbps.

[#7]

I do understand what your saying, I was just showing my drop rate, from Ethernet to WIFI. It shouldnt drop that much surely.

Im getting the right speeds using ethernet, but on 5ghz wifi, its dropping massivly.

[#8]

Sorry to hear you're having issues.

If the connection is only performing poor over wireless then we'd recommend going through the steps here to see if that improves things.

Let us know how you get on.

[#9]

Ive moved the router, to the shelf above the one it was sitting on, not really much more I can do with the poistion of the router.

Ive also tried channels channels on the wireless settings in the router, but even tho it says smart wireless automatic, i did change the channels and tried the ones suggested in the link u gave me, Im still having the same problem.

[#10]

@JwattsUK

Going back to your question: The wifi speedtest that you quoted seems to suggest that your wifi is working. The test showed a download speed of 26 Mbps compared to a ethernet speed of 71Mbps. I'm not an expert on wifi, but I would have expected degradation in performance compared to an ethernet connection and what you are seeing on downloads may be within limits.

I've been pondering on the numbers that you have been quoting for your download speed and why they do not tie up with what speedtest is reporting. Could it be this: Browsers, and many download packages, give a download speed while they are active. Is that where you are getting those figures? And, to pick up @maranello 's point, are they bits not bytes?

If that speed is accurate (and on my system it varies significantly during the course of the download) then there are several possibilities why your system is reporting 8 Mbps when speedtest shows 71 Mbps. One is that the website you are downloading from is busy and cannot sustain a higher rate. Another, that when you are downloading - any particular time of day? - your connection is saturated. Either by something else happening on your system, or a problem at the exchange.

[#11]

But surely the speed dropping from ethernet to wifi being round about 6mbps download speed is a massive drop and isnt correct.

The ethernet speed is perfect, im happy with that. Its the WIFI speed, why cant i get 8mbps on wifi or even 4 or 6mbps. Why am i only getting 2mbps. Im sat right next to the router downloading the same game I was downloading with ethernet.

[#12]

As others have advised above I think we may be getting terminology confused here

The speedtest you carried out on wireless was 24Mbps which is 3MB/s which is a different measurement completely as advised above

[#13]

Right ok, Ignore what i said about the speeds, take the pictures I have uploaded into account.

Why is the speeds from the pictures so much different, WIFI being so low then it is with ethernet cable. That is a massive drop.

[#14]

A google search may lead people to believe it is quite a common problem with that laptop!

[#15]

Due to the way Wi-Fi works there's numerous things that can cause issues. Do you have any other devices that connect over Wi-Fi to see if that has the same issue?