Weak WiFi speed on desktop

[#1]

Hi all, I've recently had fibre braodband and everything has now settled, normal laptop wifi I'm getting around 50-60 mbps and an upload of around 20 and completely happy with this.  However my wireless desktop pc I'm only getting 12-15 mbps and an upload of around the same.  I've positioned my laoptop in same position as desktop and the laptop still achieves its 50 mbps.

My desktop had an old wifi dongle of just 54 mbps so I thought this is the problem so I purchased one of the latest wifi dongles with 300mbps but still the same issue and no improvement.

My pc wifi signal strength in bottom right hand coorner of pc screen is showing 'Very Good' and shows speed of 58 mbps but when I do an online speed test the most it achieves is the 12-15 mbps.

Can anyone advise why and if there is a solution?

Many thanks in advance

[#2]

Is there no way to connect the desktop wired to the router ?

[#3]

Unfortunately not, the desktop is in another room, I don't really want to have to dismantle all the connections and set up etc...it just seems odd that laptops are fine, the signal is fine, everything should be ok.  Any ideas?  I am expecting another pc over the next few weeks and i suppose this will confirm if its something in my present desktop, but I can't think what it could be anyway

[#4]

Are your laptops relatively new and perhaps fitted with dual band wifi adapters which are able to connect to Hub One using less congested 5 GHz wifi band ?

The new USB adapter you purchased for your desktop sounds like a single band 2.4 GHz wifi adapter if it is rated at 300mbps.   If it is one of those cheap flash drive sized adapters, the aerials within them are pretty poor compared to what is usually fitted in laptops. Also if you live in a congested wifi area, then wifi speeds using the adapter will be adversely affected.  

If you are using Windows, In 'ideal' conditions, I would expect a link speed of 144 mbps (ie. 72mbps down + 72mbps up = 144mbps total) from a N300 adapter, so your 58mbps is poor.

Have you considered trying a pair of powerline adapters if you can't install an ethernet cable?  

ie. use the mains electrical wiring to connect PC to the Hub One.

[#5]

I would be tempted to wait until the new PC arrives and see how that fares.

Brian

[#6]

If you log into the Hub One, I recall you can determine which frequency band, 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, your devices are using.

Alternatively, you can try splitting the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands and experiment with your wireless devices if they are dual band compatible.

https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/2-4ghz-and-or-5ghz-best-practice/td-p/1351950

[#7]

The adaptor is a 11ac dual band 5.8GHz+2.4Ghz - Soft AP, so not one of the cheap and cheerful ones, I specifically shopped around and read reviews. The laptops are 2-3 years old and not hifgh spec (one's a HP Chromebook). I didn't know that 58mbps is classed as poor, thanks I need to learn more.  My desktop is quite old though and still running XP Pro.  I will look into powerline adapters as again I don't know much about them.  It may be that when I get higher spec tower that all will improve.

Thank you so much for your advice, will keep you posted

[#8]

It does sound like a single band adapter.

The minimum standard you should really use these days is dual band AC.

This dual band adapter is only £14 from Argos!

posts crossed due to shoddy forum software

[#9]

---

@JoeB1 wrote:

The adaptor is a 11ac dual band 5.8GHz+2.4Ghz - Soft AP, so not one of the cheap and cheerful ones, I specifically shopped around and read reviews.

---

Was it one that looked like the picture below with a detachable aerial?  Was it branded or was it a Chinese label?  I bought a similar one recently and it only managed 3-5 Mbps download speed on 802.11ac with the router in the same room - I think it was either faulty or poor quality control.  There are many similar ones on Amazon which sell for £10-15.  An older D-link USB adapter worked at over 50Mbps on the same PC on 2.4GHz.  I don't know why these Chinese sellers advertise their adapters as working at 5.8GHz when it should be 5Ghz.

[#10]

The one I have is Chinese but says 802.11b/g/n (also ac compatible) and data transfer of 433Mbps , apparently 3 times faster than 802.11g. Dual band.  It had loads of top reviews compared to thers so bought this one, I didn't buy an antenna.

I have a new pc arriving tomorrow so will try that one and see if it is my old desktop spec that's the problem and will post back here.

[#11]

I have a similar problem. If I do a speedtest with my laptop I get full 55/10Mbps performance. An Ipad in the exact same position is quite random with speeds anywhere between 15 and 35Mbps download.

I suspect that the cause is an EE base station located very close to our house swamping the front end receiver of the Ipad whilst the laptop receiver has better rejection filters fitted. This article refers to such an issue:

https://steveharveynz.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/can-cellphone-towers-affect-wifi-performance/

For reference EE 3G operates at 2.1GHz and 4G 2.6GHz