What is a reasonable drop in speed for Wi-Fi?

[#1]

Hi

I have recently joined Plusnet (3/4 weeks ago). I'm getting 37Mb/s (what I paid for) when connected to my Hub One direct with an Ethernet cable. As soon as I switch to Wi-Fi, the speed drops. In the same room, three meters away, facing the router, I'm getting about 32Mb/s. On the floor below, I'm getting about 20 Mb/s.

I've previously been on TalkTalk, and before that, BT. I don't remember this level of signal drop before.

Is this what one should expect on Plusnet, with the Hub One? The technical support people were not very interested.

Thanks

[#2]

WiFi reception is a "dark" art - there is no right and wrong. From what you say it appears your Hub is working reasonably well hence technical support are not interested.

It can depend on both the Hub and the equipment used to access the hub wirelessly. If you have a combination that doesn't work well together then that's your problem, not the ISP's.

There are various articles around on how to check / improve WiFi speed. One thing you can do is too install a network scanner to see if you're suffering congestion in the signal. If you use Windows look for a program called "inSSIDer" v3 - it's a free network scanner.

Brian

[#3]

Are you using 2.4GHz or 5GHz?  If you haven't separated the bands then do that and compare speeds on the two bands - the 5GHz signal will degrade more quickly particularly if you have thick walls.  Are you using a laptop to connect - you might be able to upgrade the wireless card - some are only 1x1 instead of 2x2.

[#4]

Hi, it seems your router is working as it should. What frequency band or you on, 2.4ghz or the 5ghz? The 5ghz frequency is less congested but you have to be in good distance to it or you will certainly have issues. Is there anything near your plusnet hub that may be causing interference? Speakers, cordless phones and such? If yes, please distance them out! Also check out other devices if you can. Sometimes they seem to be the culprit

[#5]

Thanks to all who have responded. There are a few possible culprits for signal interference - cordless phone and baby monitor are both nearby. Turning these off seems to occasionally make a small difference but I'm not absolutely certain. I have played about with the 2.4/5GHz settings but it doesn't seem to make much difference. 

I think the answer for me will be to invest in some quality Powerline adapters for those machines that need the full speed.