Full Fibre 300 - slow download speeds. Am I missing something?

[#1]

@andyt1970 

just make sure you're PC has a USB 3 port, a USB 2 port might not perform as expected.

[#2]

Just out of interest, bearing in mind that the 5Ghz band is only effective over shorter, less impeded, distances - how far is your 'office' from the router, and how many wall and floors are in the way?

[#3]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

Hub 2 is on open 6 foot high bookcase in hall against side of stairs, next to the under stair pantry. The top of Hub 2 is nearly adjacent to where stairs then turn right at top then there's 3 more stairs until on landing. Desktop PC is in entrance of main bedroom opposite top step of stairs in the doorway (allowing for door opening!), so I'd say no more than 15 foot away from Hub 2 if using a piece of string to measure it round corners! Just don't want OH moaning if it keeps dropping which will cue endless calls to me when in the real office screaming "Whats this flashing new dongle in the computer. Why isn't the internet working? You need to fix it now", you get the gist. 

I hopefully wouldn't get disconnects and dropouts with a replacement PCI-E card, but can walk to ARGOS tomorrow at buy it straight away and try it (non refundable though I believe).

[#4]

@andyt1970  it's unfortunate that no forum moderators or whoever can do it have released the images of your speed tests from earlier today. So we don't know how fantastic your speeds were.☹️

This stupid delay on posted images is ruining the general usefulness of the forum but I don't suppose the upper levels will accept that it just doesn't work.

[#5]

@RealAleMadrid I requested release within seconds of them being posted, but it is perfectly clear the 'upper levels' as you call them have taken advantage of the Online Surveillance Act - sorry, Online Safety Act, to neutralise the forums usefulness, for some reason best known only to themselves.

[#6]

There you go chaps

[#7]

This is clearly a WiFi / environmental issue, not a connection problem.  Invariably this will be the case, WiFi performance can be impacted by multiple factors including the characteristics of other nearby WiFi networks.

Is this a simple router only set up or are their WiFi repeaters involved which will drastically degrade overall WiFi performance: yes they improve coverage but at the expense of performance.

It would be worthwhile installing inSSIDer to inspect the local WiFi spectrum - what other WiFi networks are there and what channels are they using.  Are there anti social networks using channels other than 1, 6 or 11?  Configuring the router to use a less congested channel or one which avoids off channel overlap could make a marked difference to wifi performance.

As for the SWMBO issues, you might explore the use of Ethernet over power adapters to get Ethernet where you need it.  That will never be as good as a proper Ethernet connection but dLAN 1200 devices drive a 300mbps connection close to its capacity.

[#8]

@Townman 

This issue can be split into two parts

1) work laptop providing erroneous speedtest results, looking at the network card properties post it was connected to 5GHz channel 36  (see post #27) the conclusion to me was, being the work laptop was not the best testing device. See post #37 and #39 as the download speed with no VPN was around 300Mbps.

2) private desktop connecting with a "realtek rtl8192EE wireless lan 802.11n pci-e nic"  and Nokia C21 Plus Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n).

With a 2.4GHz 20MHz band 802.11n the maximum expected speed to be up to 72 Mbps with overheads that would give a speedtest connection of around 50 Mbps see post #40.

Example forcing a 2.4GHz connection

InterfaceDescription : Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9461
Status               : Up
LinkSpeed            : 72.2 Mbps
ReceiveLinkSpeed     : 72200000
TransmitLinkSpeed    : 72200000
Signal               : 88%
Rssi                 : -50

Speedtest result
Download:  47.25 Mbps
Upload:    52.58 Mbps 

It's worth noting some routers 2.4Ghz band use 40MHz bandwidth which will congest the local spectrum more.

Personally I would be less concerned about the actual connection speed rather than does the connection speed impact my day to day usage. My laptop only achieves around 320 download speeds which is more than enough. I have a 900/100 Full Fibre connection.

As with this topic local variables can have a impact on the overall performance of Wireless connections

[#9]

@Dan_the_Van 

That is a great summary of the whole speed concerns space.  WiFi is typically the limiting factor, not the down link … and in reality for a single device, this has little material impact on usability.

i get nearly 80mbps synch speed on my FTTC service, data transfer is only half that over WiFi from the study laptops … which has no meaningful impact on my use of the internet.

I could get 1Gbps FTTP: other than potentially less prone to errors, what’s the point of buying more than one can make beneficial use of, just because it’s there?

Integral Ethernet around the house (as per the phone circuit I put in when I bought the house part way through its build) would change the situation.  But I do not NEED it.  I doubt most people do not either, but they do get hung up on the perception that they are not able to affirm that the bit in the middle is delivering what they are paying for.

Sometimes it is akin to spending lots of money on a car capable of doing 180mph and then driving it in the middle lane of the M6 at 50mph (whilst it’s not overly busy) just because the driver is not capable of doing better.  It’s not the car which is not attaining its best, it’s the way it’s being used.

[#10]

@Townman 

I could get 1Gbps FTTP: other than potentially less prone to errors, what’s the point of buying more than one can make beneficial use of, just because it’s there?

It could be said, for many the attraction for Full Fibre 900/100 is not the download speed but the upload speed, 

The trend now is to use WiFi so these 'I'm not getting my full download speed' are common place.

[#11]

Evening all.

I'm getting into territories I really don't understand now!

I installed "Wi-Fi Analyser" as recommended in a recent edition of Computeractive and ran it. It suggested switching to Channel 11, so logged into the router and set 2.4Ghz to Channel 11 and saved the setting. I then ran it immediately again to see if anything had changed and it now suggested Channel 1!?!?!?

I rebooted this PC and just ran it again and now it's telling me Channel 11, how come it keeps swapping between recommending 11, then 1 then 11? I shouldn't have to do this!

So, do I Iet the Hub 2 auto-scan do it's thing (like it always has done without me noticing), or do I trust this Wi-Fi Analyser that tells me to use Channel 11 so I make the change and save, then next time I run it it tells me to use Channel 1.

I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo confused and still haven't found a recommended PCI-WiFi card 😩

EDIT: Oh great, just tried going in to the Hub 2 settings to get a screenshot of what it recommends and it won't let me in.....

And yes, I am typing in the Admin password for the Hub Manager correctly ((from the removable tab from the back of the router).

I'm doomed I tell you 😢

[#12]

@andyt1970 

The WiFi Analyser for the 2.4Ghz band is NOT showing interference from adjacent Channels I see yours and probably your neighbours on Channel 4, with you being on Ch 11 there is no overlap so it does not need moving away, leave the channel setting  as 'Smart 11"

The reality is you are not going to improve the situation much, the WiFi card realtek rtl8192EE wireless lan 802.11n pci-e nic of the desktop is performing as expected for 802.11n.

[#13]

Hi,

Just wanted to post to say the wi-fi on this desktop PC has been totally cutting out now for a few minutes, then reconnecting, then dropping out.

My girlfriend likes to do photobooks (Snapfish etc) and a few times this past week when she has been working on one (between 11.30pm - 12.30am) the connection just drops and nothing loads on the PC, she showed me when this happened but for some strange reason the WiFi on her Amazon Fire tablets worked so did her mobile, just not the desktop PC.

Not sure what's causing this but any suggestions please? I know the Hub 2 keeps some sort of log and I'd post anything you may need to look at what may be happening? Just tell me where to look!

Thanks 😃

N.B. Looks like I'm going to have to get a new PCI-E WiFi card if this starts to happen.....

(I haven't changed any settings and am still on Ch11 btw)

[#14]

And if it can't get any worse, our HP Laser 107w printer is on the blink, it prints pages but nothing on them and I get this error:

Goodnight