Solved! Same connection, different devices, different results. Why?

Feb 10, 2021
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So I have two connections and two devices.

Laptop connected to home wifi is very slow, about 25% the speed I'm paying for.
Phone connected to home wifi is fast, the normal speed I'm paying for.
Laptop connected to phone hotspot is fast, the normal speed I'm paying for.
Phone connection speed is the one I'm paying for.

So the issue here is the laptop being very slow on home wifi, while the phone doesn't have this problem. Also, the laptop doesn't have this problem when connected to the phone hotspot.

Ran several speedtests on all these.

What am I missing?

Thanks
 
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Solution
WiFi speeds don't have anything to do with the speed of your connection to the ISP, which is what you are paying for.

Phone hotspot is probably going through your cell data plan not the WiFi from your IPS.

Need some details about the setup, what router are you using, brand/model of the WiFi card in laptop, band you are on, exact speeds it's connected to the router and what the speeds are on the test, location of the systems to the router, what is in between the router and devices.
WiFi speeds don't have anything to do with the speed of your connection to the ISP, which is what you are paying for.

Phone hotspot is probably going through your cell data plan not the WiFi from your IPS.

Need some details about the setup, what router are you using, brand/model of the WiFi card in laptop, band you are on, exact speeds it's connected to the router and what the speeds are on the test, location of the systems to the router, what is in between the router and devices.
 
Last edited:
Solution
Feb 10, 2021
3
1
15
Thanks for trying to help but I think you misunderstood my issue.

I tested both the phone and the laptop to the same wifi (home), from the same spot, same distance, same everything.
Phone has the normal speed, laptop has 25% of that speed (talking about download speed).

Then I tested the speed on both the phone and the laptop while connected to the phone mobile data.
Both have the normal speed, so the laptop is not having that speed drop problem in this case.

To make it even more clear:
phone + home wifi = good
phone + mobile data = good
laptop + phone hotspot (mobile data) = good
laptop + home wifi = bad

What I want to know is why, when I connect the laptop to the home wifi, it can only go up to 25% of the normal download speed. This only happens on the laptop, when connected to the home wifi (it's a wireless router). If I test the home wifi connection but from phone, the speed is 4x higher. Also, if I connect my laptop to the phone hotspot, the speed is also 4x higher than when my laptop is connected to the home wifi.

There is a logical explanation here and it has nothing to do with the band I'm on, the brand of the router, or the wifi card in the laptop. If any of these mattered, the issue wouldn't have only happened in this specific combination (laptop+home wifi).
 
Thanks for trying to help but I think you misunderstood my issue.

I tested both the phone and the laptop to the same wifi (home), from the same spot, same distance, same everything.
Phone has the normal speed, laptop has 25% of that speed (talking about download speed).

Then I tested the speed on both the phone and the laptop while connected to the phone mobile data.
Both have the normal speed, so the laptop is not having that speed drop problem in this case.

To make it even more clear:
phone + home wifi = good
phone + mobile data = good
laptop + phone hotspot (mobile data) = good
laptop + home wifi = bad

What I want to know is why, when I connect the laptop to the home wifi, it can only go up to 25% of the normal download speed. This only happens on the laptop, when connected to the home wifi (it's a wireless router). If I test the home wifi connection but from phone, the speed is 4x higher. Also, if I connect my laptop to the phone hotspot, the speed is also 4x higher than when my laptop is connected to the home wifi.

There is a logical explanation here and it has nothing to do with the band I'm on, the brand of the router, or the wifi card in the laptop. If any of these mattered, the issue wouldn't have only happened in this specific combination (laptop+home wifi).

If the issue is with the laptop and the router, then how they are connected does matter. Router does not have the same chipset as phone does, the laptop does not have the same network card as the phone.

Try both 2.4 and the 5 bands, check for newer firmware for the router, newer drivers or a BIOS update on the laptop. Test with another computer on your router.

Has this been happening the whole time you had the laptop?
 
Feb 10, 2021
3
1
15
Just tested with a different laptop and the results are the same as with this laptop, the download speed is 75% slower than it should be (and 75% slower than on phones). This kinda rules out the option of the laptop being the problem I guess.

This started happening around 2 weeks ago. I had this router for around two months now so for over 1 month the speed was normal, then it dropped but just on laptops. On phones, the speedtest results are normal.

Is it possible for some sort of setting to automatically change on the router and trigger this? Something that could only allow phones to use the max download speed if that's even an option.

I can't explain how it worked for over a month and then suddenly it went down without me changing anything.
I didn't move the router, I work from the same exact spot, I didn't press on anything on the router, I didn't change any settings anywhere but for some reason, the download speed is not the same.
 

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