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I'm trying to understand the reason for a difference in speed on my Wifi network vs using an ethernet cable. Hooking a laptop directly into the cable modem shows speeds 28 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up (Speedtest.net results). If I hook it up via ethernet to the router it maintains that speed. So the router itself doesn't cause a slowdown. But if I switch to wifi my download speed drops 8-10Mbps.

This is when the laptop is right next to the wireless router so it's not due to distance. I have also tried switching to the different channels and have received similar results. I realize the 54Mbps advertised by the wireless router is somewhat of the theoretical speed and it might be below that. But it should be able to handle the 28Mbps I would think without a problem. The link speed showing on my computer is 54Mbps so the computer thinks it has a good connection. What else am I missing?

Eric Anderson
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1 Answers1

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I'll throw out a couple possibilities:

  • you're using a horribly-underpowered, ancient WAP with crappy wireless hardware. (This is not actually a "possibility". It's a fact.)
  • the 2.4 GHz spectrum in your area is very noisy

Upgrade to some modern WiFi hardware and you'll likely see a marked performance increase.

That said, wifi has never been about performance - it's about convenience. If you want guaranteed performance, a hard cable can't be beat.

EEAA
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