Different BB speeds on different PCs

Kev M

Kev M

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I've just done a speedtest.net test and struggled to get 5Mb on a Virgin Media 10Mb cable connection. All ready to fire off at VM I thought I'd double check and see if it was the same on my wife's laptop and found hers was getting the 10Mb.

Why would two PCs on the same router be getting different speeds?
 
One wired and one wireless? I'm not sure otherwise mate. I had speed issues with vm a week or so back.
 
Nope, both wireless and in the same room as the router.
 
Try testing at different time intervals on both and get an average. Then compare the results.
 
probably the wireless connection - different wireless cards/drivers, positions in the house, distance from router.. any number of things.
 
Wireless will always be less. Test a wired pc mate.
 
There can be a number of factors:

- time of day you test (if you're testing the devices at different times).
- location in relation to the router.
- other electrical devices (home wifi works on the same frequency as mobile phones and other electrical devices).
- the wireless adaptor in your PC and laptop.
- anti-virus and firewalls on your PC and laptop.
- demand on speedtest.net.
- demand on your own network.
- internet browser (and if they're the same making sure they're both up to date).

To get a fair result you'd need to keep everything constant. If the results are still out, given that all the variables are consistent, then I'd say it's the wireless adaptor on your PC.
 
Andyvalver said:
Wireless will always be less. Test a wired pc mate.
Click to expand...

This. You should only speed test your internet connection from a wired PC, introducing a local bottleneck (which is exactly what a wireless network is) renders an internet speed test invalid.
 
Perhaps I didn't explain it very well. Although it started out as an internet speed test, after testing the 2nd laptop I'm satisfied that I'm getting the speed I'm paying for. What I'm confused about is why two laptops, in the same room and tested minutes apart are getting such different results.
 
signal strength, the room its in, the way its pointing, is one wireless b or g and the other n.

Too many variables with wireless.

What is the ping like on each machine?
 
1: Test both laptops wired on several speedtest websites. Try doing a real life download from say virgin media games site and compare results. Are both laptops the same?
 
If you used speediest.net it could be their servers. I could do a test now and get 15 meg and then do it again and get 18
 
onomatopoeia said:
This. You should only speed test your internet connection from a wired PC, introducing a local bottleneck (which is exactly what a wireless network is) renders an internet speed test invalid.
Click to expand...

I've never understood why people say this. Wireless operates generally at a minimum of 54mbps. Most people's Internet is way way below that. Where's the bottlekneck there - i don't see one.
 
Wireless G operates UP To 54Mbs, this depends on your signal strength. It drops down on low signal strength

If 2 laptops are both connected wirelessly, they share the 54Mbs between them.

Wireless will also affect your ping as well. Wired I get around 19ms, wireless I get 34ms. It all adds up. Wireless is good for the internet, but for serious copying, the 10m network cable always comes out.

54Mbps is a maximum speed, not a guaranteed speed. That is the problem with wireless.

I use LAN Speed Test to test speed between computers on my network and its quite interesting, all the different speeds. I've got some 200Mbps Home Plugs, but I don't seem to get faster than 40Mbps between anything.
 
trencheel303 said:
I've never understood why people say this. Wireless operates generally at a minimum of 54mbps. Most people's Internet is way way below that. Where's the bottlekneck there - i don't see one.
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I've had it much slower than that. Much, much slower, slower than even BNC coaxial ethernet (10 mpbs). This at a distance of under five yards from the router to the computer.

Just because it can do 54mbps doesn't mean that it always will.
 
trencheel303 said:
I've never understood why people say this. Wireless operates generally at a minimum of 54mbps. Most people's Internet is way way below that. Where's the bottlekneck there - i don't see one.
Click to expand...

Well wireless can operate at <11mbps if you are using the older wireless B standard. Wireless G is branded as 54mbps speeds, but in fact even in ideal conditions it's more realistic to be getting much less. Take the 54mbps and assume you can connect at an 80% signal level which would be 43mbps. Ok, so now take that speed and half it because wireless signals such as wireless G operate at half duplex. That gives you just over 20mbps. A lot of people have cable connections of 20, 30, 50 and even 100mbps. Wireless could bottleneck some ADSL connections. This is why people say it as it simplifies testing. When you throw in even worse signal levels, encryption overheads etc, it can be slower still.

It's best to rule out wireless first of all when checking line speeds as it adds complexities to testing. Once you have a baseline move over to wireless tests.


Dale_d3100 said:
I've got some 200Mbps Home Plugs, but I don't seem to get faster than 40Mbps between anything.
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Well if they are 200mbps rated home plugs they sound faulty or not setup correctly? Unless you meant 40MB/s (megabytes per second) which would not be possible @ 200mbps.
 
nope, its 4Mbps

I need to do some testing, it might be a small print issue, ie 200Mbps when only 2 used, but goes down when more are used
 
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