Slow local Wifi

[MacBH928]

I am using Nighthawk and my understanding is the local Wifi is up to speeds of 600Mbps 2.4Ghz. I did transfer a file from my computer to my smartphone and the "upload" speed from my computer to smartphone was only max 13Mbps. This is a problem with bigger files transferred over Wifi with 1GB sizes and larger. I have seen download speeds of 70+Mbps over the internet on the same setup.

Am I missing something here? Shouldn't by transfer be something closer to the 600Mbps? Am I doing something wrong? Is there a method/tool to test the local Wifi speed?

 

[satcomer]

That is because you have a two year old router and doesn’t have the current AC standards! I would get a router made this year like the new Synology Ac2600.

Here is a video review of it:

 

[2984839]

That sounds like 802.11n, which actually is limited to 300 Mbps under ideal conditions. This speed is achieved through "channel bonding", or serving data over multiple channels simultaneously. However, some routers will fallback to single channel mode if there is interference from other devices, leaving you with a maximum theoretical throughput of 150 Mbps. Some clients can't support channel bonding either, which may cause the router to fallback to single channel mode. That 600 Mbps number you see advertised is because some routers operate on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands simultaneously. That does not mean that each connection will have that speed.

Even still, you will rarely see the maximum speed in practice. RF interference, distance between your endpoint device and the router, obstacles, and other environmental factors will cause your speed to drop. Also, connections are two-way; the radio in your endpoint needs to be able to push data to the router as well. Even if your router has its transmit power cranked all the way up, it won't be able to hear a weak signal coming from your iPhone or other devices.

For performance testing, I like iperf. You can set it up on two laptops connected to the wireless network and iperf will shuffle data between them, displaying the current bandwidth in the process.

 

[MacBH928]

That sounds like 802.11n, which actually is limited to 300 Mbps under ideal conditions. This speed is achieved through "channel bonding", or serving data over multiple channels simultaneously. However, some routers will fallback to single channel mode if there is interference from other devices, leaving you with a maximum theoretical throughput of 150 Mbps. Some clients can't support channel bonding either, which may cause the router to fallback to single channel mode. That 600 Mbps number you see advertised is because some routers operate on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands simultaneously. That does not mean that each connection will have that speed.

Even still, you will rarely see the maximum speed in practice. RF interference, distance between your endpoint device and the router, obstacles, and other environmental factors will cause your speed to drop. Also, connections are two-way; the radio in your endpoint needs to be able to push data to the router as well. Even if your router has its transmit power cranked all the way up, it won't be able to hear a weak signal coming from your iPhone or other devices.

For performance testing, I like iperf. You can set it up on two laptops connected to the wireless network and iperf will shuffle data between them, displaying the current bandwidth in the process.

even if it was 150Mbps... I am getting 10Mbps only!

 

[2984839]

even if it was 150Mbps... I am getting 10Mbps only!

Here are some things to try:

1.) Update the router's firmware

2.) Turn off 2.4 GHz and only use the 5 GHz band

3.) Use a different channel

4.) Disable 20/40mHz coexistance

 

[satcomer]

Here are some things to try:

1.) Update the router's firmware

2.) Turn off 2.4 GHz and only use the 5 GHz band

3.) Use a different channel

4.) Disable 20/40mHz coexistance

To use the 5 GHZ use the upper channels well into the hundreds to connect to the the router!

 

[MacBH928]

4.) Disable 20/40mHz coexistance

could you explain to me the bit about 20/40mHz coexistance...what does it do?

 

[satcomer]

could you explain to me the bit about 20/40mHz coexistance...what does it do?

That means it is doing the older 2.4 5 Network at the same time with the same name!

 

[Howard2k]

The 20Mhz/40Mhz refers to the width of the bandwidth being used within the frequency space.

The 802.11ac spec covers 5Ghz. The 2.4GHz portion of a 2.4GHz 802.11ac router is actually the 802.11n specification.

2.4GHz (802.11n) supports channel widths of 20Mhz and 40MHz. Some devices might have problems with coexistence, but the main reason you might disable it is for highly dense areas where there are lots of overlapping networks, by narrowing the channel you may be less susceptible to interference.

802.11ac also supports variable channel width, up to 160MHz in some cases.

It's not related to the same network name. That's just broadcasting the same SSID on both the 2.4GHz 802.11n network and the 5Ghz 802.11ac network.

 

[mmomega]

This may have been sorted but it does come up fairly regularly.

Big b versus little b.
Megabits vs MegaBytes.
Computer transfers typically show MegaBytes per second.
Internet providers and speedtests typically show Megabits per second for marketing purposes, larger numbers sell more when general public doesn't fully understand the differences.
1,000Megabits per second or "Gig" like the providers are calling it now sounds faster than 125, which is the MegaBytes per second.

So if it was 13Megabits per second that is 1.6MegaBytes per second.

Also 600Mbps = 75MBps

You can option+click the wifi symbol in the menu bar and it will show your connection speed.
Sometimes even disabling and re-enabling wifi can connect at a quicker speed.

I would check the speed you are connected at currently. TurnWiFi Off and back on.
Check if that itself made a difference.
If so, good and how much of a difference if any.
Second, I would reboot my networking equipment. ie: cable modem, wifi router, etc.
I will typically unplug power for about 20 seconds from the modem and router. Reconnect power, go fix a snack or grab a drink, the network should be back up by the time you get back to your computer or fairly soon after, then check your connection and see if the restart affected performance.

(My sister's older Netgear wifi router HAD to be reset at least 3 times a week or wifi performance would drop down to around 5-10Megabits per second while her service was 50Mbps, the restart immediately brought speeds back up showing it was the wifi router)
I eventually talked her into purchasing a better wifi router because $200 to even 300 on good equipment one time cost is less expensive than "thinking" your service is the issue and increasing your service to compensate for bad equipment. She didn't understand until I actually wrote on paper that $40 per month increase is around $500/year.
In her area it was an additional $40/month to go from 25Mbps to 50Mbps. So after purchasing the new equipment, she dropped her service back down to 25 because she was now actually receiving the service she needed and was paying for.