Different speeds on different systems.

[Nick Ray]

Ran into this issue recently. My laptop has been getting reduced internet speeds after the recent update for about 2 days now, while my girlfriends PC ( extremely old ) gets the maximum speed. Both connected through ethernet, I've tried switching my laptop to wifi (Intel AC8265) but i get the same low speed.

Not sure what's causing this. 8.84mbps on laptop, 118.66mbps on PC (we pay for 120mbps unlimited)

 

 

[sphbecker]

Are you running any QoS on your router? As a test, try turning it off and see what happens. QoS is the biggest cause or oddities like this. If that is the issue, then turn it back on and play with settings until you figure out what the issue was.

 

If QoS isn't in play, then look at the laptop's CPU usage during the test. Is it spiking to 100%/thread count (so if you have 4 threads, 25%)? If so, then something is going on with the laptop's software that isn't right.

[sphbecker]

The other thing to try is if you are running VPN either on the laptop or router, try disconnecting it to see if that helps. Could be the VPN provider is having an issue, and perhaps your computer is bypassing it for some reason.

[mariushm]

make sure you don't have some kind of antivirus software with firewall / internet filter built in, that could slow down things.

make sure you're still on the right network (5ghz vs 2.4 ghz, the right access point, and so on)

 

[Nick Ray]

9 hours ago, sphbecker said:

Are you running any QoS on your router? As a test, try turning it off and see what happens. QoS is the biggest cause or oddities like this. If that is the issue, then turn it back on and play with settings until you figure out what the issue was.

 

If QoS isn't in play, then look at the laptop's CPU usage during the test. Is it spiking to 100%/thread count (so if you have 4 threads, 25%)? If so, then something is going on with the laptop's software that isn't right.

I have no idea about what QoS is, ill look into it. My cpu usage doesn't go above 55% during the test.
Not using a VPN, I don't use any anti-virus other than the built in windows defender. I'm on the same network, i made sure of that.

 

Edit:

I looked into QoS, i have no idea where to actually find it on my routers setup page, there is no option for it. I have the Cogeco provided Technicolor DPC3848VM .

 

I should've given my system specs

[sphbecker]

What happens if you test with a 3rd device? If you don't have another computer, try installing the SpeedTest app on a smartphone. We need figure out if the slow laptop is the oddball, or if the fast computer is the oddball. If everything is slow but the PC, then the router is doing something wrong. I would update to the latest firmware and then factory reset (will have to set it up again).

 

If the issue is limited to the laptop, then something is wrong there. You can try plugging directly into the modem (bypassing the router) and see if that shows anything different. When testing with the Ethernet port, make sure you turn WiFi completely off to ensure it isn't interfering. Assuming you have already tried everything such as installing latest drivers and such, then it might be time to reinstall Windows.

 

Sorry I don't have a better answer.

[Nick Ray]

23 hours ago, sphbecker said:

What happens if you test with a 3rd device? If you don't have another computer, try installing the SpeedTest app on a smartphone. We need figure out if the slow laptop is the oddball, or if the fast computer is the oddball. If everything is slow but the PC, then the router is doing something wrong. I would update to the latest firmware and then factory reset (will have to set it up again).

 

If the issue is limited to the laptop, then something is wrong there. You can try plugging directly into the modem (bypassing the router) and see if that shows anything different. When testing with the Ethernet port, make sure you turn WiFi completely off to ensure it isn't interfering. Assuming you have already tried everything such as installing latest drivers and such, then it might be time to reinstall Windows.

 

Sorry I don't have a better answer.

I get the proper speeds on every other device.whats weird is that when i download a file it will give me the maximum speed, but speedtests always show sub 10mbps. I'm assuming its some sort of "Use only when needed" thing with my laptop?

[sphbecker]

1 hour ago, Nick Ray said:

I get the proper speeds on every other device.whats weird is that when i download a file it will give me the maximum speed, but speedtests always show sub 10mbps. I'm assuming its some sort of "Use only when needed" thing with my laptop?

If you connect to A/C power and set the Windows Power profile to Max Performance, you should not struggle with that. It sounds like a browser issue to me. Maybe give the test a try using EDGE without any plugins (just as a baseline). If that shows different results, then (assuming you are using Chrome) I would check your settings and plugins to see if something could be going on.

 

Also, any OEM power management software could be an issue too, you could try uninstalling any OEM software and then resetting the Windows power profiles back to default (balanced it typically the best setting for a laptop).

 

If you can't figure it out, you might want to reinstall Windows. If you go that route, I would only install base drivers, no extra OEM software. OEMs are notorious for putting bad software on computers that cause unintended side-effects.

 

That is about all I can suggest, good luck.