Help understanding Wifi adapters for Desktop so I can buy the appropriate. Got fiber recently and my adapter is not good anymore.

[OuterGodHermit]

 

So, I used to have max speed where I used to live that never were above 100 Mbps (10 MB of download speed). Now I have 300 Mbps with ATT fiber and my current adapter can only reach 220 Mbps, [yep they lied in the description it seems].

My USB ports at the back say 3.2 and I have a Gigabyte B550M-Aorus-Elite motherboard with a Ryzen 5600X. I have a 3060Ti in the PCI Express x16 slot. 

My question is, any recommendations about the specs or a specific product that I can buy so I can take advantage of the full speed of the connection?

Another useful piece of data: I downloaded the official drivers of the adapter, otherwise it would only reach 120mbps.

I know the speed I can get because my phone can indeed reach 300+ Mbps. 

Motherboard info

 

1 x PCI Express x16 slot (PCIEX16), integrated in the CPU:

1 x PCI Express x16 slot (PCIEX4), integrated in the Chipset:

1. Supporting PCIe 3.0 x4 mode

1 x PCI Express x1 slot (PCIEX1), integrated in the Chipset:

1. Supporting PCIe 3.0 x1 mode

 

 

 

[emosun]

what server are you connecting to with a single machine that is seeding you 300mbps

 

[OuterGodHermit]

12 minutes ago, emosun said:

what server are you connecting to with a single machine that is seeding you 300mbps

 

Netprotect it says. ATT. 380 in fact

Edited March 1, 2022 by aleamaro791

[emosun]

No I mean in actual data not a speed test

[191x7]

You need WiFi 6 (Wifi AX) to be honest, but also Wifi AC would probably do just fine. Depends on what the router you have supports.

Your old wifi adapter, was it an Wireless N adapter?

[LIGISTX]

10 minutes ago, emosun said:

No I mean in actual data not a speed test

I have 500 Mb/s and most "profesional" companies with any sort of solid datacenter hosting can easily saturate my connection. Steam, Blizzard, anything to do with google, anything hosted on Amazon AWS, hell I get nvidia drivers pushed down to be at full phat speeds. Plenty of reason to want to be able to get the performance your paying for.

 

41 minutes ago, aleamaro791 said:

 

So, I used to have max speed where I used to live that never were above 100 Mbps (10 MB of download speed). Now I have 300 Mbps with ATT fiber and my current adapter can only reach 220 Mbps, [yep they lied in the description it seems].

My USB ports at the back say 3.2 and I have a Gigabyte B550M-Aorus-Elite motherboard with a Ryzen 5600X. I have a 3060Ti in the PCI Express x16 slot. 

My question is, any recommendations about the specs or a specific product that I can buy so I can take advantage of the full speed of the connection?

Another useful piece of data: I downloaded the official drivers of the adapter, otherwise it would only reach 120mbps.

I know the speed I can get because my phone can indeed reach 300+ Mbps. 

Motherboard info

 

1 x PCI Express x16 slot (PCIEX16), integrated in the CPU:

1 x PCI Express x16 slot (PCIEX4), integrated in the Chipset:

1. Supporting PCIe 3.0 x4 mode

1 x PCI Express x1 slot (PCIEX1), integrated in the Chipset:

1. Supporting PCIe 3.0 x1 mode

 

 

 

Any way you can run a wire? If not, I am sure a good USB wifi adapter would be plenty, but sure a PCIe version is never a bad idea. I am not exactly certain what is the best option, but hopefully others can help with that. But again.... no chance you can run a wire. Wire is basically always the right move if at all possible.

[OuterGodHermit]

22 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

I have 500 Mb/s and most "profesional" companies with any sort of solid datacenter hosting can easily saturate my connection. Steam, Blizzard, anything to do with google, anything hosted on Amazon AWS, hell I get nvidia drivers pushed down to be at full phat speeds. Plenty of reason to want to be able to get the performance your paying for.

 

Any way you can run a wire? If not, I am sure a good USB wifi adapter would be plenty, but sure a PCIe version is never a bad idea. I am not exactly certain what is the best option, but hopefully others can help with that. But again.... no chance you can run a wire. Wire is basically always the right move if at all possible.

I can't use a wire sorry. I am renting a "portion" of the house and the owner will not drill a hole in the wall so I can get a little more bandwidth. 

[OuterGodHermit]

33 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

You need WiFi 6 (Wifi AX) to be honest, but also Wifi AC would probably do just fine. Depends on what the router you have supports.

Your old wifi adapter, was it an Wireless N adapter?

This one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085TDFQX1?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details 

[OuterGodHermit]

41 minutes ago, emosun said:

No I mean in actual data not a speed test

I hope Steam, and P2P. Hopefully maybe some files have a lot of seeders. Only content I can't legally pay for or is insanely expensive and difficult to watch legally. Like some animes from Japan. 

[191x7]

7 minutes ago, aleamaro791 said:

This one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085TDFQX1?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details 

That's a Wireless AC stick. Set your wifi to be 5GHz (router setings) instead of 2.4GHz and you'll get the speeds, also be near the router.

[OuterGodHermit]

2 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

That's a Wireless AC stick. Set your wifi to be 5GHz (router settings) instead of 2.4GHz and you'll get the speeds, also be near the router.

Is in 5 already, I tested it, Before at 2.4 it only got to 12o mbps. Still is not as fast as my phone. 

[191x7]

20Mhz or 40Mhz channels? Try switching.

Try usong wifi analyzer on your phone to see which channels are the most available (least used) and set your wifi to one of those or a range, since having nearby networks on the same channel can affect the throughput.

[FliP0x]

The dongle you posted looks to be a AC600 unit. Also explains why you are getting about 120 mbps.

 

I recently updated my setup with this dongle: https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/usb-adapter/archer-t9uh/
I can only recommend it. I don't have the speeds to fully utilize it, but the range and stability is phenomenal.

 

This one should give you much better results.

 

[OuterGodHermit]

34 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

20Mhz or 40Mhz channels? Try switching.

Try usong wifi analyzer on your phone to see which channels are the most available (least used) and set your wifi to one of those or a range, since having nearby networks on the same channel can affect the throughput.

My phone is in channel 157 and my desktop in channel 44. I don't have access to the router since I am renting the connection to another person (renting a separated room in fact). I can't just say to the owner, let me mess around with the router configuration. Can I do this only changing something in my desktop? how? 

Edit, I think I found out how, and Windows reported that in fact my desktop switched to 157, but I was getting less than 200 while before it was 200+ in channel 44. 

Edited March 1, 2022 by aleamaro791

[mariushm]

1 hour ago, aleamaro791 said:

 

So, I used to have max speed where I used to live that never were above 100 Mbps (10 MB of download speed). Now I have 300 Mbps with ATT fiber and my current adapter can only reach 220 Mbps, [yep they lied in the description it seems].

 

 

They didn't lie...  the adapter can do up to 150 mbps on 2.4 ghz, and it can do up to 433 mbps on 5 ghz. If you add those together, you have 583 mbps .. with bluetooth working you'd probably reach 600 mbps. 

 

You're only using the 5 ghz part, so your maximum speeds would peak at 433 mbps, but that would only be in ideal conditions, at 5-10 cm from the access point / wireless router - the further you are from the wireless device, the more obstacles are between you and that wireless router, the more your connection will be less than ideal. 

Even your computer's case could act as a shield, an extra obstruction - an antenna which a cable that can be screwed in the wireless adapter so that you can place the antenna on top of the computer or somewhere away from the metal case could give you better performance.

 

So peaks of 220 mbps out of maximum 430 mbps is not that bad. 

 

Before you decide to upgrade your wireless card, figure out the technical specifications of the wireless router, and then get something that matches those specs ... 

 

An ax card would be a good investment, and they're cheap... but may also want to consider spending 10-15$ on an antenna with some cable, if the card you buy is the kind where you screw the antenna directly to it.  For example : https://www.amazon.com/Eightwood-Antenna-Connector-Magnetic-Wireless/dp/B07JVDNDCR/

 

Another approach would be powerline networking.. you'd plug one device in the socket by the wireless router, and the other device in your room, and from the device in your room you can have ethernet cable to your computer. 

From what I understand, you will get higher speeds, but lots of people say the latency is higher and there's fluctuations in speed... so some don't like it. 

Also, they can have issues if you have GFCI on your circuits, the speed may be slower or devices may not even connect if the outlets are on different electrical circuits in the control panel... basically they don't always work great.

Example : https://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-Powerline-Pass-Through-TL-PA9020P-KIT/dp/B01H74VKZU/

 

[191x7]

Well, changing the adapter would do nothing if the router settings aren't optimal.

 

How about using a powerline networking set?

[OuterGodHermit]

11 hours ago, 191x7 said:

Well, changing the adapter would do nothing if the router settings aren't optimal.

 

How about using a powerline networking set?

I am renting a portion of the house, so doing that kind of installation would be too much trouble. 

[OuterGodHermit]

12 hours ago, mariushm said:

 

They didn't lie...  the adapter can do up to 150 mbps on 2.4 ghz, and it can do up to 433 mbps on 5 ghz. If you add those together, you have 583 mbps .. with bluetooth working you'd probably reach 600 mbps. 

 

You're only using the 5 ghz part, so your maximum speeds would peak at 433 mbps, but that would only be in ideal conditions, at 5-10 cm from the access point / wireless router - the further you are from the wireless device, the more obstacles are between you and that wireless router, the more your connection will be less than ideal. 

Even your computer's case could act as a shield, an extra obstruction - an antenna which a cable that can be screwed in the wireless adapter so that you can place the antenna on top of the computer or somewhere away from the metal case could give you better performance.

 

So peaks of 220 mbps out of maximum 430 mbps is not that bad. 

 

Before you decide to upgrade your wireless card, figure out the technical specifications of the wireless router, and then get something that matches those specs ... 

 

An ax card would be a good investment, and they're cheap... but may also want to consider spending 10-15$ on an antenna with some cable, if the card you buy is the kind where you screw the antenna directly to it.  For example : https://www.amazon.com/Eightwood-Antenna-Connector-Magnetic-Wireless/dp/B07JVDNDCR/

 

Another approach would be powerline networking.. you'd plug one device in the socket by the wireless router, and the other device in your room, and from the device in your room you can have ethernet cable to your computer. 

From what I understand, you will get higher speeds, but lots of people say the latency is higher and there's fluctuations in speed... so some don't like it. 

Also, they can have issues if you have GFCI on your circuits, the speed may be slower or devices may not even connect if the outlets are on different electrical circuits in the control panel... basically they don't always work great.

Example : https://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-Powerline-Pass-Through-TL-PA9020P-KIT/dp/B01H74VKZU/

 

I see. Your post helped a lot. Yep, getting a PCI card with an antenna seems the best option. Going with a cable is not an option due to several factors. Any recommendation for the Wifi Card? Thanks again. 

[191x7]

1 hour ago, aleamaro791 said:

I am renting a portion of the house, so doing that kind of installation would be too much trouble. 

Plugging an adapter into a socket near the router and a lan cable from the router to the adapter is too much trouble? Ok, if you say so boss...

[Alex Atkin UK]

6 hours ago, aleamaro791 said:

I see. Your post helped a lot. Yep, getting a PCI card with an antenna seems the best option. Going with a cable is not an option due to several factors. Any recommendation for the Wifi Card? Thanks again. 

Personally anything Intel AX210 based as its currently the highest-end you'll get while not being insanely priced.