Anyone know why my Windows 7 wifi is half the speed of every other device?

[Shifty Geezer]

I upgraded to 40 mbps fibre last week. I get about 34 mbps via Speedtest.net on every device (Android, Windows 10 tablet, PS4, iOS) except my main Windows 7 PC which hits 17 mbps. I replaced the old Wifi adaptor with an 802.11ac adaptor and managed 35 mbps from this PC when the connection worked, but it only worked once and the rest of the time the adaptor wouldn't maintain a connection to the router so I've returned it. I then bought a new 802.11n adaptor and am using that, the same protocol as all the other devices. In the same room on the same wireless signal, connecting to the same Speedtest server, this Windows 7 PC gets half the download BW of every other device (same upload).

I tried disabling Kaspersky firewall and using the Windows 7 firewall with the same result. I tried using Internet Explorer instead of my usual Firefox with the same result.

I have had downloads faster, peaking at 27 mbps, on this machine on some tests. This is the one machine that needs the fastest rate. Anyone know what could cause this?

 

[eloic]

I have no idea.

I hope you can sort it out/get help soon.

 

[AlNom]

What are the products/models?

Is every device using wireless N? Router set to n-only? 2.4GHz/5GHz mixed or 5GHz only? What does windows 7 say about link speed/state (adapter status -> connection: speed)?

Try timing a large file transfer?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Own built Windows 7 PC on the TP-Link Nano USB Adaptor (TL-WN725N v3).
Surface Pro 4
PS4
LG G3 phone
Nexus 7 2013

All connected on 2.4 GHz Wifi N. Router set to 2.4 + 5GHz combined but no devices connected on 5 GHz.
Signal strength is max. Adaptor report 72 mbps. Downloads to Firefox manage <= 16 mbps. Speedtest ping is 9ms and the internet is definitely nippier. It's lower latency for sure.

 

[AlNom]

Maybe see what happens with 5GHz-only (from the router) connection

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I have no 5 GHz devices (AFAIK). Router shows all devices are on the 2.4 GHz channel.

 

[BRiT]

Any experience with running the same Wifi hardware on Windows 10?

 

[pharma]

Try this link to test your connection speed.
http://speedtest.xfinity.com/

Edit: Running default or custom router firmware, ie Tomato? Router firmware up to date?

 

[orangpelupa]

windows 7 have auto QoS and you can disable it from registry. Forgot the name tho.

have you tried using latest driver from manufacturer and super old standard "microsoft published" driver?

on device manager, wifi device, try disable/enable all kinds of advanced feature (packet coalescing etc).

 

[Malo]

How does one buy a brand new wifi adapter that doesn't support 5ghz? You should have 2 separate wifi networks with different SSIDs for both 2.4 and 5 then on any device you'll be able to tell what they support.

 

[orangpelupa]

How does one buy a brand new wifi adapter that doesn't support 5ghz? You should have 2 separate wifi networks with different SSIDs for both 2.4 and 5 then on any device you'll be able to tell what they support.

dunno there, but in indonesia

nowadays theres still tons of 2G-only wifi adapter.
my workplace also refuse to buy dual band wifi adapter.

btw on android, theres wifi analyzer that can scan for "free" channels

 

[Shifty Geezer]

This morning Speedtest reported 31 mbps.

Router is the ISP provided Sagemcom Fast 5364 that came with the fibre. Apparently it's an award winning recommended router.
Adaptor is the TP-Link Nano bought new on the weekend to try and solve the connection issue, replacing a G adaptor.

How does one buy a brand new wifi adapter that doesn't support 5ghz? You should have 2 separate wifi networks with different SSIDs for both 2.4 and 5 then on any device you'll be able to tell what they support.

I bought a 5 GHz adaptor but it struggled to connect to the router. I didn't want the hassle of going back and forth between router, adaptor, and ISP etc trying to work out what was at fault - with no other 5 GHz devices, debugging becomes very hard. Seeing Wifi N is getting great speeds on all my other devices, I decided not to bother and returned it, getting an N adaptor instead of the AC. It's also tiny and only 5 quid.

Tell a lie - turns out lots of devices support 5 GHz. I just didn't see it because the 5G network had a funky default name. Just connected the SP4 to 5GHz fine and managed 37 mbps. Connected phone and got the same 37 mbps. My Win 7 PC is just a bit weird and poop in the Wifi department.

 

[BRiT]

So you dont have a modern OS to test the wifi hardware on, like Win10?

 

[pharma]

Anyway to speed test using an Ethernet cable from your PC to your router?

There is one test you can do prior to trying the above that I sometimes use at client sites where wifi performance is poor.
From a command prompt issue the following as an Administrator.

netsh int tcp set heuristics disabled
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp

Exit command prompt and test. The settings will revert back after you reboot.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I have a Surface Pro 4 with built in 5 GHz. I could put the adaptor in that but I don't want to risk screwing with hardware conflicts and possible resultant broken hardware. Have enough issues just trying to route sound from the on-board solutions with one or other packing up!

I also have Win 10 sitting on an SSD inside this PC waiting for me to swap over. There was a good reason I didn't which I forget now. I think it was a software incompatilibity with an important app and not enough time to sort out a decent VM solution or something.

 

[pharma]

I have a Surface Pro 4 with built in 5 GHz. I could put the adaptor in that but I don't want to risk screwing with hardware conflicts and possible resultant broken hardware. Have enough issues just trying to route sound from the on-board solutions with one or other packing up!

If you want to troubleshoot try backing up the OS on the Surface Pro, or at least create a Windows system restore point. Use Windows Recovery to restore to your original settings.

 

[Davros]

Qos setting or spyware ?
is anything eating up your bandwidth ?
is win7 going through a proxy or something like opera turbo?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

No data access beyond deliberate web access. No proxies.

 

[Cyan]

This morning Speedtest reported 31 mbps.

Router is the ISP provided Sagemcom Fast 5364 that came with the fibre. Apparently it's an award winning recommended router.
Adaptor is the TP-Link Nano bought new on the weekend to try and solve the connection issue, replacing a G adaptor.

I bought a 5 GHz adaptor but it struggled to connect to the router. I didn't want the hassle of going back and forth between router, adaptor, and ISP etc trying to work out what was at fault - with no other 5 GHz devices, debugging becomes very hard. Seeing Wifi N is getting great speeds on all my other devices, I decided not to bother and returned it, getting an N adaptor instead of the AC. It's also tiny and only 5 quid.

Tell a lie - turns out lots of devices support 5 GHz. I just didn't see it because the 5G network had a funky default name. Just connected the SP4 to 5GHz fine and managed 37 mbps. Connected phone and got the same 37 mbps. My Win 7 PC is just a bit weird and poop in the Wifi department.

have you managed to fix the issue? If not, did you download the latest drivers available for your hardware?