0.3Mb down, 6Mb up: 70Mb down on other devices

[dustikins]

So recently I've been experiencing extremely low speeds on my PC. I don't get this on any other device and it's not affecting anyone else in my house.

I'm on a fibre package with Virgin which should give me up to 50Mb down. On my phone, when I run a speedtest right by my PC, I pull up to around 70Mb. On my PC, I pull around 0.3-0.5Mb.

I'm using ethernet via powerline adapter, and a Realtek wireless adapter with an antenna. I occasionally get 40Mb+ when I boot my PC, which quickly drops to the speeds above.

I'm on Windows 10 Home with all the latest updates. I use ZoneAlarm instead of Windows Defender. I haven't made any changes to my PC since the speed issues (except a few windows 10 updates but they happened after it started to drop).

If anyone knows what might be causing this it would be hugely appreciated; it's stopping me from doing most things on my PC, including loading most videos and webpages in less than a minute.

I can provide other information if necessary.

 

[gooseqz]

First off, the speeds you pay for that you listed are 50MBit/s, not MB. Megabits and Megabytes are different. To conver Mbits into MB, you need to divide it by 8 (since there are 8 bits to 1 byte). So your speed should be about 6Megabytes per second. So take this into account if you didnt already know this.
I have a similar problem with my speed however it is no where near as bad as yours. I use a TP Link wireless card in my Pc which gives slightly slower speeds than my phone which is right next to my pc.
Since you mentioned virgin fibre, do you have the option to connect to a 2G or 5G (gHz, not like cellular G's) bands from your router? If so try testing each of these and compare the speeds.
Also try installing your mother board drivers from your manufactures website for you Network Controller, and reinstall the wireless adapter driver too.

Note: My friend had ZoneAlarm but has now uninstalled it. This is due to it taking over his pc. It was utilising so many resources and blocking certain programs and games from starting up.
Try disabling zonealarm temporarily and see if your speeds increase, it might be worth a shot

 

[kanewolf]

Start by eliminating variables. Run an ethernet cable to the powerline adapter. How is that? Run an ethernet cable back to the router. How is that? You have to isolate where the problem is in a long chain of possibilities.

 

[photonboy]

You should start by isolating exactly which device is problematic.

I don't want to ASSUME it's the PC.

*Why do you have Powerline + Ethernet, and also a wi-fi device?

If you have Ethernet then there's no need for wi-fi.

Things to try:
1) Use Ethernet only (can just change in software, or if confused shut down and remove the wi-fi card)

2) Use wi-fi only (just unhook the Ethernet cable from back of PC to ensure it's using wi-fi)

3) if there's a LAPTOP or other moveable PC you can try attaching via Ethernet to the Power Line adapter (and make sure it's using Ethernet not wi-fi) if you need to test that this works

4) if both wi-fi and Ethernet tried SEPARATELY produce low speeds there's a pretty strange software issue going on, at which point I'd be looking to repair Windows 10

Summary:
Not sure if that helps, or if I did not understand your comment but again why do you have BOTH a wired and wireless connection?

No need for wi-fi if Ethernet works.

 

[dustikins]

Hi all,

thanks for the quick answers. In order...

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gooseqz:

About speeds, I think I understand - have been getting 40+Mb down on my PC on very rare occasions, but I'm not expecting 40MB so don't worry!

I do have the option to connect to both 2.4 and 5, and I've tried both. I get more or less the same speed (around 0,3-0.5Mb) on both. I have also reinstalled wireless adapter a number of times.

I'll give disabling Zonealarm a go.

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kanewolf:
I'm using ethernet from powerline adapter at the moment. I've used the exact same adapter in another PC to see if the adapter is at fault, but I get good speeds on that computer when I do this test.

I haven't connected ethernet directly to the router as it's on a different floor, but if need be I can try to see if I get good speeds.

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photonboy:

I have powerline/ethernet and WiFI because they used to alternate between being fast and slow. When my speed dropped on Wifi I'd switch to Ethernet, etc. It was the only solution to having vaguely consistent speeds unfortunately.

1) Have used Ethernet/powerline only. Speeds remain low but (as with wifi) are occasionally 40+Mb for short periods

2) Ditto

3) As with reply to kanewolf, the adapter worked on another PC

4) to eliminate potential software issues I booted in safe mode with network and tried both ethernet and wifi. again, 0.3Mb down and around 6Mb up.

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Thanks.

 

[photonboy]

It sounds to me like an issue with Windows 10.

1) the wi-fi adapter worked on another PC, thus that proves the wi-fi card AND the rest of the hardware (router/modem etc)

2) thus that leaves the PC itself (minus the wi-fi card)

3) the only HARDWARE in the PC that may affect things is the MOTHERBOARD but since the wi-fi card and ethernet paths both are problematic it's hard to see how that could be a Motherboard issue (and other things appear to work fine besides networking)

4) to me, that really just leaves a Windows software issue

5) thus, to test there's a few things I'd try first:

a) create a Linux (i.e. Ubuntu) thumb drive, boot to that and test your network, or

b) get a spare HDD/SSD (60GB or more) and do a clean install of Windows 10 (unhook other drives), or

c) do an In-Place Upgrade of W10 which may fix an issue. Both this and the Clean Install need an Install Image of W10... here's how->


W10 Install:
a) insert 8GB+ USB stick
b) download the W10 Media Creation Tool and run it
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

c) use the "OTHER PC" option and follow instructions so it will install to your USB stick
d) wait for minutes/hours? (possibly over 4GB in size)

e) for the "W10 Upgrade" (upgrade to itself, which overwrites files) just run "setup.exe" from the USB stick and follow instructions (keeps data and applications)

f) for Clean Install.. unhook all but the spare HDD/SSD, then boot to the USB stick and do a W10 install (will ask for e-mail + password. not sure if you can skip that... do NOT put in your W10 key though as it will get handled automatically)

- may need wi-fi software, but Etherenet (wired) should simply work

OTHER:
You should create a backup IMAGE of the Windows partition once your problem is fixed (even if it's a hardware issue you fix) in case you get future data corruption or your Windows drive fails.

I use Acronis True Image (paid version) to do weekly backups (weekly, incremental, 2nd highest compression level, 1-chain, deletes older backups).