Question How to obtain correct download speed on Dell G3 3779?

[midevil.chaos]

These are my specs:
Laptop: Dell G3 3779
Internal wifi (for initial testing): Intel Wireless AC-9462
External wifi adapter (when testing wifi): Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 (A7000)
32GB of Ram (Corsair)
1tb Corsair SSD NVME 2.0
940MBPS per ISP (router specs are below)

When I use either the main wifi or the USB one, it goes no more than around 330-350MBPS, despite my ISP being 940MBPS. When I connect the ethernet directly into my router, it's around 650MBPS (which I'm NOT concerned about though). In any case, I want to use the internal wifi adapter since I have a laptop. I've set it to Dual Band, with 5G preferred. I have also added the Throughput Booster to Enabled. All of these have increased my download speed, but I still can't get it higher than that. When I tested with the adapter, I know it can easily handle what my ISP is sending. I have no clue what else to do. I doubt it's the settings, seeing I get the same speeds with my laptop wifi and with my Nighthawk adapter.

Router/Modem: I listed the entire spec sheet below:

Technical specifications​

Dimensions
Width: 10 cm
Height: 21 cm
Depth: 10 cm

Connections
4 Ethernet ports: 1 x 2.5 Gbps (WAN/LAN) and 3 x 1 Gbps (LAN)
1 port EWAN
2 ports RJ-11 / PacketCable (telephone)
1 coaxial input 1 Gbps
1 Separate 110 V power supply

Connectivity
Wi-Fi protocol: 802.11 g/n/ac/ax (Wi-Fi 6) Certification: 2019
5 GHz Wi-Fi antennas: 4 x 4
Up to Wi-Fi devices supported by band: 150 (75 out of 2.4 GHz / 75 out of 5 GHz)
Maximum data flow: 2.5 Gbps
Wi-Fi Security: WPA2
Docsis: D3.1
IoT antennas: Bluetooth and ZigBee
Backward compatibility with non ac/ax-enabled devices

 

[bill001g]

You are a victim of believing the marketing guys deceptive wifi numbers. They are doing stuff like adding transmit and receive speed together. They would call your eithernet port 2gbit....except ethernet can actually do that unlike wifi that can not actually transmit and receive at exactly the same time. Many other technical deceptions in those number you get only a very tiny fraction in real life.

First the internal card in your laptop is very old I would be surprised if you got more than 150mbps sitting on top of the router.
The external netgear is a bit better and represents what is the most common wifi setup most devices have. 300mbps sitting fairly near the router is generally what most people get.

Now before you go to lots of trouble why is 300mbps not enough. In general extra bandwidth only helps when you are downloading huge stuff. How often do you do that in a month and how many total minutes does it save you. Since you have a laptop could you not just plug it into the router with a ethernet when it would say save you a lot of time. This is very similar to the discussion I have with myself whenever the ISP sends me offers to go to 5gbit rather than 1gbit...for "only" a extra $80/month.

Since your router seems to be fairly fancy and support newer protocols you might consider replacing the internal wifi card. I would look for one based intel AX210. This is actually wifi6e which is even newer than what your router supports. Since your router does not support it you will only get wifi6 but the ax210 cost the same price as the older ax200.

Hard to say how much faster you will actually get if any. There are 2 things that make wifi6 faster. The key one is the use of 160mhz radio bands. There are lots of complex rules about using 160mhz radio band related to avoiding other signals like weather radar. In addition when you try to use that much bandwidth you pretty much guarantee you overlap your neighbors and get interference.
The other thing that makes wifi6 faster is the use of qam1024 encoding. This though tends to only work in the same room so you might as well use a ethernet cable.

If you are very lucky you can get 600mbps but I would not count on it be 100% since for example you could have storms in your area and a tv stations activates their weather radar.

So if you can not get 160mhz radio bands and you are not close to the router it will actually drop back to wifi5 and be equivalent to ac1200. Your external wifi card might be a bit faster since it support 3 overlapping antenna feeds and your laptop only has 2 internal antenna.

I guess if you are willing to disassemble your laptop it is a fairly cheap thing to try. Maybe you get lucky.

 

[midevil.chaos]

You are a victim of believing the marketing guys deceptive wifi numbers. They are doing stuff like adding transmit and receive speed together. They would call your eithernet port 2gbit....except ethernet can actually do that unlike wifi that can not actually transmit and receive at exactly the same time. Many other technical deceptions in those number you get only a very tiny fraction in real life.

First the internal card in your laptop is very old I would be surprised if you got more than 150mbps sitting on top of the router.
The external netgear is a bit better and represents what is the most common wifi setup most devices have. 300mbps sitting fairly near the router is generally what most people get.

Now before you go to lots of trouble why is 300mbps not enough. In general extra bandwidth only helps when you are downloading huge stuff. How often do you do that in a month and how many total minutes does it save you. Since you have a laptop could you not just plug it into the router with a ethernet when it would say save you a lot of time. This is very similar to the discussion I have with myself whenever the ISP sends me offers to go to 5gbit rather than 1gbit...for "only" a extra $80/month.

Since your router seems to be fairly fancy and support newer protocols you might consider replacing the internal wifi card. I would look for one based intel AX210. This is actually wifi6e which is even newer than what your router supports. Since your router does not support it you will only get wifi6 but the ax210 cost the same price as the older ax200.

Hard to say how much faster you will actually get if any. There are 2 things that make wifi6 faster. The key one is the use of 160mhz radio bands. There are lots of complex rules about using 160mhz radio band related to avoiding other signals like weather radar. In addition when you try to use that much bandwidth you pretty much guarantee you overlap your neighbors and get interference.
The other thing that makes wifi6 faster is the use of qam1024 encoding. This though tends to only work in the same room so you might as well use a ethernet cable.

If you are very lucky you can get 600mbps but I would not count on it be 100% since for example you could have storms in your area and a tv stations activates their weather radar.

So if you can not get 160mhz radio bands and you are not close to the router it will actually drop back to wifi5 and be equivalent to ac1200. Your external wifi card might be a bit faster since it support 3 overlapping antenna feeds and your laptop only has 2 internal antenna.

I guess if you are willing to disassemble your laptop it is a fairly cheap thing to try. Maybe you get lucky.

I get what you're saying. I hadn't thought of that. As for the speed I get, I can literally get around 350mbps. Which is ok, and yes, I want higher speeds because of the reason you stated. I could plug my laptop in the router, but I would have to be sitting down at that point, on the floor. And I'd want to use my laptop anyhow, so that's not a good solution in my case.

As for replacing my wifi card. Honestly, I never even thought about that. Thank you for your suggestion. I will look into the cost of that, and I've opened my laptops so many times that you know, what's one more time? lol. I've never replaced one of those. Do they require any type of soddering?

 

[Zerk2012]

I get what you're saying. I hadn't thought of that. As for the speed I get, I can literally get around 350mbps. Which is ok, and yes, I want higher speeds because of the reason you stated. I could plug my laptop in the router, but I would have to be sitting down at that point, on the floor. And I'd want to use my laptop anyhow, so that's not a good solution in my case.

As for replacing my wifi card. Honestly, I never even thought about that. Thank you for your suggestion. I will look into the cost of that, and I've opened my laptops so many times that you know, what's one more time? lol. I've never replaced one of those. Do they require any type of soddering?

Is that running a speed test or actually downloading something.

 

[midevil.chaos]

Is that running a speed test or actually downloading something.

Speed test.

 

[Zerk2012]

Speed test.

650 direct cable 350 WIFI.
I would think that would be about right. You could always contact your ISP or try it on anouther device.

 

[midevil.chaos]

650 direct cable 350 WIFI.
I would think that would be about right. You could always contact your ISP or try it on anouther device.

I see. On my PC, it's a bit lower for some reason (with the Netgear adapter). As for my cellphone, it says around 650mbps.

 

[bill001g]

As for replacing my wifi card. Honestly, I never even thought about that. Thank you for your suggestion. I will look into the cost of that, and I've opened my laptops so many times that you know, what's one more time? lol. I've never replaced one of those. Do they require any type of soddering?

It is trivial. The newer stuff all uses the same m.2 socket you unplug one and plug the other in. Only stuff like tablets solder in the the wifi card.

Just search for ax210 and you will get many options. They all use the same intel chip.

The only tricky thing is if you have big fingers it is hard to snap the antenna onto the new card they are very tiny.

 

[midevil.chaos]

It is trivial. The newer stuff all uses the same m.2 socket you unplug one and plug the other in. Only stuff like tablets solder in the the wifi card.

Just search for ax210 and you will get many options. They all use the same intel chip.

The only tricky thing is if you have big fingers it is hard to snap the antenna onto the new card they are very tiny.

Thanks. Naw, I've got fingers like a pianist LOL, so I am golden in that aspect. Yeah, ima google it on Amazon and see what I can find. Or maybe Bestbuy as well, or something.

 

[JohnMGotts]

If you have to get on the floor to access your router, it’s in the wrong spot. Move it.

 

[midevil.chaos]

If you have to get on the floor to access your router, it’s in the wrong spot. Move it.

It's not on the floor. It's on something, but I have no chairs around etc., and I'd have to be on the floor. In any case, I bought the wifi card and I'll have it tomorrow.

 

[Ralston18]

And do watch out that the laptop does not end up with two network adapters of any sort enabled at the same time.

Should only be one network adapter, be it wired or wireless, enabled at any given time.

Before doing anything, run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the laptop's Command Prompt.

Print out the results.

The "ipconfig /all" information is likely to come in handy as a reference for reconfiguring and/or troubleshooting.

 

[midevil.chaos]

And do watch out that the laptop does not end up with two network adapters of any sort enabled at the same time.

Should only be one network adapter, be it wired or wireless, enabled at any given time.

Before doing anything, run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the laptop's Command Prompt.

Print out the results.

The "ipconfig /all" information is likely to come in handy as a reference for reconfiguring and/or troubleshooting.

Yeah, whenever I do something, it auto disables the other one. So, say if I addt the ethernet cable or the external adapter, it disables the other one by default. I had verified to make sure though nonetheless when I was troubleshooting.

 

[Ralston18]

Interesting.

Post the results of "ipconfig /all"

Someone may spot some other issue(s).

Is IPv6 disabled?

 

[midevil.chaos]

Interesting.

Post the results of "ipconfig /all"

Someone may spot some other issue(s).

Is IPv6 disabled?

Nope. I did not disable it at all.



Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : PC-1
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : (Removed info)
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Unknown adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : ExpressVPN TUN Driver
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . :
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 1:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : (Removed info)
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : (Removed info)
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9462
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : (Removed info)
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : (Removed info)(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.85(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, October 24, 2023 2:22:10 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, October 26, 2023 2:22:11 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 83934048
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : (Removed info)
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 2606:4700:4700::1111
2606:4700:4700::1001
1.1.1.1
1.0.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : (Removed info)
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

 

[gggplaya]

Internal wifi (for initial testing): Intel Wireless AC-9462
External wifi adapter (when testing wifi): Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 (A7000)

Wifi is Half-Duplex, not Full-Duplex like ethernet. In short, your typical speeds are going to be about half of your connection rate. 800mbps is a typical connection rate for a 2x2 AC wifi radio in your laptop, so about 400mbps is your expected typical real world maximum bandwidth. That's sitting right next to the router. Add some distance, and that bandwidth will be lower.

If you upgrade your internal wifi card to a Intel AX210, then you could probably get a connection rate of 1200mbps, and see a typical bandwidth of about 500-600mbps. Add some distance and that goes down of course.

Don't look at the speed rating marketing of routers. They take all the radio antennae channels and add them together. Most devices do not have that many radio channels, they typically only have 2x2. But if you had a desktop, you could buy a wifi PCIe card with a 3x3 or 4x4 radio and truly get your gigabit internet speed.

 

[ARICH5]

1 Mb=0.125MB

 

[midevil.chaos]

Wifi is Half-Duplex, not Full-Duplex like ethernet. In short, your typical speeds are going to be about half of your connection rate. 800mbps is a typical connection rate for a 2x2 AC wifi radio in your laptop, so about 400mbps is your expected typical real world maximum bandwidth. That's sitting right next to the router. Add some distance, and that bandwidth will be lower.

If you upgrade your internal wifi card to a Intel AX210, then you could probably get a connection rate of 1200mbps, and see a typical bandwidth of about 500-600mbps. Add some distance and that goes down of course.

Don't look at the speed rating marketing of routers. They take all the radio antennae channels and add them together. Most devices do not have that many radio channels, they typically only have 2x2. But if you had a desktop, you could buy a wifi PCIe card with a 3x3 or 4x4 radio and truly get your gigabit internet speed.

That is good to know. Thanks for the information! That's really useful, especially when it comes to an actual PC. I installed the card btw... and holy f***. It's at around 545mbps now.