Question I'm paying for 1.5Gbps but only getting 90mbps maximum ?

[Secondus]

Hi guys.
So I've got Bell Fibe internet in Canada, I am paying for 1.5Gbps. Due to location in my home, I couldn't do a direct ethernet cable from modem to laptop, so I got a TP-Link 2000 Wall Powerline adapter.
I'm under the impression that this would have worked just fine, which it does, I connect no problem and can even remote play from laptop to devices near flawlessly (which did not work in the past due to severe latency). I have checked the hardware on both devices, the ports on the modem are gigabit, and my laptop is fairly new (2021), and in the status it shows the speed at 1.0 Gbps, and I went into the properties and confirmed the Speed & Duplex were at 1.0 Gbps.
Problem is the download speed, which funny enough is actually faster on the 5Ghz network than ethernet? The TP Link device is fairly new (less than 2 months old).
Could the issue be that i'm using 2 different Cat cables? The TP Link device that is connected to the modem, is using a Cat 5e for the connection. While the other TP Link device (that is connected to my laptop) is a Cat 7 cable. Is the device the problem?
Look forward to hearing what you guys think.

Thanks.

 

[Secondus]

That would mean that there is some issue with poor signal levels. Those are the worst to find could be a issue with the unit, the antenna or something silly like the case of the laptop blocks signals in some strange way related to how your house is constructed.

Could you take both laptops to say a public library and see if they connect at different rates.

Could it possibly be due to one is Windows 10 (old laptop) and other is Windows 11 (new)
Something in the OS causing it? Or could the WiFi Antenna itself be defective in the new machine?

 

[bill001g]

I doubt windows has anything to do with it. Almost all the wifi function is locked up inside the wifi chip itself. The code for the wifi chip is loaded from the driver and the drivers come from the chipset makers. Because of all the FCC rules I doubt microsoft does anything with it.

Although laptops can sometime not be fully supported you could try a linux USB boot image. These are designed to run from the USB stick completely without affecting your current install. I know they have the drivers for the wifi card you use, it is other things in a laptop that they may not.
This would mostly eliminate the OS as the cause.

In a way you would rather it be the wifi card itself that is broken. Antenna can go bad. Many times the connector is loose from the wifi card, they are tiny, but this is not likely since you have not opened the machine. The other common antenna failure is the cable gets damaged at the hinge location in the laptop.
Replacing the antenna and the cable is a huge pain in the butt on most laptops. They are behind the screen in many cases which means lots of disassembly. The antenna itself is basically just a piece of wire so they don't really go bad.

 

[Secondus]

I doubt windows has anything to do with it. Almost all the wifi function is locked up inside the wifi chip itself. The code for the wifi chip is loaded from the driver and the drivers come from the chipset makers. Because of all the FCC rules I doubt microsoft does anything with it.

Although laptops can sometime not be fully supported you could try a linux USB boot image. These are designed to run from the USB stick completely without affecting your current install. I know they have the drivers for the wifi card you use, it is other things in a laptop that they may not.
This would mostly eliminate the OS as the cause.

In a way you would rather it be the wifi card itself that is broken. Antenna can go bad. Many times the connector is loose from the wifi card, they are tiny, but this is not likely since you have not opened the machine. The other common antenna failure is the cable gets damaged at the hinge location in the laptop.
Replacing the antenna and the cable is a huge pain in the butt on most laptops. They are behind the screen in many cases which means lots of disassembly. The antenna itself is basically just a piece of wire so they don't really go bad.

Really appreciate your input and advice in helping to fix my issue. Would you suggest I open the machine and inspect if anything has come loose? Or should I buy a new wireless card (same model) and try to replace the card? I am just not sure if replacing wifi cards will do anything to my warranty.

 

[bill001g]

It is hard to tell by looking the connectors are so small you almost can't see them. You can feel when they snap in mostly.

If there is a warranty maybe call the company and ask about this problem. If it is a simple cover to take off you could look at if you want if it requires lots of disassembly I would avoid it. There tends to be lots of flat cable that have to be carefully removed in some laptops.
The ones with a nice door just for the memory and wifi card on the back are best.

 

[Secondus]

It is hard to tell by looking the connectors are so small you almost can't see them. You can feel when they snap in mostly.

If there is a warranty maybe call the company and ask about this problem. If it is a simple cover to take off you could look at if you want if it requires lots of disassembly I would avoid it. There tends to be lots of flat cable that have to be carefully removed in some laptops.
The ones with a nice door just for the memory and wifi card on the back are best.

As far as I know, it is all accessible by removing the back of the machine