Internet speed, hard wired vs wireless

[Herman Thrognorton]

Trying to understand why my wireless internet speed is over 50 Meg and my wired speed is 31...

 

[i7Baby]

What's your set up?

 

[Herman Thrognorton]

I have a new dual band router. I have a desktop hooked up "wired" and then I have a laptop going wireless. I ran some download tests on both, my desktop (wired) is getting 30 Meg and the laptops are at 55 Meg...

I have Comcast as a ISP. It's advertised at 50 Meg.
Desktop - Windows 7, laptop has Windows 8. Both 64 bit
Desktop Network - Intel 82578DC, Gigabit Network Connection. TAP - Windows adapter V9
Wireless in :Laptop - Intel Dual Band Wireless - AC 3160
Router - ASUS RT-N56U
Antivirus - Microsoft Security essential on both.
When I looked at the current driver... it showed version 12.10.13.0, dated 7/18/2013. I downloaded the file for 20.0.x.x.. Rebooted and is still showed version 12.10.13.0, dated 7/18/2013.

"link speed" tab shows: 1.00 Gbps/Full Duplex. ..Version shows: 20.0.10.0

I ran the download test on the laptop again, it shows 53.6. I disconnected ethernet from desktop and plugged into laptop, turned wireless off... download test shows 54.5. Seems the cable is ok.

 

[i7Baby]

"my desktop (wired) is getting 30 Meg and the laptops are at 55 Meg..." - Make sure they are the same units of measurement. mBs is megaBytes per second. mbs is megabits per second. They aren't the same.

 

[Herman Thrognorton]

I'm aware of that. Thanks for trying to help

 

[Jormungandr]

Actually, this appears to having nothing to do with it being wired or wireless. If it being wired was the issue your laptop would have been reduced to 30mbit when you connected it via ethernet whether the cable was good or not. In fact, that your laptop continued to get full ~50mbit when plugged in wired more-or-less eliminates your entire network setup as a source of the problem.

That means, very likely, the problem is your desktop (as it's the only common factor that hasn't been eliminated). The windows network stack might be damaged, the drivers might be flawed, something may be eating bandwidth right when you are testing, or the networking hardware may be faulty. Thats where you need to look.

First thing I would try to do is narrow the problem down to either hardware or software.

Most people don't have a spare ethernet adapter laying around. Instead, you might want to download a free linux livecd. You can run linux entirely from such CDs without changing your existing system (don't install anything if it offers) and, since you aren't using your installed os/software/drivers at all, if you still have problems with slowed connection while running from the livecd then you know the issue is probably hardware. If not, then software.

Once you have it narrowed down to either hardware or software either the solution will be obvious (install a new ethernet adapter) or it will just be a matter of eliminating potential software causes one by one.