[SOLVED] My phone gets 10x the download speed that my computer does in the same room

Mar 2, 2020
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I have been trying to figure out why my desktop gets such bad connection while my phone is fine. Using Speedtest by Ookla my pc scores a "46mbps" while my phone scores a whopping "460mbps" yes they are both measured using the same unit. Another computer that we have down stairs gets a great connection as well as other family memeber's phones. I did a network reset in the Settings>Network & Internet>Status page and it increased the score from a 20mbps to a 40, but it is still no where near close to what my phone gets. Only other thing I have noticed while downloading games on steam my download speeds can vary from 1.5 to 20mbps. While I don't think this is the best example because the steam server I am downloading from could also have an effect on that, it does seem very volatile. Any ideas on some solution to my problem?

P.S. Not sure what specs you might need, but I am running windows 10 and I have a alienware alpha r2 computer with a Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 network adapter (I think this is my wifi driver but I'm not sure).
 
Solution
For desktop machines you really want to use a ethernet cable. For games the main factor is the quality of the connection not so much the speed.

Most problems with desktop machines are the case the the components blocking the signal. There is lots of metal compared to a phone that is mostly glass. In general you want the antenna facing the router.

Make sure you are connecting using the 5g radio the 2.4g has much less bandwidth.

The card you have in your machine is pretty basic. It at most can use a single channel and has the 433 encoding. This means even if you had some magically lab configuration you would never get more than 433. In real life you never get even 1/2 that. Most times its is closer to 100mbps or less...
For desktop machines you really want to use a ethernet cable. For games the main factor is the quality of the connection not so much the speed.

Most problems with desktop machines are the case the the components blocking the signal. There is lots of metal compared to a phone that is mostly glass. In general you want the antenna facing the router.

Make sure you are connecting using the 5g radio the 2.4g has much less bandwidth.

The card you have in your machine is pretty basic. It at most can use a single channel and has the 433 encoding. This means even if you had some magically lab configuration you would never get more than 433. In real life you never get even 1/2 that. Most times its is closer to 100mbps or less.

You likely can not upgrade the card since you machine likely only has 1 antenna.

In any case do you get a stable connection when you play games. That is the most important thing, unless you spend all your time downloading games rather than playing them.
 
Solution