PC Bottlenecking Wifi?

[Knights29]

Hello,

I consider myself somewhat tech savvy however I have hit a wall when it comes to this issue. At University all Fall I used a network adapter USB (Linksys AE6000) with my PC and it worked splendidly. However when I returned home for the summer my PC sat unused in the closet for about 3 months. I cleaned the dust off of it this week and plugged it in. I am getting horrible internet speeds. Around 2Mbps according to Speedtest .net .

When using my iPhone on the wifi I tested to 45Mbps and when using the SAME USB Wifi Adapter with my laptop at the same desk my desktop is at I got 35Mbps. Why would my PC get a significantly worse connection using the same USB adapter from the same room in the house? I am only about 20 ft and one 2ft thick piece of drywall from my router so I should be fine?

I run Windows 7 Home Premium (Non-Genuine).
I have used Malwarebytes to virus scan and came up clean.
This PC used the same adapter last summer in the same location in the home at 40Mbps so something happened between 3 months ago and now causing my PC to seemingly not accept my internet.

When possible I will try my PC at another location to see if it does this with all wifi connections.

Any and All help would be appreciated! Thank you so much!

 

[Ralston18]

Does not take much to interfere with wireless adapter's and their ability to receive and/or transmit.

Start by verifying that the wireless adapter is "playing well" with the home router. You may have made some small but forgotten configuration change when home last year. Configure the wireless adapter to manual settings to match the router versus "auto". Or vice versa perhaps. Maybe the router has changed in someway... manually or automatically via a firmware update.

The wireless adapter has "aged" and may simply moving towards its engineered-in EOL (End of Life).

You are on the correct path - try different locations and narrow down the possibilities directly or by elimination.

Try using a USB extension cable to raise your USB adapter up and about - away from the back of your PC. May help some.

 

[Knights29]

Does not take much to interfere with wireless adapter's and their ability to receive and/or transmit.

Start by verifying that the wireless adapter is "playing well" with the home router. You may have made some small but forgotten configuration change when home last year. Configure the wireless adapter to manual settings to match the router versus "auto". Or vice versa perhaps. Maybe the router has changed in someway... manually or automatically via a firmware update.

The wireless adapter has "aged" and may simply moving towards its engineered-in EOL (End of Life).

You are on the correct path - try different locations and narrow down the possibilities directly or by elimination.

Try using a USB extension cable to raise your USB adapter up and about - away from the back of your PC. May help some.

I have done an interference test that someone linked in another thread and they said I should come up between -25 and -60 for whatever the unit of measurement is and I came up -41 so I feel my interference isn't the main issue. How would I go about changing settings on the adapter and or router to make them match? I have access to the router admin name and passcode.

 

[Ralston18]

Interference can vary - depends on the overall environment.

Here is link with more information about wireless signal strength:

https://support.metageek.com/hc/en-us/articles/201955754-Understanding-WiFi-Signal-Strength

As for changing the settings on the adapter you right-click the network icon (usually lower right screen corner) and click Open Network and Sharing Center.

Then select "Change adapter settings". And then select the active (enabled) wireless network adapter.

Compare your adapter's wireless settings to another "not bottlenecked" wireless device on your network. See what may be different.

For the most part you will leave most of the settings as is. You can, for example, turn off IPv6 if your ISP does not provide IPv6.

Focus on the wireless settings to ensure that your wireless adapter matches the router's wireless settings. Leave the router settings unchanged until you have exhausted the "options" with respect to the wireless adapter. Then consider possible changes to the router. Last resort as you may inavertently take down the router and subsequently your home network.

Change only one thing at a time and keep notes in case you need to undo some change. If you are not sure about some setting google it. Look for the adapter's User Guide/Manual - should be some explanation within the manual.