Question PC suddenly limits internet speed to 6.5 Mbps

[Marianus]

Hey Everyone,

No problems for 4 years of PC ownership. Randomly happened the other night. Cut out mid game. I have done a full malware scan and driver reinstall.

My computer has suddenly limited my internet speed to 6.5 Mbps. It says “Connected, secured” underneath my SSID in the basic internet access pop out. Also has a 4 bar strength.

I can see the speed via “View Network connections”> right click network > status page. It is a wireless connection.

For 15 or so seconds once first connected the speed is up in the 300’s sometimes even 800’s then it goes back down to 6.5 mbps.

While connected to my iPhone hotspot I get a constant 117 Mbps. Works fine.

Other devices work fine still. I’m wondering if this is a hardware issue. Maybe something to do with a 5G connection. It is a 7+ year old Archer T6E PCIE wifi adapter. I have not tried a quick removal/dust of the card yet. Not that there is much in there.

There is a bunch of options I can see in some menus. No idea how they work.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

OS:
Edition Windows 10 Home
Version 22H2
Installed on ‎5/‎4/‎21
OS build 19045.5011
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19060.1000.0

System:
R5 3600
MSI MECH Radeon 5700
B450 Aorus M
Archer T6E PCIE
16gb 3200MHZ ram

 

[Lutfij]

B450 Aorus M
Can you check and see what BIOS version you're on at this moment of time?

Archer T6E PCIE
Try uninstalling your wireless adapter's drivers, then manually install the latest driver in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

Use drivers found here;

Download for Archer T6E | TP-Link Bangladesh

TP Link - Download Center Detail

www.tp-link.com

but please pay attention to the revision number on your adapter so you've got the right drivers for your adapter.

As for your router, you could see if that's pending a firmware update.

 

[Marianus]

B450 Aorus M
Can you check and see what BIOS version you're on at this moment of time?

Archer T6E PCIE
Try uninstalling your wireless adapter's drivers, then manually install the latest driver in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

Use drivers found here;

Download for Archer T6E | TP-Link Bangladesh

TP Link - Download Center Detail

www.tp-link.com

but please pay attention to the revision number on your adapter so you've got the right drivers for your adapter.

As for your router, you could see if that's pending a firmware update.

Uninstalled using the tool provided. Made sure its rev 1. Drivers matched and installed using admin.

I am on Bios version F50. I can see that it is aged now. Im assuming updating it is the next step.

 

[bill001g]

So if you are seeing the exact values of 6.5 and 117 they have a different meaning. These are seen on the status page for a interface. These represent the data encoding and only kinda represent the speed. I assume speedtest values are much less.

So here is the massive table that will tell you what those numbers mean sometimes it is tricky when the value is in multiple columns.

MCS Index, Modulation and Coding Index

802.11 MCS Index

mcsindex.net

What this tells me is you have poor signal levels even though it shows 4 bars. I also suspect you have something set wrong in your router. I have not checked you nic but some nics allow you to limit some support.

As you see 6.5 is the lowest possible value.....there are lower ones but that is using the very first generations of wifi.
The 117 number indicates you are getting a bit stronger signals so it can use a more complex encoding. It is also using 2 overlapping radio signals...ie MIMO.

These though are well below what you card can do. You should see 433.3 or 866.7.

Although it is hidden is a different place what does your Iphone show for connect speed.


So first check your router. Make sure you have different SSID for 2.4 and 5. Make sure it is set to 20/40 on the 2.4 and 20/40/80 on the 5. There are many other setting that let you change the strange stuff like delay intervals for the channels. You really want to set these to default.

If everything looks fine and other devices work good I am going to suspect your card has a bad radio transmitter. You would see the signal levels at good levels but if the router had a way it would show that it had low level on what it can receive your signals.
Maybe be 100% sure the antenna are firmly attached.

Luckily wifi nic cards are pretty cheap. Although it will not do anything unless you have a newer router and very fast internet connection you might as well buy wifi6e card. There is almost no difference in price between older technology and the newest Even wifi7 cards are starting to get more reasonably price.

I would look for cards that use ax210. This is a very popular intel chipset that seem to work very well. There are other brands that work well just be sure you are getting wifi6e. wifi6 without the "e" can not run on the 6ghz radio and really runs no different than wifi5 which is what you have now.