Question Why is the internet speed different on 2 connected pcs?

[Skelton1974]

1. DELL laptop Inspiron 15 7590
2. HP All-in-One 24- F oxx desktop

Both PCs are a year old
Router: Airport Extreme 802.1n Wi-Fi Base Station
I do not have the Apple Airport disc for PC to make changes if it's required.
Modem: AT&T Pace, model 5031NV (got it 2013)
My laptop is near the modem & router on same desk - speed is OK
My husband's HP is in another room & his PC is very slow to upload & download.
We did a remote cleanup with virus removal on 9/18/20 - this didn't improve the speed. 689 temp files were found & deleted.
The speed was faster when we had an iMac prior to the HP
Is there something I should do to improve the speed connection on the HP?
Thank you.
Mimi

 

[bill001g]

Distance from the router makes a huge difference. The signal is weaker so it can not use the fastest encoding methods. In addition since the signal is weaker it also is more susceptible to interfering signals from neighbors wifi.

The only true test is with them in the same place and even then extremely small differences in antenna placement can cause difference in the speed.

You really should check it on a ethernet cable first to make sure there is nothing wrong with the machine and then you can look at the wifi.

 

[Skelton1974]

Hello Titan! Thank you for your response. Your explanation about the distance makes perfect sense. However, when we had the iMac instead of the HP; the connection was faster.

I do have an extra internet cable but where do I put it? Do excuse my ignorance in this matter.

I presently have a yellow cable plugged into the WAN port of Airport Extreme & the other end in the Ethernet port of the AT&T router. Airport Extreme has 3 LAN ports vacant. By the way, the router has no antenna.

The HP in the other room has no internet cable plugged into it.
I just tried to plug this cable into the HP but the cable is not long enough to reach the phone socket.

Is this what you meant for me to do? If that is the case, maybe I should buy a longer ethernet cable?

 

[bill001g]

You can not use the wall jacks if they are "phone" jacks. You must have ethernet cables inside your wall. You can of course run a ethernet cable all the way over the floor.

But I was more thinking you could temporarily move the pc close to the router to just test.

The wifi problem could be as simple as turning the back of the computer to face the router if it is desktop. Many people put desktop machines under a desk against a wall. That blocks the wifi antennas from almost all directions.

 

[Skelton1974]

Hi, Following on your previous advice, I move my laptop to the other room next to the HP that is so slow and I was surprised that the speed on my laptop was good, same as it in its original spot by the router & modem. Given that fact, I find it curious that the HP doesn't pick up the same speed.

After your 1st response, I searched the internet & I did learn about not plugging the ethernet cable into the phone jack, like you said. I also read about wi-fi booster & extender - Don't know if that would improve the situation.

It's not possible for our situation to move the HP closer to the router because the entire configuration (router, modem, phone) is set up on my desk next to the laptop. I use my laptop as a desktop , rarely moving it.

It's still odd to me that with the old iMac the internet speed was better. I did a speedtest on the HP; it was pretty much the same as on my laptop for download, slower on the upload & higher for latency. I'm just wondering if that HP model is deficient in some way. If it's not too heavy to carry, I will try moving the HP next to the router to see if the speed improves.

Thank you for your assistance.

 

[Mr.Spock]

different PCs have different hardware and antenna configurations. even changing the antenna orientation slightly can improve signal. you might consider using USB wifi adapter or a media bridge to improve seeped on the HP.