Wi-Fi speed fluctuates wildly

Antrim

Distinguished
Aug 30, 2011
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0
18,510
Hi. I recently purchased a Chromecast device and have been playing with it. After being worried that the little thing was defective (because sometimes it would stream perfectly and some other times it would start freezing and barely stream anything) I've come to the conclusion that my Wi-Fi speed is the cause of the problems.

I have 25mbps with Comcast and a WNR1000v2 router. The real speed varies between 22mbps and 28mbps in my wired desktop connection (I use www.speedtest.net for all my tests).

Earlier today I was watching something using Chromecast and it was messing up badly. I checked my Wi-Fi speed using the speedtest.net app in my phone and it said the speed was about 1.5mbps. I checked right at the same time in my desktop with a wired connection (that goes through the router) and it was about 26mbps, so that means that somewhere between the router and my wireless devices there was a huge drop. The weird thing is that about 10 mins later I checked the Wi-Fi speed and it had gone up to 7mbps, a while later 12mbps, and after that it got up to 23mbps. Right now for example, it's at 10mbps.

Is this huge fluctuation in the speed normal? I just can't imagine any reason for it. Do I need to tweak something in my router configuration? The router is about 3 years old and given by Comcast, so I assume it's probably crappy. Could it be related to bad quality and I should get an upgrade ASAP?

Thanks.
 
Solution
While huge drops in wireless speed are not "normal" they are very common and can happen for a number of reasons, the most common being interference from other 2.4GHz sources, including other nearby networks, wireless phones, speakers, baby monitors, microwave ovens, etc.

You can use inSSIDer v3 (the free version) from HERE to check out other nearby networks.

If you live in an apartment building for example, this would be expected.

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
While huge drops in wireless speed are not "normal" they are very common and can happen for a number of reasons, the most common being interference from other 2.4GHz sources, including other nearby networks, wireless phones, speakers, baby monitors, microwave ovens, etc.

You can use inSSIDer v3 (the free version) from HERE to check out other nearby networks.

If you live in an apartment building for example, this would be expected.
 
Solution