Curious about different speeds on same WiFi network?

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caffynz

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#309303 6-Oct-2023 21:20

Just out of curiousity, I ran speedtest on both my laptop, and my mobile phone, both in the same location, and on the same WiFi network. Tested laptop first, then phone.

To the same server (2degrees Auckland).

Mobile phone (Samsung S10+, bought new in 2019) - 70.8Mbps down / 48.5 Mbps up.

Laptop (Asus, bought new in November 2022) - 48.49Mbps down / 99.33 Mbps up.

No one else at home at the same time - so just that laptop and phone actively connected to Internet

Not a biggie nor a problem to solve - just interested in the different wireless Internet speeds, with devices tested in exactly same location in the house and tested within minutes of each other.

What variables affect speeds of wireless Internet - other than distance to the router (Fritzbox)?

RunningMan

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#3143759 6-Oct-2023 21:29

Transmit and receive rates can be different and will vary with signal strength, channel width, spatial streams, wifi generation, interference, radio power, antenna design.

The asymetric rates can be because a phone generally is lower power to save battery, so it may transmit slower than it can receive. Laptop may be opposite.

EDIT: Depending how technical you want to get, have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi#Performance as a start.

freitasm

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#3143841 7-Oct-2023 02:58

Also the laptop and phone are completely different hardware and software.

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Hammerer

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#3143842 7-Oct-2023 04:06

caffynz:

… I ran speedtest …

… just interested in the different wireless Internet speeds, with devices tested in exactly same location in the house and tested within minutes of each other.

What variables affect speeds of wireless Internet - other than distance to the router (Fritzbox)?

Speedtest has FAQs that say much the same as the other replies:

https://www.speedtest.net/about/knowledge/faq#factors

https://www.speedtest.net/about/knowledge/faq#speeds

raytaylor

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#3144223 8-Oct-2023 10:02

There are so many factors that affect wifi performance

Software drivers
Wifi chipset type
Channel Width
Number of spatial streams
Beamforming optimization
Constantly changing interference from neighboring phones, wifi devices, security cameras, microwaves at the exact point in time as you attempt to transfer data
Band used (2.4/5ghz)
Interference in adjacent channels affecting wide channel width devices but not affecting standard 20mhz wide devices
Antenna design
Signal strength (even too strong causes radio chips to go deaf over time)
Packet loss, latency and TCP speed ramp up algorithm/optimisations on specific devices and operating system version
Other "idle" or "standby" devices that are occasionally waking up at random to transfer data
IOT devices like lightbulbs and camera systems relaying data intermittantly for other people as part of P2P networks
Packet Collision collapse
Reflections and error correction causing signal propagation delays

that most people need to focus more on an attitude adjustment rather than troubleshooting speed. If you get 15mbps down then you can stream video, game and do everything you need to online, and any more than that is just a bonus to be thankful for that you wont use 99% of the time.

Many people dont consider the negatives of great speed. One that comes to mind is your battery would go flat very quickly if you were constantly transferring lots of data to a phone, so the need for great speed isnt really there since you would never want to use it - outside of testing.

If you really want speed, plug in to an ethernet port on your router. Otherwise just be thankful that wifi works so well given the things stacked up against it.

Ray Taylor

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