WiFi vs Wired speeds?

[Marko]

I Just bought a new Lenovo laptop and tested out the speed differences between WiFi and wired. And holy shit. There’s a 100 mb difference. LOL.


The laptop is literally a few feet away from the router too.

I have the Xfinity internet 150 mb with “blast”.

Wired I get around 180 mb. I also consistently get 180 with the Xbone wired.

WiFi 80. Sometimes 100. But rarely.

Is that normal or is there better WiFi routers that give faster speeds.

I have an older Netgear router.

Click to read more...

 

[Kensington]

What old Netgear router? What wireless "letter" N, G, etc.

 

[ZXMustang]

This is a loaded question. There are several variables to consider. Without seeing the channel settings and your overall settings on the router, its hard to tell if you are leaving anything on the table. But a new device should be able to achieve much faster transfer speeds than 100mbps. If you are on 802.11ac wireless, you are likely connected at 400mbps to your access point if you are that close. And there is not that much overhead on wireless to drop you 300mbps.

You might fare better with an aftermarket 802.11ac wireless switch from bestbuy. Ask Comcast to put your gateway into bridge mode, and use your aftermarket wireless. Or get a wireless gateway compatible with comcast from best buy.

But nowadays if you have a new macbook pro and have 160mhz channel enabled on wireless, you can run 1333mbps which is faster than the wire in the best of conditions. Thats only on a macbook pro though so far. Not sure if any PC laptops will connect faster than 866mbps on a 160mhz 5g channel? I havent seen one.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Don't forget that wifi bandwidth per channel is a hub configuration basically (that bandwidth gets shared between devices) while a switch has per port bandwidth.

 

[ZXMustang]

Don't forget that wifi bandwidth per channel is a hub configuration basically (that bandwidth gets shared between devices) while a switch has per port bandwidth.

But you are still choked at a single pipe with wire as well. Your trunk to the router, or basically your internet connection going out.

If you are sharing a channel with other devices, there is no bandwidth sharing. Its called airtime fairness, and the devices are made to wait to talk. They are not talking over eachother or sharing bandwidth on the same channel unless they are connected to two or more different wireless controllers broadcasting on the same channel. Then you run into the hidden node problem.

802.11ax or Wifi 6 will have new standards that allow single channels to be broken up, and shared with multiple devices. But again they will never talk at the same time, or over eachother. Thats not how wireless works.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

But you are still choked at a single pipe with wire as well. Your trunk to the router, or basically your internet connection going out.

If you are sharing a channel with other devices, there is no bandwidth sharing. Its called airtime fairness, and the devices are made to wait to talk. They are not talking over eachother or sharing bandwidth on the same channel unless they are connected to two or more different wireless controllers broadcasting on the same channel. Then you run into the hidden node problem.

802.11ax or Wifi 6 will have new standards that allow single channels to be broken up, and shared with multiple devices. But again they will never talk at the same time, or over eachother. Thats not how wireless works.

The upstream is true, but it seems as if in this case the upstream is more capable than the wireless is. I meant it as a point of the WiFi its self can and is a bottle neck compared to a switched system if the upstream can handle it. As a counterpoint my basic bitch Comcast 10 meg cable is not going to be pegging any routers made after the early 2000s any time soon unless I am doing file transfers between computers on the network.

 

[Marko]

What old Netgear router? What wireless "letter" N, G, etc.

I’m not any good with this stuff. Where do I find the letter?

I also own and use and older Motorola modem Arris. It works fine obviously. Since I’m getting 180 mb. Speeds wired. And I know the wired goes through the router

 

[Fish]

For sure need a newer router. After [MENTION=7743]tin[/MENTION]foil posted about certain routers being hacked, I got this router and wireless speeds on my phone rival my wired PC speeds. Still prefer and try to wire everything I can though.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07628HLTM/?tag=tcg21-20

 

[Marko]

Here’s my router.

 

[Marko]

Modem

 

[Fish]

I see a black piece of plastic with Netgear on it, and a Surfboard with no model number.

If its the 6141 then you should be ok. Thats what I have and also have blast. IIRC its rated up to 300MBPS.

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

Probably 2.4ghz band and older WiFi tech

 

[Marko]

I see a black piece of plastic with Netgear on it, and a Surfboard with no model number.

If its the 6141 then you should be ok. Thats what I have and also have blast. IIRC its rated up to 300MBPS.

Probably 2.4ghz band and older WiFi tech

Yep. That 300 MB I remember. And the 2.4 ghz is correct too. Thanks guys.


So the router posted already from Amazon is a lot better?

Should I keep that same modem.? I’m gonna keep my xfinity 150 mb service.

 

[Marko]

Just checked. Yes. It’s the 6141 model #

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

If you are staying at 150 your modem is fine

 

[Fish]

I had a Linksys E2500 before that router and my wireless speeds were trash with it. It was a wireless N model. Switching to just the router I posted made a huge difference.

 

[Marko]

Cool. Thanks man.

 

[Marko]

[MENTION=73]tinfoilhat[/MENTION]

What modem and router do you use?

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

[MENTION=73]tinfoilhat[/MENTION]

What modem and router do you use?

Modem- Arris SB6141

Router- Ubiquiti Edgerouter X (wired, doesnt have built in access point for wifi)

Access points - Ubiquiti AC-lites and AC-in-wall for 5 ghz, Tp-link Archer C5 for 2.4ghz

I pull max comcast speed (150/12) on 5 ghz and 80/12 on 2.4ghz on the older router/access point (since i turned off the routing portion)

 

[Fish]

Basically he uses IT style equipment VS just a wireless router like the rest of us use.

 

[Kensington]

I went from an older, shittier, Netgear modem than you have, to one Google Mesh device. I did have to buy a $14 Linksys switch for the 2 wired devices that I have, as the Google point only has one ethernet port. I have no problems streaming 4K wirelessly (not that I really had any issues before)

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

Basically he uses IT style equipment VS just a wireless router like the rest of us use.

I left out a handful of switches and other things

Its also because I want as many things wired as possible. Wired > Wireless always. I like powering up my Pi's over POE now. So much more convenient.

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

But I also have a networking degree so it gives me lots of devices to tinker with for fun.

 

[Fish]

I left out a handful of switches and other things

Its also because I want as many things wired as possible. Wired > Wireless always. I like powering up my Pi's over POE now. So much more convenient.

I do want to start playing with POE eventually. Things like a Pi or certain cameras would be nice running 1 cable vs 2.

Once we stop renting a condo and hopefully buy a house, my network game will move up a couple notches. Already have a 4 post rack sitting at a buddys house waiting for it to go to a permanent home and things will need to be mounted. My unraid server for sure will be moved to a rack mount case and debating on hot swappable case.

 

[Marko]

You guys blow my mind with some of that chit. Thanks again for the information, man!