Problem Wifi problems at home, can anyone offer advice?

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I'm using a DSL-2680 dlink router

My laptop and desktop pc's which are both running Windows 8.1 are getting really awful wifi speeds, even though they're getting full signal strength. If I connect my laptop or desktop in through Ethernet then i'm getting a 17mb connection (as expected)... If I use wifi then i'm getting about 0.5mb connection.

Now the interesting part is that if I use an Android phone or Android tablet then the connection via wifi is getting 17mb connection, even if being used directly next to where the laptop is.

I've ensured that wifi drivers are up to date and are compatible with the router, and so this brings the question of whether it's just Windows 8.1 that could be the problem? Are there any settings that can be recommended for me to look at?

Yesterday I decided to reset the laptop back to factory settings due to other problems on the laptop and it's made no difference to the wifi connection.

 

I just ran a speedtest now on the desktop PC which is very close to the router, we're talking about 3 metres away... it got a 1.75mb download connection. I'll take a look through the logs but yeah it was a full reset so everything was gone and then it just put back on the standard HP image where I've then gone ahead and uninstalled all the bundled rubbish it comes with.

I saw a video on youtube that said about looking in gpedit.msc and enabling the bandwidth limit through QoS settings but then change it to use 100% of the bandwidth as otherwise the system will only use 80%... essentially this made no difference as speedtest.net then reported the download rate was so bad that it even timed out, eventually coming back with a rate of 0.36mb.

My ISP are saying all is ok from their end which would say it's something here in the house, but when the Android devices work fine, it just says it's got to be a Windows issue. I'll check through the logs, but to answer your other question, there's no one watching any HD content or using Netflix as the connection has been too crappy to try lately.

C:\Users\James>ping 8.8.8.8

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=1115ms TTL=56
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=577ms TTL=56
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=56
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=758ms TTL=56

 

I disabled the firewall in Windows and it's made no difference to speed, so at least I know that's not the cause.

I checked in the router settings and the only devices connected are those that I would expect to be... it gives no option for me to boot them off so that they get a new IP, although when I do 'ipconfig /renew' on the PC or Laptop, they get no better connection.

 

you could try and use software like Inssider to check if there are less crowded channels you could use.

Try and test the bandwith within your local network - copy a couple of gigs worth between devices and see if the speed is stable, is it considerably better than internet browsing speed?

Has it always been like this? you could try and find older drivers for your network cards. Also check if there is updated firmware for the router.

Not likely to be an issue but see if you can find the antennae connectors in the laptop, check if they are firmly in.

 

I have just brought back a MacBook Pro from work for some studying... and found that even though the internet browsing seems pretty good, the speediest.net showed up as being about 10mb.

 

I've had a look and already running latest version of the firmware... I've checked through the software link you provided and changed the wifi channel to one that's not being used anywhere else and also changed the connection type from where it was already WPA or WPA2, to only use WPA2... so far everything seems to be running faster.

If still no better then next month I can get out of the existing contract with my ISP and will look to grab fibre broadband instead elsewhere... at least that way it'll mean a new router rather than the really old dlink dsl-2680 which talk talk still provide.

 

Actually rather than firmware I would look at driver versions, I was on a training course recently and throughout the day various people would disconnect from the wireless, turns out that we all had the same intel wireless hardware but were using different driver versions, it happened to be my older version didn't drop off the wireless at all, when people used the older drivers they found that they also worked better.

 

Also check and make sure that the public IP you are getting out on is correct. I had real bad tests before but noticed that speed test etc saw me as coming out of Cali, so clearly the speed test and times to the end point in Cali were not really representative of real speeds etc.

Quite rare I think, but worth making a note and paying attention too.

 

The only time I have seen that is with a TOR browser being used.

 

It actually happened to me at work, working for a major electronics company, Our IP got placed out in Cali for some weird reason, course cue the complaints of speed because everyone could see in speed net how alow it suddenly looked etc. lol.