Question Why is internet is much faster on phone than on computer?

Benjamin Calicovane

Benjamin Calicovane

Notorious Pirate
So I upgraded to Comcast a few days ago, finally getting rid of my DSL. I thought it would really improve my internet speed, considering how slow the DSL was. Well, it hasn't, actually it's barely better than the DSL. I took a speedtest are here are my results:

Download: 7.64 Mbps
Upload: 4.48 Mbps
Ping: 24 ms

Considering I'm paying for download speeds up to 150 Mbps, this is a load of crap. I decided to download the speedtest app on my phone and take it there too, and I was blown away by the results. Here are the results from the test done on my phone (iPhone 6):

Download: 78.82 Mbps
Upload: 13.87 Mbps
Ping: 15 ms

Is there any way I can get the speed I saw on my phone while I'm using my computer? I kept the tests as similar as possible; same location, same network, nobody in the house doing anything else on the internet, on wifi for both of them, etc. I'm just so confused, and kind of ticked off, that I'm paying for such good internet when primarily all of the downloading and uploading will be done from my computer and I can only get good speeds on my phone.

Argh! :blowup:
 
Some questions:
  • What wireless adapter do you have in your computer?
  • Are the drivers for your wireless adapter up to date?
  • How much interference is on the channels that your network is using? (If you have an Android device in the house, download an app called Wifi Analyzer to determine this)
 
John Foulroberts said:
Some questions:
  • What wireless adapter do you have in your computer?
  • Are the drivers for your wireless adapter up to date?
  • How much interference is on the channels that your network is using? (If you have an Android device in the house, download an app called Wifi Analyzer to determine this)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply John. I tried something a little unorthodox, but it gave me my answer. You know, I started to think that it was the bad spot my computer was in that was causing the slow speed. So I put my phone down between the computer and the wall, where the adapter has to intercept the signal, and I got results even worse than I did on my computer. Here's a reference to where my phone was during this test.

image.jpeg


So I decided to pick up my computer and hold it level with my window while the test was running, as you can see here. There is a patio outside this window, and the modem is in the kitchen, which is on the left of the patio (2 thick brick walls for the signal to pass through.)

image.jpeg


Not surprisingly, the results were about 4x faster when the computer was by the window. Which confirms my suspicions that it's not bad hardware causing my problem, just really bad placing for a computer that uses wifi.

My dad and I already made plans to pick up some Ethernet cable tomorrow and route it from the modem to my room through the attic, so that should fix the problem.

(This REALLY should fix the problem, as my mom's desktop computer, which is plugged into the modem but is from 2006, was getting down speeds of 85+ mbps. )
 
Yup, my next question was going to be about the layout of your house and if there are several walls the signal has to pass through. Brick walls are killer. Running your own network drop should solve all of your problems as well :)
 
A router extender might be a good thing for your family to invest in as well. It could be put in a location closer to your end of the house where it can pick up the signal from the router and then make it easier for your end to pick it up.
 
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