I am paying for 1.5Gbps but only get 90mbps max?
I am paying for 1.5Gbps but only get 90mbps max?
Hi everyone. I have Bell Fibe internet in Canada and pay for 1.5Gbps. Because of where I live, I couldn't run an ethernet wire straight from my modem to my laptop, so I bought a TP-Link 2000 wall powerline adapter. I was pretty sure this would work great, which it does! I can connect nothing wrong and even stream games or watch movies on my laptop without any lag (it didn't work before because the lag was really bad). I checked both devices carefully; the ports on my modem are gigabit speeds, and my laptop is a new 2021 model. When I looked at the settings on my laptop, it said the speed is 1.0 Gbps with full duplex. The problem is that my download speed is actually faster when using the 5Ghz Wi-Fi than when using ethernet? My TP-Link device is also pretty new (less than two months old). Could it be because I'm using two different cat cables? The cable from the modem to the adapter uses Cat 5e, but the cable from the laptop to the second adapter uses a stronger Cat 7. Is one of these adapters the problem? Looking forward to hearing what you think. Thanks!
You should swap out your old wires right away if you are getting 90Mbit speed. You must check this by testing one brand-new, full-quality 100% copper Cat5e or Cat6a cable straight to your main router.
Hey thanks for the quick reply. I'm using the Cat 5e cable that came with my device, but it probably won't work well. I bought the Cat7 cable because the other Cat5e one was just too small. So should I buy a new Cat5e or Cat6a cable and connect it straight from my laptop to the router?
When you see internet speed between 90 and 95 mbps, it usually means there is one port running at full speed of 100 mbps. It's totally different if your speed shows like 125 or even just 30 mbps. Those lower speeds often mean there are problems with the powerline connection or maybe some bad software on your computer. This almost always points to a broken cable. In your case, you might have more than one cable in between things. If your PC says it has status at 1 gigabit, that makes it more likely the problem is with the first powerline box and then your router. If you have a separate modem, maybe the problem is the cable between the router and the modem. In any situation, the best thing to do right now is to take your laptop and put it near the router, then try testing with a short cable straight from the router to the computer. Just because that works for your PC doesn't mean the cable is actually good. It would be nice if ethernet cables just totally failed rather than partially working at lower speeds or not working on some devices but others. The key thing here is making sure you don't have fake cables. Those flat-looking cables sold everywhere often have wires that are too thin to meet the real standard for being an ethernet cable.
Here is a breakdown of why your speeds are so different:
1. **The Speed Test Discrepancy:** You ran the speed test on an iPhone 12 and got 300 Mbps, but it took about 2 minutes to get to that number. Your new laptop only reached 65 Mbps right away. That big gap between "instant" (the first few seconds) and "steady" (after a minute or two) is the classic sign of Powerline internet problems. The cables might be weak, causing power fluctuations in your home that slow down the connection over time.
2. **Why the iPhone test was misleading:** Phones usually have built-in Wi-Fi chips that are very fast and stable. They don't always show a real-time reading because they connect quickly to strong signals but then struggle with weaker ones later on. In contrast, your new laptop is brand new, so it's still learning how to handle this specific network setup. It seems the "new machine" isn't actually as bad as you think; maybe just like the iPhone, the connection gets better after a bit of time?
3. **The Real Issue:** Since both laptops have the same card (Intel AX2210) and are on the exact same network, something is different with your new setup that makes it start slower. This points directly to the wiring in your house affecting the power lines more than the hardware itself.
try running tests on every device you own, like your computer and phone, then compare it to what your internet company says is available.
You don't have much of an advantage with a fancy wifi card unless your router actually supports newer stuff, like Wi-Fi 6E. You should look at where your connection is going. It might be stuck on the old 2.4 gigahertz band instead of something better.
the ISP says you get up to 1.5 gigabits per second but not always. Also, other stuff in your house is using internet at the same time, so your speed could go down.