Low-speed Wi-Fi 6 performance at home Slow internet connections using Wi-Fi 6 in residential networks
Low-speed Wi-Fi 6 performance at home Slow internet connections using Wi-Fi 6 in residential networks
Hello everyone, I have a few queries about Wifi 6 and the performance inside the LAN. This isn't about overall internet speed, but rather how quickly data transfers occur within the local network. I ran some tests on the network and found it confusing that wireless connections feel so slow compared to what I expect. I used an Asus AX56U router with Wifi 6 enabled, a PC with an Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 adapter, a laptop with an Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 adapter, and a second laptop on the same network (not in use). Firewalls were disabled on both devices during testing. The single other laptop present didn’t affect the results. My phone stayed connected regardless, so bandwidth saturation isn’t the issue. I used a 20MB packet size for LAN speed tests and tried various sizes, but the time increased without improving speed. According to the manufacturer, the router supports up to 1201Mbps, though this seems more like a theoretical maximum than real-world performance. The speeds I actually got were much lower—especially when transferring files or running tests. My observations were:
- Wired connection: 500Mbps download, 650Mbps upload
- PC wired vs Wi-Fi laptop: 259Mbps vs 189Mbps
- All wireless together: 127Mbps download, 149Mbps upload
- QoS disabled didn’t help much; guest networks suffered the most
- Even with QoS enabled, wireless performance dropped significantly
I understand Wifi 6 offers more bandwidth and device support, but it doesn’t guarantee faster speeds than 5G in everyday use. I’m wondering why the connection feels so sluggish and how I can improve it. Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.