Streaming downloads significantly quicker on Wi-Fi than on a 20-foot Ethernet cable
Streaming downloads significantly quicker on Wi-Fi than on a 20-foot Ethernet cable
I saw this recently and it’s been confusing me. While downloading a 55GB game over Ethernet, my wife downloaded the same game over Wi-Fi much quicker. I tested it by doing the download alone in the house—my speed settled around 100Mbps. When I stopped using the Ethernet cable during the download, it spiked to over 700 Mbps. Even after reconnecting the cable, the higher speeds stayed consistent. Speedtest.net shows similar results whether on Wi-Fi or Ethernet (700-900 Mbps). Have you encountered this before? I couldn’t find any Steam settings that favor Wi-Fi or router configurations that limit my Ethernet speed. My motherboard is an Asus B550I with a 2.5Gbps LAN, and the router ports are rated for up to 1Gbps (Asus RT-AC5300).
It might be a router or network issue, a driver problem, or an issue with the Ethernet port on your motherboard. Recent reports suggest users have faced LAN problems with the B550 series and Realtek 2.5G chips. If your wife doesn’t use Realtek 2.5G or a B550 board, check if the same occurs with her setup. Also, confirm whether you’re using Wi-Fi after plugging in or if it’s still Wi-Fi—since I’m not familiar with PCs, I can’t offer specific advice. It seems to point toward either a Realtek chip or a motherboard fault. [Support] B550 F with Ethernet issues : ASUS (reddit.com)
I noticed that inserting an Ethernet cable while the device is active on the network didn’t trigger an automatic switch to Wi-Fi. It seems the connection remained on Wi-Fi.
I reviewed the discussion and did some research myself. It seems this problem isn't the same as what I experienced. The participants here can't use Ethernet at all, while mine only shows odd behavior when downloading games from Steam. I think I'm lucky that the port functions. I'd test it on my wife's PC too, but we share the same motherboard. Thanks for the help!