It's Not Your Connection, It's Your Wi-Fi
You have a fast connection, but Wi-Fi can degrade that speed in all sorts of ways. Most people won't enjoy all their bandwidth because Wi-Fi reception usually sucks. There are numerous ways to improve it, but they'll only take you so far. When using the internet wirelessly, you often have to lower your expectations a little bit.
Let's take a look at what you can expect under ideal circumstances (not the maximum theoretical speeds each wireless technology can provide):
- Using 802.11ac: Around 50-80mbps (downstream), depending on the quality of your reception. Unless you have an internet connection capable of exceeding those speeds, you probably don't have to worry about slowness.
- Using 802.11n: Around 25-30mbps (downstream), and much less if you have poor reception. Although 802.11n theoretically can handle faster speeds, and certain routers can boost your bandwidth a bit using technologies like MIMO, speeds in this range are pretty common.
- Using 802.11g: Around 5-15mbps (downstream). It's probably time to upgrade your router if you have a faster connection.
Before you assume you aren't getting the speeds you pay for, make sure your expectations are correct. Try the same, slow download or run a speed test from a computer that's hard-wired (via gigabit ethernet, preferably) and compare the results. If that machine provides the speeds you expect, you have a Wi-Fi problem. If that's happening in a part of your home prone to bad reception, move somewhere else. If you want to try and improve your Wi-Fi reception to avoid these sorts of issues, however, try these tips.
via lifehacker
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