# Quick question about internet speed vs wifi speed.



## Black Panther (Nov 1, 2017)

I've had a 15Mbps connection for years. It read always the same and speedtest gave me 15Mbps whether I tested through wifi or through a wired connection.

Today my ISP upgraded us to fiber at 70Mbps.

Checking it through wired connection gives me 100Mbps, while on wifi it goes only to 40-50Mbps.

My wifi dongle is an Edimax EW 7722 Und, I've had it for years.

Will I get better speed if I buy something like this?

I mean I know dongles can affect speed, I have a very cheap no-name one which doesn't even reach 40Mbps but stays below 10Mbps.

So, is it worth investing in a better dongle?


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## Kursah (Nov 1, 2017)

I wouldn't buy a dongle just yet until we know a little more about your network infrastructure.

What's your wireless router setup? 
Do you have full channel width? If on 2.4 set it to 40MHz, if on 5.0, set it to 80MHz. 
Is your router MiMo? 
Is it AC capable? 

Even 300Mbps MiMo N should be good for 100mbps. But if there's processing overhead between the adapter and a lower-grade router, that could be an issue. 

If you do have a so-so router, you might consider a dedicated WiFi AP if you don't already have one.

Also keep in mind that wireless speed is always advertised as theoretical maximum speed. But being THAT slow is surely something else going on. You might download a WiFi network scanner, like Acrylic for Windows or WiFi Analyzer for Android to see how saturated your area is...that can also lead to interference and thus bandwidth issues that would require you to reduce your channel width so that more channels are available for a more reliable and consistent connection.


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## Jetster (Nov 1, 2017)

Prabably not. WiFi is always less then wired. But at 15 mbs I guess the wifi keeps up


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## Black Panther (Nov 1, 2017)

Thanks, I'll try to answer the best I can (ask me on building pc's, overclocking, flashing bioses but when it comes to networking I'm a big ZERO!)

This is my router, it's provided by my ISP and I can't replace it.



Kursah said:


> What's your wireless router setup?
> Do you have full channel width? If on 2.4 set it to 40MHz, if on 5.0, set it to 80MHz.
> Is your router MiMo?
> Is it AC capable?



My channel is on 5Ghz not 2.4, that I know for sure however I have no clue how to set it to 80Mhz... it only lets me choose the channels.



Sorry I didn't understand your first, 3rd and 4th question. However I can enter the advanced settings and check out anything.

Edit: By the way the 2.4Ghz access point shown in screenshot above is that of my phone.


_______________________________________________________________


Edit: I think the screenshot below will provide better information. It shows I'm on 5Ghz and 40Mhz (I have to figure out how to get that to 80Mhz).

Also my modem (Technicolor TG789VAC V2) seems to be capable of 802.11ac but according to the link I posted above but I'm on 802.11n probably because my dongle doesn't support ac.

Lol while typing that I understood your 4th question!  So yes apparently the router/gateway supports ac but my current dongle doesn't.

My dongle definitely doesn't do 802.11ac that's why I was thinking of buying one which does?


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## thebluebumblebee (Nov 1, 2017)

How about NOT showing the password.
I don't like USB dongles for networking.  Much better to get something like: https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/PCE-AC55BT-B1/


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 1, 2017)

thebluebumblebee said:


> *How about NOT showing the password*.



 You beat me to it!

The DONGLE (Edimax EW 7722 Und) appears to be able to reach the speed your looking for, by specifications.

Did you try uninstalling the DONGLE and reinstalling software when the new VDSL Gateway was put in?



Black Panther said:


> while on wifi it goes only to 40-50Mbps.



Sounds like it is operating on the G band only instead of N.  Can you get at the DONGLE settings on your PC?


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## Black Panther (Nov 1, 2017)

thebluebumblebee said:


> How about NOT showing the password.
> I don't like USB dongles for networking.  Much better to get something like: https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/PCE-AC55BT-B1/



Shit... thanks that totally escaped me. Every router I had never did that but only showed ***** or circle equivalents!

___________________________________________________________________________

Found out how to change the channel width. Currently it's on auto and it's choosing 40Mhz. The other 2 choices are 20Mhz and 20 or 40Mhz. There's no choice to force 80Mhz.


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## Jetster (Nov 1, 2017)

The G band is way less. It's working fine. Assuming it's getting 50 Mbs. Not Mbps


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 1, 2017)

On a side note I question "gointernet"  why is it not "onefastcat"?


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## newtekie1 (Nov 1, 2017)

Black Panther said:


> Found out how to change the channel width. Currently it's on auto and it's choosing 40Mhz. The other 2 choices are 20Mhz and 20 or 40Mhz. There's no choice to force 80Mhz.



It seems the Auto setting is 80MHz, since it is saying 20Mhz/40Mhz/80Mhz.  That is how 80Mhz works, if the client can't do 80Mhz will go down to 40MHz or 20Mhz to match what the client can do.

However, your current Wireless adapter is a Wireless-N adapter, which can likely only do 40Mhz(some only do 20Mhz).  So, to answer the original question, yes the next step I would take would be to upgrade your wireless adapter to a Wireless AC adapter.


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 1, 2017)

newtekie1 said:


> It seems the Auto setting is 80MHz, since it is saying 20Mhz/40Mhz/80Mhz. That is how 80Mhz works, if the client can't do 80Mhz will go down to 40MHz or 20Mhz to match what the client can do.
> 
> However, you current Wireless adapter is a Wireless-N adapter, which can likely only do 40Mhz(some only do 20Mhz). So, to answer the original question, yes the next step I would take would be to upgrade your wireless adapter to a Wireless AC adapter.



She needs to access her Dongle settings via device manager and see what the settings are.


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## newtekie1 (Nov 1, 2017)

jsfitz54 said:


> She needs to access her Dongle settings via device manager and see what the settings are.



It's a 300Mbps wireless-n dongle, it only goes up to 40Mhz.  It doesn't really matter.


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 1, 2017)

newtekie1 said:


> It's a wireless-n dongle. It doesn't really matter.



Yes I know, it should do 150 minimum, 300 per http://www.edimax.us/html/english/products/EW-7722UnD.htm


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## newtekie1 (Nov 1, 2017)

jsfitz54 said:


> Yes I know, it should do 150 minimum, 300 per http://www.edimax.us/html/english/products/EW-7722UnD.htm



Yeah, but if you believe wireless devices get anywhere near their rated speeds, you shouldn't be giving advice in this or any networking thread.  The max you are going to get out of Wireless-n in the real world is about 50Mbps.

The dongle is the problem, replace it.


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## Black Panther (Nov 1, 2017)

jsfitz54 said:


> She needs to access her Dongle settings via device manager and see what the settings are.



This?


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 1, 2017)

Black Panther said:


> This?


Look at "Channel mode" set to (a,b,g,n) or (g,n) or (n).

Try (n) only and report back.


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## Black Panther (Nov 1, 2017)

jsfitz54 said:


> Look at "Channel mode" set to (a,b,g,n) or (g,n) or (n).
> 
> Try (n) only and report back.



Channel mode there doesn't give those options. It only gives the option to choose between 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, or both...


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 1, 2017)

Black Panther said:


> Channel mode there doesn't give those options. It only gives the option to choose between 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, or both...



Try 5GHz, only.

Then try 2.4 and 5.


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## Black Panther (Nov 1, 2017)

jsfitz54 said:


> Try 5GHz, only.
> 
> Then try 2.4 and 5.



Already tried both before starting this thread. Made no difference.

I also reinstalled the dongle's driver as you suggested.

However I remember it had software but I can't find it anywhere. I wasn't using it before since my wifi was fine and it was just bloat-ware to me. But perhaps this time round it might come useful?


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## newtekie1 (Nov 1, 2017)

Black Panther said:


> Already tried both before starting this thread. Made no difference.



Stop wasting your time, replace the dongle.  You aren't going to get much above 50Mbps with a 2 antenna Wireless-N adapter.  It just isn't going to happen.


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 1, 2017)

newtekie1 said:


> Stop wasting your time, replace the dongle. You aren't going to get much above 50Mbps with a 2 antenna Wireless-N adapter. It just isn't going to happen.




At this point I agree but would it hurt you to be polite?


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## Black Panther (Nov 1, 2017)

Don't worry, that's polite enough for me 



newtekie1 said:


> Stop wasting your time, replace the dongle.  You aren't going to get much above 50Mbps with a 2 antenna Wireless-N adapter.  It just isn't going to happen.



To be honest that was what I was thinking as well. My gateway (or modem, or router, or whatever it's called) appears to be capable of AC - which I discovered isn't airconditioning - I hope that my ISP doesn't bottleneck that (because I'm not sure if this all depends from the ISP or not, I told you I'm really dumb on networking).
Anyway, my dongle doesn't support AC but only up to N.

I do need to change my dongle anyway, because occasionally it drops to below 5Mbps and I just take it out and re-insert it and then it goes back up to 40-50Mbps.


I just wanted to know if I had some configuration wrong, or whether purchasing the Asus dongle in my first post would improve my speed, or whether it'd just be overkill.


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 1, 2017)

Black Panther said:


> Already tried both before starting this thread. Made no difference.



As a last ditch effort, try setting channel mode to 5ghz and reboot.

My old dlink dwa-160 would need a reboot for settings to fix properly.

Then it's time to upgrade to AC.  https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/USB-AC68/


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## SnakeDoctor (Nov 1, 2017)

Wireless N 300 you would be limited to 37.5MBPS at 100% signal
Wireless Ac is the only option

Your current wifi signal looks to be at 83db which is pretty weak signal


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## newtekie1 (Nov 1, 2017)

jsfitz54 said:


> At this point I agree but would it hurt you to be polite?



Would you like me to gift wrap it for you?



jsfitz54 said:


> As a last ditch effort, try setting channel mode to 5ghz and reboot.
> 
> My old dlink dwa-160 would need a reboot for settings to fix properly.


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 1, 2017)

newtekie1 said:


> Would you like me to gift wrap it for you?



No, RICHARD!


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## Black Panther (Nov 1, 2017)

You guys please quit bitching each other, both your suggestions and those of other contributors were valuable to this thread.



SnakeDoctor said:


> Wireless N 300 you would be limited to 37.5MBPS at 100% signal
> Wireless Ac is the only option
> 
> Your current wifi signal looks to be at 83db which is pretty weak signal





jsfitz54 said:


> As a last ditch effort, try setting channel mode to 5ghz and reboot.
> 
> My old dlink dwa-160 would need a reboot for settings to fix properly.
> 
> Then it's time to upgrade to AC.  https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/USB-AC68/



I'm set at 5Ghz, I rebooted, and this is what I get:







So I guess buying that Asus Dongle which supports AC will make everything better.


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 1, 2017)

Black Panther said:


> So I guess buying that Asus Dongle which supports AC will make everything better.



Yes.


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## Aquinus (Nov 1, 2017)

It can completely depend on the wifi device being used. I have a Linksys USB device on my tower, my iPhone 7, and my Macbook Pro for work. They all connect to my router at 802.11ac 867MBit but, the tower only gets up to 190MBit whereas the iPhone and Macbook Pro can get as high at 230Mbit. So when it comes to wireless, even drivers make a heck of a difference when it comes to bandwidth. Wireless is a convenience, not the performance option. It's nice that we have better and faster wireless than we had before but, the reality is that it's imperfect and that it will never hold a candle to using a cable.


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## Liquid Cool (Nov 1, 2017)

I'm no expert when it comes to networking, but I do get by.... 

I'd like to add a +1 to Bumblebee's post....I've been using wireless on my main devices for about a decade(since I set up my Ooma).  I've had much better stability(and strength of signal) using pci-e adapters vs. dongles.  If this is for a desktop...and you have a spare pci-e slot....I'd recommend you look in that direction.  I was shocked at how much better my signal was compared to the ASUS dongle I had been using.  Essentially...set it...and forget it.

,

Liquid Cool


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 3, 2017)

@Black Panther 

Was doing some reading of reviews here:  https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315106

Review said adapter uses realtek chip(now MediaTek) I know from my dwa-160 that this software worked best, and you need to use this software: * https://www.mediatek.com/products/connectivity-and-networking/legacy-products*

My chip was *RT2870*, I'm guessing yours might be the same.

I'm sure you ordered the new AC adapter and that is the way to go for the future but you may find another use for the old one.


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## Jetster (Nov 3, 2017)

There are allot of venerable in play here. Try and post the results


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## Black Panther (Nov 10, 2017)

OMG.

Asus Dongle is here and here are my speeds!






Wowzies I'm so happy!!  





It worked!!!


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 10, 2017)

Black Panther said:


> It worked!!!



Great!


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## newtekie1 (Nov 10, 2017)

Yeah, you might want to edit out your IP address on the speed rating page.


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## Black Panther (Nov 11, 2017)

newtekie1 said:


> Yeah, you might want to edit out your IP address on the speed rating page.



No need, it's already changed to a very different one


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