Puzzling Speedtest.net results.

[PaulB]

I ran a number of Internet speed tests with my Win 8.1 desktop and my iPad Air (iOS 8.1.2). Both are connected by WiFi to a Cisco EA4500 router on the 5 GHz band. I ran 6 tests within a few minutes alternating between the desktop and the tablet. The target server was the same for all tests. It is located in Montreal, a distance of 164 km.

The d/l results for the desktop were:

• 31.25 Mb/s

• 31.48 Mb/s

• 31.12 Mb/s

At other times, d/l speeds with the desktop have reached as high as 70-80 Mb/s. My ISP is providing me with 60/10 Mb/s service.

The d/l results for the tablet were:

• 98.86 Mb/s

• 98.45 Mb/s

• 95.91 Mb/s

My wife's iPad had virtually identical results.

The u/l speeds for all tests were ~11 Mb/s, as advertized.

I realize network speeds can vary greatly depending on a variety of factors (distance, congestion etc.) but these tests were all run at the same time under (almost) identical circumstances.

Can anyone explain these huge differences and is there anything I might do to remedy the situation?

[Claude]

How long has it been since you emptied your temporary folder on the desktop Paul ?

[Rudi]

A few things I do when I see that my speed tests are under-performing:

Based on your case since you are getting correct speeds on other devices
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1. I run CCleaner to clean out my temp folder (as Claude mentions). Just this can make a difference.
2. Run Anti-Malware Bytes to ensure you don't have junkware hoarding any bandwidth behind the scenes.
3. Reboot PC

Other things to try if your speed is down on all devices:
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4. Reboot my router
5. Take the WAN port cable from the router, (the line that comes from the aerial), and plug that straight into your PC. Now do a speed test and see if your speed improves. If it does then the issue lies with the router (or that neighbours are hogging your bandwidth - change router password!)
6. Call your ISP and ask them to check your signal strength and do some adjustments from their side.

[Roderunner]

Hi Paul, this link might help you.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content ... reeware%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PaulB]

Thanks for all the advice. I will try out your ideas and report back.

[PaulB]

Based on the advice above, I ran a thorough cleanup of my system disk using both Ccleaner and MS Disk Cleanup. I also scrubbed the Registry with Ccleaner and rebooted the computer. Unfortunately, this did not resolve the problem. Downloads using the desktop are still in the 30 Mb/s range and on the iPad they are in the 90+ Mb/s range.

Looking on the bright side, the cleanup did seem to resolve the issue I had with Time.com reported here.

I'm still looking into this. Further suggestions will be appreciated.

[Rudi]

Hi Paul,

I tracked down a thread with some more options you can try.
Full thread here: Why would PC connect slower to internet than iPad?

Quote from thread with relevant info...

I found out the iPad is connecting to a 5 Ghz channel while the PC is connecting to a 2.5 Ghz channel which is overlapping with a ton of other wireless routers. I switch the channel from duel channels 8 and 2, to channel 6 and it now gets around 15 Mbps but unfortunately it is still getting interference from overlapping networks (apartment complex).

In Reply to: Re THe issue by SmartJerry
Since there is only one non-overlapping 802.11n channel (I'll link why if you ask) pulling back to 802.11g is our secret.
Bob

In Reply to: And to get more, try the old trick of 802.11g by R. Proffitt Moderator
Thanks Bob. I reverted the other thumbs down to a thumbs up. I do like to fully understand something.
My router combines b/g/n into one broadcast and although I was unable to disable the 2.4 Ghz b/g/n broadcast, I did disable the a/n 5 Ghz broadcast and that improved my speed to be a full 18-20 Mbps on the PC. The iPad stopped testing above 20Mbps but still at 18-20 Mbps so I can live with that. Thanks again for the suggestion.

In Reply to: Helped by SmartJerry
Besides the channel congestion, having the router handle all 802.11 b, g, n and then all flavors of "n" is going to have it hunting around for the best transfer mode. Rather than let it flap around trying this and that to find an open channel(s) the secret is out that you can dismiss 802.11b right off the bat since so few have 802.11b gear today.
And n, with it's possibly single non-overlapping channel (270 would be 40 MHz OFDM) leads to it only delivering under ideal conditions. Pulling back to 802.11g usually lets it find an open enough channel to get us pretty close to 54 megabit. Since very few internet connections are above that we can usually find this to be good enough.
Bob

One last thought:
Have you customized your router manager with any QoS (quality of service) rules which might dedicate greater bandwidth streaming to your mobile device(s)? Over and above QoS, one can also adjust settings to determine MIN and MAX ingress and egress to dedicated (static) IP addresses. If you have dabbled in these settings in your routers management app, you may want to revisit these settings to see if that is affecting your bandwidth to various devices.