SOLVED Slow download speed

[technerd]

I recently updated my laptop with an ssd and extra ram. It boots up and finds pages very rapidly but the most I have managed in download speeds in the last two days is 11mps. Both my wife's and my phone get speeds of over 50 mps so I'm assuming there is nothing wrong with the router and line, which my ISP has confirmed. This is the first time I have checked the speed since it was updated because I did not suspect a fault. Any suggestions as to a remedy will be very welcome,

 

[Saltgrass]

If this is your network speed, is that just from the internet or your local system also? Wireless or wired connection? ISP provided speed in Mbps?

If you look at Settings-Network-view your network properties and what link speed is it showing?

Have you rebooted any modems and routers? What model is the Network adapter you are using on your system?

Any software installed meant to manage your bandwidth?

 

[technerd]

Thanks for your reply. The speed from the internet to my laptop is about 8-10 wired and wireless, but to my phones 50mps +. The link speed is 54/54. I've rebooted everything bar the neighbour's cat. As far as I know there's no software installed to limit the bandwidth, although when I tried to change from 2.4 to 5.2 I couldn't change. I've no idea what the network adapter is even when I looked for it on system info. Not much help am I. However there was a definite drop in changing web pages after the latest windows updates which I can't manage being on windows 10 home.

 

[technerd]

update. Network adapter is a Qualcomm Artheros AR5007EG

 

[Saltgrass]

If the speeds are the same for wired and wireless, that would seem to suggest the situation is with your system. A link speed is normally for a local network and does not look at the Internet speeds. For instance, the Ethernet should show 1000 Mbps if you have a GB Ethernet adapter.

The Phone uses wireless, I assume, and not the Cellular data which goes directly to the phone. Network speeds, as far as wireless is concerned, will be lower depending on how many devices are involved. But the Ethernet speeds should be fairly constant. If you were to have a Dell system, there is software installed on some of those systems which can limit bandwidth. A Qualcomm device is now related to Rivet Networks with the Killer Wireless devices which may have such software installed. That software is called SmartByte and may show up if you go into the Control Panel and then the Programs and Features to see if it is listed.

There is a possibility, if you have installed software from your ISP, that it could be involved. You might check any settings related to QoS which may be managing your bandwidth.

 

[technerd]

Thanks Saltgrass. I've checked in control panel and program files but can find no mention of Smartbyte. I'm going to try uninstalling the few programs I've downloaded or worked on since I updated the laptop to see if they are slowing it down. I suspect not, but wonder if the Malwarebytes free program installed is incompatible with the Bitdefender paid program. Everything I've seen says that's OK and I only run MWB occasionally so am not too bothered. I'll keep trying. Thanks for your help. I'll let you know if I succeed.

 

[StevenG]

I recently updated my laptop with an ssd and extra ram. It boots up and finds pages very rapidly but the most I have managed in download speeds in the last two days is 11mps. Both my wife's and my phone get speeds of over 50 mps so I'm assuming there is nothing wrong with the router and line, which my ISP has confirmed. This is the first time I have checked the speed since it was updated because I did not suspect a fault. Any suggestions as to a remedy will be very welcome,

That's pretty slow at '11mps' on a 54/54 speed, it should be at least 45Mbps, I've got a 100/100 and it runs at '75 Mbps',

Try these two steps: right click the internet access icon (bottom right side of taskbar) open internet & network settings, right click, either WiFi or Ethernet (whichever connection you have) and on: connect/disconnect to disconnect, reboot computer, see if that helps?

If that does not work then, uninstall the 'Qualcomm Atheros AR5007EG' in device manager completely, then, reinstalling a new driver again, its also a good idea to check 'what driver you have?' as you can get the latest driver for the 'Qualcomm Atheros AR5007EG, chipset AR2425 (802.11b/g) from here "Unofficial Qualcomm Atheros drivers website": https://www.ath-drivers.eu/atheros-wireless-drivers.html the latest driver there is the 10.0.0.346. Hope this helps, cheers and good luck!

 

[technerd]

Thanks for your help StevenG.. The only one of those I haven't tried is uninstalling The adapter so I'll give that a go and see what happens. Thanks.

 

[StevenG]

Thanks for your help StevenG.. The only one of those I haven't tried is uninstalling The adapter so I'll give that a go and see what happens. Thanks.

Glad to be of some help, as these drivers especially when you update anything can get corrupted and a complete uninstall and reinstall (or an install of an updated driver) fixes most of the problems and is required. This happened to me as I've got a WiFi/BT card, which is a "Qualcomm Atheros chipset AR9462-AR5B22" on my system.

 

[technerd]

I did as you suggested and there has been an increase in speed. Bootup and finding web pages is very quick so I can live with that. Thanks to all of you who helped with this problem.

 

[StevenG]

I did as you suggested and there has been an increase in speed. Bootup and finding web pages is very quick so I can live with that. Thanks to all of you who helped with this problem.

Glad to hear that, because, these WiFi/BT drivers but especially the Bluetooth driver gets corrupted very easily and causes problems and the only way to fix them is to uninstall and reinstall them, cheers!