Laptop download speed slow

[Saleen836]

As title, my laptop over wi-fi is only showing around 35mbps but my iphone is showing around 120mbps, any tips on why my laptop appears to be restricted?

It is a HP laptop running windows 11

[mmm-five]

Are they both running & connecting at the same wifi standard (wifi 4/5/6/7) and frequency (2.5ghz, 5ghz, 6ghz)?

[GoodDoc]

mmm-five said:

Are they both running & connecting at the same wifi standard (wifi 4/5/6/7) and frequency (2.5ghz, 5ghz, 6ghz)?

That's a very good starting place, work out what the Wi-Fi capabilities of your laptop, phone, and Wi-Fi router are. Can you provide model numbers?

Did you speed test the laptop and phone in the same place (just to eliminate any differences in Wi-Fi signal strength/quality)?

I'd also be curious what speeds you get on the laptop if you can connect it to your router using an ethernet cable (assuming you laptop has an ethernet port, and you have an ethernet cable). May not help with diagnosing your Wi-Fi issue, but should give a good idea what speeds you should be able to get (i.e. is the 120 Mbps you saw on your phone the max speed of your internet connection).

[Saleen836]

Both laptop and iphone tested from same location in the house and I assume running the same wifi standard (Virgin router), odly enough I tested the laptop again the next day and it was and still is showing the normal download speed of 135ish mbps, not done anythong with the laptop except turn it off

[GoodDoc]

Saleen836 said:

Both laptop and iphone tested from same location in the house and I assume running the same wifi standard (Virgin router), odly enough I tested the laptop again the next day and it was and still is showing the normal download speed of 135ish mbps, not done anythong with the laptop except turn it off

Some model numbers would still help, but if your broadband speed is ~135 Mbps then the router is unlikely to be a limiting factor. In theory the lowest supported speeds of Virgin's Hub 4 (which supports Wi-Fi 5) and Hub 5 (Wi-Fi 6) are faster than 135 Mbps, assuming you're sensibly close to the router.

All iPhones since the iPhone X support Wi-Fi 5, from the iPhone 11 they support Wi-Fi 6, the 15 Pros support Wi-Fi 6E, and from the iPhone 16 Pro they support Wi-Fi 7, so your iPhone should be connecting to the router at faster speeds than your broadband connection.

As for your HP laptop, if it shipped with Windows 11 it seems likely that it supports at least Wi-Fi 5, so everything is more than capable of 135 Mbps.

But it sounds like "turn it off and on again" fixed your HP's Wi-Fi slowdown. Result!

[sgrimshaw]

WiFi adapters in laptops are typically not of the highest spec. In the past I've found it easier to just replace the onboard wifi with a nano wifi adapter from a known brand. Personally, I use the TP-Link ones.

This was the last one I bought

[wyson]

Apple is the answer! They don t land people with cheap ass wifi cards in their laptops!

Could be the cheap ass Virgin router as well. Usually that needs to be replaced for proper connectivity.

You’ll get more consistent and stable throughout if both these sides are sorted.

Edited by wyson on Tuesday 6th January 09:45