Speed mismatch: who is guilty?

Factors affecting speed

First of all, it is important whether you are using a wired or wireless connection. It is the direct connection of the twisted pair to the computer that will provide the speed as close as possible to the declared one. With normal OS performance, correct settings of the network card and its "young" age, the speed test will show 90-95% of the maximum rate of the tariff.

Wi-Fi

The situation is more complicated with a Wi-Fi connection. Its speed is determined by the capabilities of the router used and the devices connected to it. Much depends on the standard on which the router operates. For each of the standards there are speed limits. The most common standards today involve the following indicators:

• 802.11g - up to 54 Mbps (actually about 30 Mbps);
• 802.11n - up to 300 Mbps (in practice up to 100 Mbps);
• 802.11ac - up to 6.77 Gbps for devices with 8 antennas (the more antennas, the higher the speed), up to 433 Mbps for the rest.

Thus, if you have connected gigabit Internet to a router that supports 802.11n, you can not count on approaching 1 Gbps.

In addition, the correct location and router's settings and the 'color' of your IP address are important.

Network equipment settings

Some routers have the ability to shape traffic. This function allows you to set the channel width, limiting the connection speed for connected devices. Make sure the router you are connecting to does not have this feature enabled.

In addition to the router, the characteristics and settings of the computer's network equipment affect the speed. Some problems lie in the overestimated characteristics of inexpensive network cards (the declared bandwidth is 100 Mbps, in fact it is 30 Mbps).

There are also situations when the half-duplex mode is erroneously set in the settings, which significantly slows down the work. To check the network card's operating mode:

1. Right-click on the network connection icon, select «Network and Sharing Center».
2. In the new window, select «Change adapter settings». Right-click on «Local Area Connection», select «Properties», click the button «Configure».
3. Select the tab «Advanced», go to «Properties». Select «Speed & Duplex» / «Link Speed / Duplex Mode».
4. In the upper right corner, you will see the mode of operation of the network card.

Physical hardware issues

Damage to communication lines, switches or routers often leads to a complete loss of connection, but, in rare cases, it can affect speed and stability. Physical causes of connection problems include:

• poor contact of connectors on network equipment located in a house or apartment;
• too long twisted pair cable (more than 100 m), its damage and twisting;
• failed ports of network equipment;
• short circuits in communication lines;
• long distance to the server.

What to do?

As you can see, there can be many reasons. However, the most common can be called incorrectly chosen Wi-Fi standards. This technology is built in such a way that the connection speed of all clients is determined by the speed of the slowest one. If 5 devices are connected to one router that works on 802.11n, and one on 802.11g, the speed for all will be up to 54 Mbps.

If you notice a decrease in speed:

1. Compare the speed on a PC and a laptop by connecting them alternately to the network cable.
2. In case of problems with speed on only one device, check the settings of the network card and the workload of the operating system
3. If the speed is low, regardless of the connected device, if possible, check the integrity of the cable going to your apartment.
4. If the connection is wireless, check the settings of the router and the standards on which the equipment connected to it works.
5. In the router settings, check the number of clients connected to it. A large number of connections, their use of IPTV and downloading torrent files leads to a decrease in the speed of all clients.

Dear subscriber "Maxnet"! If you have not found any obvious reasons for the slowdown, or if you notice physical problems with the cable or equipment, please contact our service and information center.