How Do I Fix the Upload Speed Mismatch on My Home Network?
It’s time to roll up our sleeves and dive into my favorite topic again: wireless networking. I realize we play this drum a lot at Lifehacker, but that’s because Wi-Fi issues are a fairly regular source of frustration for readers who don’t hesitate to check out my Tech 911 inbox .
Lifehacker enthusiast Gareth writes this week:
I am a teacher in the isolation ward and work from home. My personal laptop has such incredibly inconsistent speeds that I couldn’t use it for training. Luckily the job provided me with another laptop that works great. My laptop is fairly new and I have never had a Wi-Fi problem before. My current package is 125MB download and 10MB download speed. However, some benchmarks regularly come out below 5MB. On top of that, my ps4 is barely used. Less than 5MB is the norm. Sometimes less than 1MB. I bought a wifi extension and network cable and it is still less than 5 MB despite the fact that as you can see in the photos my cell phone got over 100 MB in the same room as the ps4 which was connected to the local network …
If you have any suggestions, I would be very happy to hear them. I tried changing the DNS to the recommended ones online and did port forwarding, but it made no difference. The speeds seem to be available in the router as the other devices are fine. I know the ps4 only has 2.4GHz, but surely that doesn’t limit the speed as much as it is?
It’s probably time to buy a new router
I’m going to start by thanking you for sending in pictures of your network nightmare, Gareth, which do confirm that your connection speed is rubbish on both PlayStation 4 and older laptops (<5 Mbps download) but great works on your phone (~ 110 Mbps download). I thought I had some great troubleshooting ideas until I got to the point in your email where you tell me that connecting devices via an Ethernet cable doesn’t fix your speed at all. This complicates things.
In general, there are three main troubleshooting tips that I would like to offer people when they have unstable speed on their devices:
- Reboot your router .
- Update your router’s firmware.
- Switch to Ethernet if possible, which should improve your connection.
I will assume that you have already made the first proposal; so try the second option if it fixes any bugs or other networking issues. And after that, I might even recommend a general reset of your router to factory settings. Although you will have to set up your Wi-Fi again (it only takes five minutes), this can solve the problem like magic. As for the last suggestion, I am also assuming that you are connecting your laptop directly to one of your router’s Ethernet ports (and not a Wi-Fi extender, if applicable), and that you are using a relatively modern Ethernet cable (Cat 5E or Cat 6). Have you tried using a different Ethernet cable just in case?
It’s really weird that your PlayStation 4 is struggling so hard with Ethernet connectivity, and I’m guessing you’ll see the same results if you connect your old laptop directly to your router via Ethernet. If your speed is higher, try connecting to PlayStation 4 again; if you are still sticking with slower speeds, try connecting to a new laptop, etc. Basically the goal here is to find out if there is something wrong with your router (which I think is the problem) or your devices. While I generally expect a failed router to perform poorly for all connected devices, it is possible that there are some variables that make it difficult to distinguish.
For example, it’s possible that your new laptop connects over the 5 GHz band of your router and that somehow gives you a reliable connection, whereas your old laptop only connects over 2.4 GHz and messes things up. The Ethernet issue is bewildering, but it’s possible that you might see normal performance if you use a different Ethernet cable, as mentioned, or test different Ethernet ports on the router itself.
If your “router” is actually a router / modem provided to you by your ISP, I think now is the right time to call them and ask for a replacement (or upgrade). If they refuse, or you don’t want to deal with it, ask if there are any firmware updates your devices need that they can send you. (Or unplug your cable modem, wait a few minutes, and plug it back in to see if it is causing any updates.)
You can also try buying your own router – I recommend something cheap and simple given your speeds – and set your cable modem / router to bridge mode. Basically, you want to turn it into a dumb cable modem and let your new router do all the hard work.
If you already have such a setup, I think you are in the troubleshooting phase of looking into a new router. Again, pick something quick and easy like the $ 60 TP-Link Archer A7 and replace with whatever you’re currently using. This should completely solve your problems – and you probably won’t even need a wireless repeater to get a decent signal throughout your home.
Generally speaking, I don’t like using wireless extenders if I can avoid them. They will determine your speed if you are not quite sure where you placed them (about halfway between where your router is and where your router’s coverage ends) and if the repeaters themselves do not support a dedicated return flight. connection to your router. You will need one that uses either 5 GHz to connect to your router and outputs a 2.4 GHz network, or one that uses 2.4 GHz to connect to your router and outputs a 5 GHz network. If your repeater is configured to transmit to your devices and router in the same range, you will cut your maximum potential speeds in half – at least.
I applaud the steps you have taken to troubleshoot your router so far. Moving to a faster DNS is a great general thing that you can do in any situation. However, you don’t need to mess with port forwarding as it does not affect the download / upload speed, but more so on your overall connection (for example, if you are trying to access an online gaming service ).
My only other thought, if you really want to stick with this router, is to split your Wi-Fi into separate networks for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. This could at least allow you to temporarily skip devices that can access any range that gives you reasonable results (if any). However, in reality it is just a patch. If everything I’ve suggested doesn’t work, I really think it’s time to buy a new router. And that’s okay! Routers fail for the strangest reasons.