Slow speeds

Question

I have two Inspiron desktops in the same room, on the same network, both wired.  The older one gets good speeds around 30 both on wifi and ethernet (my max is 36) but the new one cannot get above 10 on ethernet and 2 on wifi, this is when nothing else at all is connected to the wifi  just this pc.   Everything is identical, something on this new one is throttling my speed. I know about Smartbyte but cannot see that installed.

speedstep · Accepted Answer

Wired or Wireless DSL is slow.

The more you put on it the slower it gets.

AND when I say more Im also talking about your neighbors.

Ad free Speed test will show huge latency and very poor speed because its DSL.

https://www.bing.com/search?form=MOZLBR&pc=MOZI&q=bing+speed+test

My Wireless speeds are 10X faster than wired 10 meg ethernet.

DSL 1536/512 kbit/s MAX theoretical speed.

But I have FIOS and Tri Band 802.11AC router.

IEEE 802.11g 54 Mbit/s 2003
IEEE 802.11n mimo 600 Mbit/s 2009
IEEE 802.11ac TRI band 6.93 Gbit/s 2012

(Gigabit Ethernet) CAT6

1 Gbit/s

125 MB/s

1998

Ethernet (CAT3)

10 Mbit/s

1.25 MB/s

1980 (1985 IEEE Standard)

FIOS Low Latency Wicked fast Speed

DELL-Cares · Answer

We tried reaching you on a private message but did not receive a response. Please feel free to reply to the private message whenever you are available.

RoHe · Answer

Always include exact PC model and version of Windows in your posts. Are you sure SmartByte isn't installed?  You can run Revo Uninstaller (free) and see if it can find and kill SmartByte. Also, open Device Manager and expand list under Network adapters. Double-click each adapter entry and click its Power Management tab, if it has one. Uncheck the box 'Allow PC to turn off...'. Repeat for all Network adapter entries. Exit Device Manager when done.Next, open the Windows Power & Sleep screen. Click Additional Power Settings. On next screen identify the active Power plan and click Change Plan Settings. On next screen, click Change Advanced Power Settings.On that last screen, disable Hibernation, Hybrid Sleep, USB Selective Suspend, and PCI Express Link State Management. Then expand Wireless Adapter Settings>Power Saving Mode and change Setting to Max Performance. Save the changes to the power plan and reboot.

speedstep · Answer

Cat6 cable is required for fast connections. Dual Band or Tri band wave 2 802.11AC router and wifi adapter is required for fast wireless.

Dragonfli · Answer

thank you.  I definately do not have smartbyte.  I have an Inspiration and windows 10 fully updated. I have done all suggested but no improvement.

Dragonfli · Answer

Thank you but its nothing to do with the router, I get good speeds on the second wired computer which is also a Dell and also on wireless phone and ipad.

RoHe · Answer

@Dragonfli  - You never told us the exact model number of the new Inspiron with the slow Ethernet speed. Are both PCs running the same build of Win 10 (eg v2019)? Are all the drivers up-to-date on the new PC? How much RAM is installed in each PC? Are the two Ethernet cables the same length? Try swapping the Ethernet cables between the two PCs. Does the slow speed go with the cable or with stay with your new PC? Navigate to Win 10 Settings>Network Status screen on each PC. Click View Your Network Properties. On that screen, find and post the Link Speed (Receive/Transmit) listed for each PC. Open Device Manager on both PCs and expand the list under Network Adapters. Double-click the entry for the Ethernet controller in each PC and click their Advanced tab. Compare each setting side-by-side. Don't change anything -yet- but tell us which ones are set differently and how the ones that are different are set...

Dragonfli · Answer

Inspiron 3668.

Ram 16, older pc ram 8

Both have same versions of windows

Drivers are up to date, I update regularly via Dell support

Both computers are connected on powerlines, I have already swapped all boxes and cables but its made no difference. They are in the same room but the bad one is on the first connection.

Link on both is 100/100mbps

I cannot find any Ethernet adaptor listed on either pc.

I dont think its to do with the ethernet as its even worse on wifi, the other computer and all wifi devices can get up to 37 speed and 39 is I have been told by my provider what is coming into the house, this pc cannot get up to 2 on wifi but the good one gets 27 average.

RoHe · Answer

Same version and same build (eg v1903, v1909 or v2004) of Windows? How are you testing speeds? The Inspiron 3668 has a Realtek PCIe Ethernet controller. It should be listed under Network Adapters in Device Manager. The Realtek is a 10/100/1000 Mbps (link speed) Ethernet controller. If your link speed is only 100/100, rather than 1000/1000, that may be part of your speed issue. What's the link speed rating of your router? Are the two powerline boxes on the same electrical circuit? You might have different circuits even in the same room. Have you tried disconnecting the old PC from its powerline box and only testing the 3668? Or better yet, hard-wiring the 3668 directly to the router, using a CAT6 Ethernet cable?

Dragonfli · Answer

Thank you, I see the RealTech it is not listed as an ethernet controller, settings are the same. The electric circuit is the same, the room is an extension, it only has one power line. Tried turning everything off and just testing t his pc and the result is the same. Yes the PC has been wired directly to the router by regular ethernet and there was no improvement. The problem is worse with wifi, much worse, I cannot get even up to to 2mbs download on wifi, the other computer gets in the 26s and my ipad gets 36. I cant see how it can be anything to do with the ethernet connection when its affects wifi even more?

RoHe · Answer

Did you check your router specs to see if it's rated as 10/100/1000, or is it only rated 10/100?

Where and how is the RealTek controller listed? Do you have RealTek Ethernet driver 2.43.2017.727, A14?

Open the RealTek adapter entry in Device Manager. Click its Power Management tab and UNcheck the box "Allow PC to turn off...".

Was PC hardwired to router with a CAT6 Ethernet cable? CAT5 and CAT5E Ethernet cables are not very good for establishing a 1000 Mbps link speed to a router.

Does your router have settings to give one device higher priority than another, either by device or by type of data (eg gaming, streaming have higher priority than email, surfing)?

WiFi is a separate issue. Is your WiFi card dual band, 2.4 and 5 GHz? Is your router also dual-band? And if dual-band, which frequency is your network using? While 5 GHz WiFi is faster than 2.4 GHz, the signal is weaker and probably more likely to get blocked by obstacles, etc.

Open the entry for your WiFi card in Device Manager. Click its Power Management tab and uncheck its box "Allow PC to turn off...". Then click the Advanced tab and make sure the Preferred Band is set correctly, assuming you have both dual-band WiFi card and dual-band router. Set Roaming Aggressiveness (if offered) to Medium and set Wireless Mode to a/b/g/n/ac. Exit Device Manager.

Next, open the Windows Power & Sleep screen. Click Additional Power Settings. On next screen identify the active Power plan and click Change Plan Settings. On next screen, click Change Advanced Power Settings.

On that last screen, disable Hibernation, Hybrid Sleep, USB Selective Suspend, and PCI Express Link State Management. And set the Wireless Adapter setting to Maximum Performance. Save the changes to the Power plan and reboot.

Does that help?

Dragonfli · Answer

I changed all the power mode settings already they have made no difference. The router is a brand new Sagemcom 5364, replaced due to this problem but made no difference. If i disconnect the other computer and have nothing at all running, not a single thing, the download speed is not improved either on ethernet or wifi, nothing changes at all, not even a tiny bit better. We have a wifi extender in the room and my phone and a laptop show excellent signal, although the router itself is only a few steps away anyway. I have only tried it with a regular ethernet cable but the problem has to be with the computer itself.

RoHe · Answer

Are you connecting to the WiFi extender's network, and not directly to the router? And have you tried connecting directly to the router?

If this PC is new and under warranty, I guess you'll have to contact Dell Tech Support for assistance. And/or do a clean install of Win 10...

Dragonfli · Answer

We have tried both directly to the router and to the extender, no difference, the computer is impossible to use on wifi due to less than 2mbs download speed so is on ethernet. the guarantee has run out. I didnt notice the problem until I upgraded to high speed internet and saw I got no better speeds on this particular pc than I did previously. Thank you for your help.

RoHe · Answer

How much RAM is in the slow PC, what CPU does it have, i3, i5, i7, and how much free space on the hard drive? These all can affect network performance.

You never mentioned what frequency you're using for WiFi, 2.4 or 5 GHz.

Assuming your router is dual-band and supports the 802.11 ac specification, you could disable the internal WiFi card in Device Manager and plug in a USB3>WiFi dongle that supports "ac" and try connecting it to the router on either 2.4 or 5 GHz. Lots of choices for WiFi dongles in various price ranges, so check some reviews, eg here, here, etc.

Or you could disable the internal Ethernet adapter in Device Manager and plug in a USB3>Ethernet gigabit (10/100/1000) dongle. Some are reviewed here.

One of the key things for performance will be to get the link speed up from 100/100 you have now to 1000/1000.

Inspiron Desktops

Slow speeds

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