# Could my laptop be limiting my download speeds?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-my-laptop-be-limiting-my-download-speeds/732014>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 20, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-my-laptop-be-limiting-my-download-speeds/732014 "2015-09-20T22:31:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-my-laptop-be-limiting-my-download-speeds/732014/1 "2015-09-20T22:31:52Z")

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I ran a test on [www.speedtest.net](http://www.speedtest.net) on another, better laptop, and came up with about 7.5 MBps (yes, bytes). Mine has never seen much over 2 MBps on anything. Is there something in the nature of the computer that could be keeping my downloads at slower speeds than the network supports?

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**Author:** ![NinthAcolyte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ninthacolyte/32/13676_2.png) [@NinthAcolyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinthAcolyte)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-my-laptop-be-limiting-my-download-speeds/732014/2 "2015-09-21T00:29:01Z")

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Definitely could be. The speed and quality of your downloads is determined by 1: the speed and quality of your internet service and 2: the capabilities of the network card on your computer. Most computers just use the motherboard’s network capabilities for wired connection, i.e. an ethernet cable, but for a wireless connection, most computers need a seperate wireless networking card. This card has a built-in antennae and the chipset needed to process data. [Here are some](http://www.newegg.com/Laptop-Networking/SubCategory/ID-34) commercially available wireless networking cards for laptops - you will notice that most are rated to the same rate of data transfer, but that there are a few outliers that are faster or slower.