What's killing my computer's internet speed?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Sometime yesterday my internet speed on my desktop computer dropped from its normal 200+Mb/sec down to under 100k/sec, with frequent extended periods where speed is at zero, and occasional spikes up over 150Mb/sec. Meanwhile, my wife’s laptop runs well over 200Mb/sec.

We’re on the same wifi, no recent hardware changes, updates, etc. I’m still putting off Windows 11 update requests on mine, the Mrs. is not sure if she’s updated or not.

Resetting the router has done nothing for me, nor has rebooting my setup.

here’s my current speed

2

Since reboot & reset made no difference, I’d say it almost certainly has to be some problem with your ISP?

3

That’s what I assumed at first too. Yet it’s not showing up on our other devices. My wife’s laptop, our phones, etc. Other thoughts?

thanks,

eta: right now it’s up to 12 mbps consistently for about the last 70 seconds then it dropped to near zero again

4

Pretty much clears that.

Is there any reasonable way to move the desktop closer to the WiFi to test or better yet run a temporary network cable from the router?

It is slightly possible that something changed in the house, now blocking the WiFi somewhat. Are the antenna still in the same place?

Moving this to IMHO as a better fit.

5

Can you run your internet to your computer via an Ethernet cable, bypassing the WiFi and the network adapter entirely?

I’m wondering if your network adapter is intermittently trying to fail on you.

Alternatively, do you happen to have a USB Wireless Adapter that you could try?

6

I’d have to run a cable down two flights of stairs to plug in directly, or lug my desktop (yes, I’m a luddite) up those same stairs.

I’m 5 times closer to the wi-fi than the Mrs. is. No house changes in the last few weeks

thanks

7

I am not sure what that is measuring.

It says the top of the chart is 100 Kbps which is practically nothing these days.

ETA: Try the Netflix speedtest. Supposedly it avoids the fudging ISPs may do with other speedtests (maybe not true):

8

the chart varies by the speed it sees. during brief bursts where I get up to 90 mbps, the scale changes

9

Does your garden variety internet speed test (you can just Google those three words and pick one) corroborate the graph you posted?

Does real-world performance? IOW, is it sssssllllloooooowwww to browse or up/download?

10

There are cheap little USB WiFi adapters that cost under $20. They might fix the problem, but that is only a might. You would have to install plug-in device and turn off the old one.

I’m assuming the WiFi is built onto the motherboard and the desktop has no antennas. That is pretty normal for the last 10 years at least. But if it has an antenna, make sure that is not loose.

11

no antenna. Speed briefly jumped back to near normal, then fell off.

12

In the lower right corner of your monitor click on the ^ and then right-click on the things you see there and exit/quit those programs. Even disable your antivirus if you have that running. This will get rid of any background apps that might be an issue.

See if that changes things. A reboot will bring all that stuff back.

13

Ah, somehow I missed that sentence.

Good question and easy to test.
From information so far it does rather sound as if your computer’s wifi adapter may be going flaky?

14

OK, I checked the ^ things, did a quick update of stuff for Windows 10, rebooted after all that, and it’s still erratic.

But I do find that every time I run fast.com’s internet speed test, my task manager shows a huge spike in my internet speed rate, up to what it’s supposed to be, which then drops off as soon as the speed test is done.

Otherwise, things move sort of slow now, with sudden bursts of speed. I first noticed the problem because youtube started getting super slow.

15

May be worth a quick review of this:

How Do I Interpret the Throughput Value on Task Manager Ethernet Graph

Are you interpreting the data correctly?

16

Remember, the chart only shows your current use. If you are not using the WiFi then the chart shows little action. When you used Fast.com the demand spiked and the chart showed it. When it is done it goes back to zero (or near enough).

17

OK, that all makes sense for how it’s working now. But initially that near zero rate would not budge when I put demands on it for downloads. That does seem to have improved significantly since the update and reboot. I did do a speed test last night with Spectrum and it had confirmed that pathetic < 1 mbps rate. But that now seems to be fixed

thanks all. I’ll keep an eye on it but at least for now it seems much better.

18

Sometimes it’s not your gear.

There was a notable issue a decade or more ago where cable Internet providers had not upgraded neighborhood distribution. In the older cable internet infrastructure, you compete with your neighbors for bandwidth and if demand has increased over time (like the rise of Youtube and streaming), the underprovisioned neighborhood infrastructure is swamped.

There were humorous TV ads for other network providers using different network technologies (like DSL) that showed neighbors engaging in suburban fisticuffs because their cable Internet was being hogged by their neighbor.

In the modern age, even if it’s not last-mile oversubscribing, lots of stuff can go wrong and trash your throughput completely out of your control, and it’s impossible for the end user to suss out why.

19

Those were GREAT ads! Loved those.

Here’s one of them (30 seconds):

20

You are two levels below the router and still 5 times closer to it than your wife? That’s quite the house.

Do you know if your Wi-Fi connection is at 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz? You might be able to force the use of one or the other to see if changing the frequency helps. 5 GHz is faster, but has a lower range.

Interference from other routers may be an issue as well. You should also be able to change the channels to see if that helps. You can install a WiFi analyzing app on a cell phone to see how many nearby routers there are, their signal strength, and what channels they use. If they have a strong signal and use the same channel as you do you might have an interference issue.