Why does the router slow down WiFi speed and how to deal with it. Router reduces speed: solving the problem

How to increase Internet speed through a wifi router if providers promise users high Internet speed under any conditions and often this promise is not realized?

Internet speed is the amount of data transferred per second of time (measured in kilobits or megabits per second).

In browsers and other programs, the speed of uploading or downloading files is measured in kilobytes or megabytes per second. These two concepts should not be confused.

Possible reasons for low Internet speed

Internet speed may decrease due to the following reasons:

the device is too far from the router;
the network is simultaneously used by several devices that consume a large amount of traffic;
software problems in the router;

Before you start troubleshooting the problem, you should test the speed of the Internet using online services.

During testing, disable third-party browser tabs and programs that may interfere with the speed test. Some popular services:

Updating router drivers

Updating all router drivers can help increase the speed. The installed driver may not be compatible with the operating system version.

Open Device Manager (a system utility that displays all connected devices) and select the Network Adapters tab.

Find your wifi adapter in the list and, by right-clicking, select the “update” menu item.

The drivers will be downloaded and installed in the background in one to two minutes.

Advice! After updating the drivers, be sure to restart your computer and router.

Changing the network operating mode

The router operating modes are responsible for its throughput on a specific device.

There are modes that can increase the speed of the router by improving the QoS level.

To change the operating mode, go to the device manager and right-click on the wifi adapter.

Select the properties item. The “advanced” tab lists all possible operating modes of the router through which you can increase its performance.

WiFi adapter

To ensure the fastest possible internet speed, select WMM, Preamble or Power Output mode.

Changing the router security standard through the settings window

If you ask the average user why routers are so good, you can get two answers. Firstly, they provide some freedom of movement, and secondly, they can distribute the Internet to several devices at once. Most owners of wireless routers don’t think about the shortcomings until they accidentally encounter them. Thus, many routers reduce the Internet speed over Wi-Fi, however, not only over Wi-Fi, but also with a cable connection.

The difference in data transfer speed between a direct connection and a connection via a router cannot always be noticed by eye, unless you test the connection in some kind of Internet speed meter, and then only if certain conditions are met. However, there is always a slowdown in connection speed when connecting via a wireless network. Moreover, this is normal. But why does the router slow down the Internet speed via Wi-Fi, and is it possible to somehow increase it? Let's figure it out.

You can only rely on the Internet speed declared by your Internet provider with a direct cable connection; when using Wi-Fi, the speed will always be lower than the declared one. It is also worth considering that the speed indicated in the router documentation is usually significantly lower than the real one.

Signal transmission medium

There may be several reasons for the decrease in the speed of the Internet distributed through the router. It all depends on the signal level, the presence of interference, problems on the provider’s side, the protocol used, channel congestion, router model and a bunch of other small factors. The basic reason for the lower speed is the medium through which the electromagnetic signal is transmitted. Whether you like it or not, it travels through the air worse than through an electrical cable.

Location of the router indoors

Is there any way to increase Wi-Fi speed? Ideally, the router should be located in the center of the room without internal walls and partitions at the same distance from the devices receiving the signal, which, of course, is impossible in the real conditions of apartment buildings. If you place your router in a back room, don't be surprised if the Internet becomes slow.

The router should be installed in a central room or corridor, and the device should not be located near devices that generate electromagnetic radiation - computers, microwave ovens, modern TVs, etc. To determine the optimal location for the modem, you can also use special programs, for example, Wi-Fi Analyzer or InSSider.

Radio channel selection

Low Internet speed over Wi-Fi may well be due to channel congestion, and residents of apartment buildings most often have to deal with this problem. Most routers operate at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, using a range of channels from 1 to 13. If there are many networks in the house, they literally begin to jam each other. There are two main solutions to this problem. You can determine using the program Acrylic Wi-Fi Home the cleanest channel and use it in the router settings. A more radical option involves purchasing a router that operates at a frequency of 5 GHz and, accordingly, has a large range of channels.

Optimizing your wireless connection

Alternatively, you can try setting your router to maximum Wi-Fi speed. Go to the router settings, find the “Network Mode” section or with a similar name and select “11n Only” or “N Only” from the list. Additionally, you can change the channel width to 20 or 40 MHz (40 is more relevant at 5 GHz).

If your router supports the 5 GHz frequency, see if the new 802.11ac standard is available in its settings; if so, enable it. If only 802.11n is available, try enabling the WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia) option in the router’s advanced settings. You also need to enable it in the properties of the wireless adapter on the “Advanced” tab by selecting “Game/Multimedia Environment” or “WMM” from the list of properties.

Old wireless adapter model

Internet speed depends not only on the router and provider, but also on the signal receiver - the Wi-Fi adapter on a laptop or computer. If it doesn't even support 801.11n, then there can be no talk of any high speed. Replacing a Wi-Fi module is still a hassle, but you can try updating its drivers to the latest version, which may give you a slight speed boost.

Old or buggy firmware

Another way to increase Internet speed via a Wi-Fi router is to update the firmware. Over the past few years, wireless communication technologies have come a long way, but users, as a rule, change routers very rarely and usually do not care about updating their firmware. But in vain, because installing a new version of the software can improve the quality and security of your Internet connection.

Different connection protocols

The connection protocol used by your Internet service provider plays an important role. The highest connection speeds are provided by the DHCP and Static IP protocols; when using the PPPoE protocol, it will be slightly lower; if the connection is made using PPTP technology, the data transfer speed will be even lower. You won’t be able to change the protocol, but you can check with your provider about the technology used and, if something happens, change your Internet service provider – this is entirely within your power.

Drawing conclusions

Above we have given the main reasons why the Internet speed through a router drops. In reality there may be even more, they are just not as common. The location of the router in the house is important, the settings used are important, but the most important point, perhaps, is whether the router and receiver devices support the latest wireless communication technologies. If you want maximum speed, consider purchasing a newer, more powerful router model.

It is believed that the era of wired Internet is leaving. In recent years, according to statistics, Internet users are increasingly giving preference to wireless Internet. The main advantages of wireless Wi-Fi networks are coverage area, convenience, and of course speed. However, if the first two points are indisputable, then the speed of Wi-Fi networks does not always outperform LAN - sometimes users do not get the download speed stated in the contract with the provider, which is attributed to a whole host of factors: the poor quality of the router, the its incorrect location. How to increase Internet speed in this case?

Make sure that it is the router that is to blame for the drop in Internet speed. To do this, temporarily unplug it and connect the network cable instead. Measure the speed of both before and after turning off, and compare.

To find out the current Internet speed, you can use the online resource Speedtest.

Change your energy saving settings

Step 1. First login to . To access the settings, with the router turned on, enter the IP address in the browser: 192.168.1.1, or 192.168.0.1.

Important! On the back of the router you can find out more precisely, and also see the login and password (admin/admin), which you will need in the future (in fact, the password, login, and IP address are standardized, but it never hurts to double-check).

Step 2. After this, a window with two sections will pop up. Enter the same username and password and click “Login”.

After this, the settings menu will open.

Step 3. Now go to the energy saving settings, which in tp-link model routers are designated as “Transmit power”. This parameter is responsible for the strength of the transmitted Wi-Fi signal.

Move the router to a more suitable location

The central part of the apartment is best suited for placement, but you can also use special software to determine the place where the signal passes best (Ekahau Heatmapper for Windows).

Instructions for using Ekahau HeatMapper:

Visit the official HeatMapper website: https://www.ekahau.com/products/heatmapper/overview/. Click "Download" with the left mouse click.
Fill out the registration form, left-click on the “Submit for download” button.
Left-click on the “Download the File” button.
Go to the “Downloads” of the browser through the settings menu by clicking on the three dots icon and click on the “Downloads” item.
Left-click to launch the downloaded installation file of the HeatMapper utility.
In the installer window, left-click the mouse and click on the “Next” button.
Then click the “I agree” button, accepting the terms of the license agreement.
Next, click on the “Install” button and wait until the installation process is completed.
After installation, click on the “Finish” button.
After launch, prepare a map of the room and click on the “I have a map image” button. If you don’t have a floor plan, then click “I don’t have a map image” and the program will create part of the map itself.
Upload the plan into the program.
Expand the plan by clicking on the side arrows.
Using the left mouse button, draw a diagram of the proposed points for the router.
When you finish drawing, right-click and a diagram of the router's location will appear.
The intensity of the radio field and the location of the wireless LAN are displayed as follows: the closer to green the stronger the electric wave, the closer to red the weaker the electric wave.
Place the router in the location that the program will select for you and connect it to the network.

Eliminate PC CPU Interference

Often the operating frequency of the laptop and the operating frequency of the router coincide, which leads to interference. To eliminate them, you will need a portable Wi-Fi module. This will reduce interference and increase signal strength.

Update your router firmware

In some cases, it is necessary to update the router firmware to stop the signal delay.

Switch to a free channel

You can also switch to a freer communication channel, because when you first configure the router, the least loaded one is automatically selected. But over time, it can load more and more, neighbors can connect to it, which means this can affect the speed of the Internet. Therefore, you should simply switch to another channel. Use WirelessNetView (Windows) to do this.

Enter “download WirelessNetView” in the search bar of any browser and follow the first link.
Left-click on the “Latest Version” button.
In the next window, left-click on the “Download” button.
Go to downloads by clicking on the corresponding icon in the upper right corner, hover your mouse over the downloaded file, click the “Open” button.
Launch the installation file by double left clicking the mouse.
The utility will open automatically, you will see the main program page with an intuitive interface. Simply select the desired channel, double-click and confirm the transition. This way you will change the channel to a less busy one.

Increasing WiFi speed by changing the settings of the router itself

Step 1. Switch Wi-Fi to the 802.11 N standard. To do this, go to general network settings and in the “Mode” select “11n only”.

Step 2. The next important point is to enable WPA2-PSK security technology with AES cipher.

On a note! WPA2 is generally enabled by default in modern routers, but there are exceptions.

So this can be checked. Follow this path:

Step 3. In this section, you also need to enable WMM mode so that the Internet speed is higher than 54 Mbit/sec. Just check the appropriate box in the “Activate WMM” item by going to the “Wireless Mode” section, then the “Advanced Settings” subsection.

Step 4. WMM still needs to be activated for your device. For this:

Go to the “Network and Sharing Center” by right-clicking on the network icon and selecting the appropriate item.
Go to the “Change adapter settings” menu by left-clicking on the item.
From the list that appears, select the Wi-Fi adapter, right-click on it and then left-click on “Properties”.
Click on the “Configure” option in the “Network” tab.
In the settings, open the “Advanced” item, in the “Property” tab, find and left-click the “WMM” item, set it to “Enabled”.

This is all. The speed should be at a normal level.

How do security standards affect Wi-Fi speed?

Router security standards allow you to encrypt and transfer all data passing through the Wi-Fi environment.

Internet speed is inversely proportional to the complexity of protection, since the system takes longer to process incoming and outgoing network data, and more time is spent encrypting and decrypting these packets.

Therefore, if you need to make the most of your router’s resources, then simply turn off all protection. Of course, the lack of security standards means that you are not protected by anything at all and are open to outside penetration.

Important! To have a balanced security/speed ratio, set WPA protection as indicated above.

Improved speed by changing computer settings

If the Wi-Fi speed is low even after everything you have done, then most likely the reason is in the computer itself. Let's open the system settings and see how loaded it is.

Step 1. Open "Task Manager" by right-clicking on "Start".

Step 2. In the "Task Manager", select the "Performance" item.

Step 3. If this utility clearly shows that the network is overloaded, but you are not using the Internet, there are no downloads or anything like that, then go to the “Processes” tab.

Step 4. In "Processes", by de-tasking all processes that you consider unnecessary, close most heavyweight programs. To do this, right-click on the process and in the drop-down menu click “End task”.

Step 5. Also try removing unnecessary applications from startup. To do this, open the “Run” console by pressing the “Win + R” key combination.

Step 6. Enter the “msconfig” command in the “Open” line. This command will open the System Configuration utility.

Step 7 While in the configurator, select the “Startup” tab by left clicking the mouse.

Step 8 Eliminate unnecessary programs from the drop-down list of programs. To do this, simply uncheck the boxes of certain programs with the left mouse button, or immediately turn everything off with the corresponding “Disable all” button. After that, don't forget to click "OK".

Video - How to increase Internet speed 100 times in 20 minutes

Improved network speed after specifying the correct channel number

On a note! If you are the owner of a device manufactured by DLink, or someone similar, then you may have problems finding this option and will have to look for it among other parameters.

Why is the speed through the router lower than through the cable?

The most famous Wi-Fi network standard today, WiFi-802.11 N, can perfectly transmit up to 100 Mbit/s. However, real productivity, of course, is always significantly lower, because ideal conditions never exist. In addition, when several devices are connected at once, the network speed also decreases due to the fact that they all share a common exchange point, which normally can only work with one device. Due to all these circumstances, the speed observed when connecting via cable sometimes shows better results than a Wi-Fi router.

Video - Strengthening WiFi. 5 ways available to everyone

The speed of wired Internet access depends on the quality of communications and network equipment. The speed may decrease due to poor-quality cable connections and technical characteristics of the equipment (computer network adapter, router, switch).

Wireless access speed is affected by

Wi-Fi standard used by the router and receiving adapter (802.11b/g/n/ac). For example, an outdated router or receiving adapter in a laptop operating in the 802.11g standard in an apartment building reduces the speed to 15-20 Mbit/s.
Data transmission frequency used by the router and receiving adapter (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz). Support for the 5 GHz frequency allows you to significantly increase Wi-Fi speeds in home environments.
The area and configuration of the apartment, the material and thickness of the internal walls. To cover apartments with an area of more than 50-70 square meters with a wireless network. m or “punching through” thick walls often requires more powerful Wi-Fi equipment, sometimes a combination of several devices.
Router location. Installing a router behind a metal door, in a panel or in a cabinet, especially a metal one, negatively affects the quality of Wi-Fi reception in the apartment.
Interference from other Wi-Fi networks operating in the same band (2.4 GHz). The problem of reduced Wi-Fi speed due to interference from neighboring networks can be solved by selecting the least loaded channel in the router settings, changing the router to a more powerful one or one that supports 2 bands (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz).

Responsibility of the provider for the quality of communication at different stages

1. Parameters that depend only on the provider:

— congestion of the provider’s channels;

— the quality of the provider’s equipment at the nodes and in your home;

— the quality of the cable and its connections from the attic/basement to the apartment;

— the quality of network equipment leased by the provider.

2. Parameters that depend only on the subscriber himself:

— the quality of home network equipment belonging to the subscriber (router, network adapters in devices);

— the quality of communications carried out by the subscriber during apartment renovation (cable, Internet sockets, cable connections);

— parameters of the subscriber’s computer (laptop, tablet, smartphone) - for example, support for Wi-Fi by a laptop adapter of the Wi-Fi 802.11n standard;

— the presence of software that actively affects the speed of the Internet - for example, an antivirus or a working torrent client;

— the presence of hidden malicious programs (viruses, Trojans) on the computer.

3. Parameters that do not depend on either the subscriber or the provider:

— power and load of servers on the Internet;

— the quality of communication lines located outside the provider’s network (for example, an intercontinental cable at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean);

- in the case of Wi-Fi - interference from other Wi-Fi networks and household appliances, walls, doors, the power of the router transmitters and receivers on the client’s device, the location of the router in the room and its distance from the area where the Wi-Fi network is used.

What is the maximum speed that RiNet can provide?

The maximum channel capacity to the apartment is 100 Mbit/s. This is significantly more than is necessary for the real tasks of a home user. The channel can be expanded to 200 Mbit/s - 1 Gbit/s upon individual request.

How to check Internet access speed?

If you want to understand what speed your ISP provides, measure the speed of your direct wired connection. The speed of the Wi-Fi connection is influenced by external factors that are independent of the provider (see above - Parameters that do not depend on either the subscriber or the provider), and such a test will not provide reliable information.

The easiest way to check the speed of your wired connection is to connect an Internet cable to your computer or laptop. If the results correspond to the tariff speed (deviations in the test readings are allowed within 5 Mbit/s - this is due to the peculiarities of the operation of Internet services for measuring speed), then if there is a problem, it is not related to the quality of the provider’s services, but to the operation of the Wi-Fi network.

There are sites on the Internet where you can measure the speed of communication between your computer and servers on the Internet. A popular example is http://speedtest.net.

Questions and answers

– My router supports 150 Mbps (300 Mbps). Why is my Wi-Fi speed only 20 Mbps?

– When connected to a network using the 802.11g standard, the maximum throughput is up to 54 Mbit/s. When connected to a network using the 802.11n standard – up to 150 Mbit/s. But this speed is not the real download or upload speed, since part of the traffic is spent on technical needs to ensure the operation of the network. In practice, the download speed when connecting using the 802.11g standard is up to 23 Mbit/s, when connecting to 802.11n – up to 50-90 Mbit/s (depending on the router model and adapter on the client device). Some expensive router models are capable of maintaining real speeds of about 100 Mbit/s or even more.

– When I hover over the “Local Area Connection” label, I see “Speed 100 Mbps.” Does this figure indicate real speed?

– No, it only shows the maximum possible speed of connection between your network adapter and network equipment (switch, router). This indicator is not related to the Internet speed at your tariff.

– I heard that for maximum speed you need to run an optical cable directly to the apartment instead of twisted pair, is this true?

– The maximum throughput of a conventional 4-core copper cable (twisted pair) is 100 Mbit/s. This speed is real, and it is more than enough for home use. However, by using all 8 cores and connecting the cable to the provider’s gigabit port, you can get 200-1000 Mbit/s. These speeds are achievable with a copper cable length of up to 100m. For distances over 100m, an optical cable is used. Inside an apartment building, the distance from the provider’s equipment to the apartment is much less than 100 m, so it is advisable to use an optical cable to lay lines between houses.

Using an optical cable to connect apartments is unjustified and very risky. Its main disadvantages:

— Optical cable is easily damaged and difficult to repair. It is brittle and requires complex welding to restore.

— Lack of protection from interference, a faulty receiver for one subscriber makes it impossible for other subscribers to work on this line (in the same entrance).

— There is a tangible threat to the security of the personal data of a subscriber connected together with his neighbors to the same fiber-optic line. Due to the nature of modems and the structure of the network, it is not difficult to gain access to someone else’s equipment and information, for example, to make long-distance phone calls through a neighbor’s SIP account, at his expense.

— Operators, as a rule, do not allow the connection of any modems to the optical cable, except those provided by the operators themselves. There are situations when a subscriber needs non-standard equipment (covering a large area with a Wi-Fi network, using the 5 GHz frequency to increase speed, connecting Apple routers), and the capabilities of a standard modem are not enough.