Inconsistent and slow WiFi

[roghun]

I received my new PC a few weeks ago and in all fairness, I'm well pleased with it.

However, I did report within a few days that the Internet download and upload speeds were inconsistent and sometimes very slow, even though the PC sat right next to my new one was having no such problems.

Tech Support were helpful, and could see the issue after taking over control remotely to investigate, but it was intermittent. A few things were tried to resolve but to no avail. It was agreed that I should monitor the situation.

Well, for the majority of the time in the last couple of weeks, it's been fine with download speeds of around 38Mbps and upload of around 9Mbps.

Now this morning I'm getting 4.5Mbps and 0.9Mbps quite frequently and then 5 minutes later it's back up to normal. Sometimes the periods of slowness last 15 or more minutes. While this is going on, the other PC I have (All In One with basic wf-fi) which is literally 6 feet away is showing no such speed issues.

This new PC has WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0 , which is supposed to be good.

Any suggestions please as to what's causing this issue?

 

[Tony1044]

Does that card require external antennae? If so, did you fit them? They would have been in the welcome box.

I am no fan of Intel drivers - they are very hit and miss in my experience. What version of driver do you currently have installed? You can get the information from device manager, properties of the card, driver tab

 

[Scott]

Can you confirm that you are connected to the 5Ghz band?

My guess is that there is interference, possibly from neighbours Wifi if you are sharing the same channel.

 

[roghun]

Does that card require external antennae? If so, did you fit them? They would have been in the welcome box.

I am no fan of Intel drivers - they are very hit and miss in my experience. What version of driver do you currently have installed? You can get the information from device manager, properties of the card, driver tab

Yes, antennae are fitted and pointed upright. Driver version 21.70.0.6 .

 

[roghun]

Can you confirm that you are connected to the 5Ghz band?

My guess is that there is interference, possibly from neighbours Wifi if you are sharing the same channel.

I'm currently connected to the 2.4Ghz band, Channel 6. I'm using inSSIDer to check. Of course, right now, everything has gone back to normal! When Tech Support were helping me initially a few weeks ago, we switched to the 5Ghz, but it made little or no difference.

Intermittent issues are the most frustrating to resolve for sure!

As things appear to have settled down, I guess all I can do is make notes of the times and duration when this issue crops up to gather some more intel. I just find it strange that the other desktop PC running with a basic wi-fi card has no such issues.

 

[Scott]

That's exactly what I was going to suggest so glad you are on it already.

Is channel 6 not quite congested? I always find going to the outer extremities of the channel numbers works best.

However, with that particular card.... if your router supports it, you would be better to use the extended 5Ghz band which is in the 60khz frequency (I believe).

It's often labelled as 5G-2 or something of that ilk. Unsure of your router or the support availability, bit this is by far the least congested band for me. I'm on it on my own for the most part where I live and I rarely have signal drops or speed drops.

When you notice a drop, open up Inssider and see what it looks like.

 

[ubuysa]

I'm currently connected to the 2.4Ghz band, Channel 6. I'm using inSSIDer to check. Of course, right now, everything has gone back to normal! When Tech Support were helping me initially a few weeks ago, we switched to the 5Ghz, but it made little or no difference.

Intermittent issues are the most frustrating to resolve for sure!

As things appear to have settled down, I guess all I can do is make notes of the times and duration when this issue crops up to gather some more intel. I just find it strange that the other desktop PC running with a basic wi-fi card has no such issues.

Channel 6 is the commonest one used, I'm sure you'll find overlap with others nearby. Typically channels 1, 6 and 11 are overused (because they're the non-overlapping channels) but you really want to pick a channel that has the fewest concurrent users in your location.

It could also be interference from something in your home; a fridge, washing machine, even a fluorescent light. It would be worth noting the times when the speed drops and the times when it comes back, do it over a few days and see whether there is any correlation with devices in your home.

It would be worth checking with Intel to see whether there is an updated driver for your card. If you do update the driver be sure to only install the driver, do not install any of the other bundled software, it's mostly bloatware.

 

[Scott]

Microwave used to throw mine off

 

[SpyderTracks]

Microwave used to throw mine off

Mines quite racist and slows connections for the Irish which sucks as I’m an 8th Irish.

 

[roghun]

That's exactly what I was going to suggest so glad you are on it already.

Is channel 6 not quite congested? I always find going to the outer extremities of the channel numbers works best.

However, with that particular card.... if your router supports it, you would be better to use the extended 5Ghz band which is in the 60khz frequency (I believe).

It's often labelled as 5G-2 or something of that ilk. Unsure of your router or the support availability, bit this is by far the least congested band for me. I'm on it on my own for the most part where I live and I rarely have signal drops or speed drops.

When you notice a drop, open up Inssider and see what it looks like.

Many thanks! I'll need to learn a bit more about inSSIDer as it's a new thing for me. Right now though, I have to get back painting the bedroom !

 

[roghun]

Channel 6 is the commonest one used, I'm sure you'll find overlap with others nearby. Typically channels 1, 6 and 11 are overused (because they're the non-overlapping channels) but you really want to pick a channel that has the fewest concurrent users in your location.

It could also be interference from something in your home; a fridge, washing machine, even a fluorescent light. It would be worth noting the times when the speed drops and the times when it comes back, do it over a few days and see whether there is any correlation with devices in your home.

It would be worth checking with Intel to see whether there is an updated driver for your card. If you do update the driver be sure to only install the driver, do not install any of the other bundled software, it's mostly bloatware.

Many thanks! I will do this. It's confusing for me to know that the other PC in the house (an AIO with basic wifi card) has no issues when mine brand new expensive PC is giving me grief! That's why I've assumed it must be the Intel WiFi Card (AX200).

 

[ubuysa]

Many thanks! I will do this. It's confusing for me to know that the other PC in the house (an AIO with basic wifi card) has no issues when mine brand new expensive PC is giving me grief! That's why I've assumed it must be the Intel WiFi Card (AX200).

Different cards behave differently even receiving the same signals. WiFi can be a minefield so the best approach is to eliminate everything obvious and getting onto the least congested channel is a good start, as is checking whether there's an updated Intel driver.

It is even remotely possible that the close proximity of your older PC is having an effect, try switching it off for a while to see whether the new one is more reliable.