Ethernet not faster than Wi-Fi

Gomar

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Messages
315
Got me Cat.52 cables to try out if Ethernet would be faster than Wi-Fi on my laptop.
No problems connecting, and it works. However, the speeds werent twice of Wi-Fi, as I had expected.
I then connected straight into modem, and still got the same speeds.

Wi-Fi I get 20-25mbps.
Here be results:

http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/3531837

http://results.speedtest.xfinity.com/result/1260254824.png

My Internet Speed Test Results

Am I doing something wrong, or do I have to change settings, or get Cat.6?
 
With an internet connection that slow, your speeds are limited by your ISP more than your connection type. What internet speed do you pay for and are supposed to get? It looks like you are on 25/5 or 30/5, in which care you are receiving what you should be.
 
That's probably the speed of your Internet connection. If your speeds are under 25mbps, you won't notice much of a difference between Ethernet and Wi-Fi these days. The main advantage is higher ping and less interference. Now, I have around 50mbps, and the main thing about Wi-Fi is that I've noticed it usually kills either my upload speeds or my download speeds, depending on which adapter I use. Some have about 20% slower upload, and some have 20% slower download. The one in my Surface Book however, seems to be as fast as Ethernet on speed tests.

This isn't really a good way to test the speed difference between Ethernet and Wi-Fi, though, as you're limited by your Internet speed... what you really need to do is copy a large file between two computers on your home network that are connected by Ethernet, and then two connected by Wi-Fi. It's much easier to see that Ethernet is consistently faster on your local intranet than over a capped Internet link.
 
I've decided to keep the Ethernet as I get constant speeds (28.5mbps) vs. Wi-Fi speeds that go up and down and top out at 25mbps.
Also, no sense in wi-fi at home as my laptop is right next to the modem.
 
But a laptop by design is designed to be portable, hence the battery and wifi :p
 
Are you going to figure out what internet service you are paying for before complaining about no difference between ethernet or wifi? Or are you going to ignore our advice? I'm guessing we will never know.
 
But a laptop by design is designed to be portable, hence the battery and wifi :p

Ok, but I dont lug around the 15.6" anywhere. For that I'll get an 11" next time.
I'll most likely go with a desktop for home pc and use ethernet instead of wifi.
 
A speed test is not really a good way to test your local network performance unless you have a gig internet connection, even then there's lot of outside factors that can affect that. Try something like iperf. Then you'll see the difference and it won't rely on your internet connection.
 
I would never do WAN speed testing over WiFi *barf* I second what Red Squirrel said, use iperf/jperf. Once you've confirmed you're getting the service you're paying for then branch out your testing.
 
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