20mbps download speed or lower when I should be getting 40-50! 2 or lower upload speed.

[Jsun]

I have been having issues with my wifi for a few months now (since we moved into a new house) and I feel like I have tried everything and i’m out of ideas now so ANY help would be great! So around about June, after we moved in the wifi seemed okay at first. I would get about 45 mbps download speed while playing video games (around 30-40 ping depending on the servers). Keep in mind, I have a 50 mbps download speed plan, non-fibre. About a week or two later, I would start having lag spikes or drops in the download speed. I’m talking it would drop down to around 5-10 mbps download speed (around 600 ping). I would have these drops every few seconds/minutes and they would last for maybe 10-30 seconds. So we called telus, and they sent a technician. The technician tested the speed via ethernet. He tested our router at the time and also a new one he had brought. The new one had faster speeds (around 50) so he just gave us that one. He also moved the boosters further from the router so it wouldn’t cause conjunction. So this had fixed the problem for about a few days, and then I started getting speed drops again. I ended up trying many things. Putting a fan on the router, restarting the router, etc... I ended up dealing with it till about mid-August until it became even slower. Instead of only having drops in the speed, it would STAY at a slower speed. It would just stay at a steady 10-20 mbps download speed and go up to 35-45 for a few seconds or minutes and then drop back down. (keep in mind this is when i’m the ONLY one on the wifi). So I called telus again, and they sent a technician. This time, the technician said it was switching from 2.4G and 5G, so he made it two different networks for me instead of it just being automatic. He also gave me a “secondary router” to help with the amount of devices that could be causing conjunction. So it worked for probably two days, but I was still getting miniature speed drops. (20-30) mbps. A few days ago, it has gone back to normal, even before the second time the technician came. The speeds are staying at around 15 and only going up to 40-45 for a few minutes or seconds. Even after I restart my router, It’s fast for maybe half an hour, with 45 mbps then all of a sudden it drops to around 20 mbps. Keep in mind this even happens when i’m not playing video games. Just on my phone, being the ONLY one using the wifi. I use speedtest by Ookla to test my speeds. Please, help me find a solution, anything will help!

[xray]

You mention a few things that happened but you didn't provide any details which might shed some light on the problem.

1) You said the technician tested the speed using Ethernet. What was the result? Was the speed the same as what you were getting on WiFi?

2) You said you now have smart steering turned off and have 2 separate SSID's (one each for 2.4 and 5 GHz) Which one are you connectect to when you do your speed tests?

3) You say "gave me a “secondary router” to help with the amount of devices" and then you say "Just on my phone, being the ONLY one using the wifi". This is contradictory. Do you have a lot of devices on the WiFi or not?

[Jsun]

Yes, my bad I did not mention the fact that the technician only tested with ethernet the FIRST time he came. The speeds were fast, 45-50 mbps so we kept that router. Ethernet speeds with the old router was around 35-40. I run tests on 5G while I am standing literally right besides my router. I have tried on my phone and computer. I live with my family and we do have around 12 devices (excluding TVs) but when I am home alone, usually everyone else’s computers are shut down i’m basically the only one using the wifi at times. I’d literally take any advice at this point :). I appreciate the response, as you can see I am not very good at explaining these things.

[NFtoBC]

What happens if you connect your computer to the router with an Ethernet cable?

[RonAKA]

@Jsun, When you test using Ookla, are you using the closest Telus server? When diagnosing a problem with your home router and wiring, I think it makes sense to take as much of the internet out of the picture as possible.

[Jsun]

The speed with ethernet is usually fast (45-50) mbps but sometimes I do not have access to it (PS4/phone)

[Jsun]

Yes I usually use the Burnaby one but I have tried the others too and gotten the same results. I just feel like it should be reaching 45-50 and staying there. Even when there aren’t many devices on it, I feel like there is just something stopping it from staying up there and there is a problem somewhere that I do not know of. The thing is, the technicians that came said that 20mbps was under the acceptable speed so that’s why they were trying to fix it. After they left it was up to 45-50 for a few days, then back down. Idk what to do now.

[Jsun]

I’m less concerned about getting good speeds on ethernet. I seriously think there’s something wrong with my wifi and idk what. The thing is, even when none of my family is home, TVs are off, playstation is shut down, my phone’s wifi is off, I’d expect the wifi to be good without ethernet right? Because there’s literally no devices on the wifi. Yet when I do the speedtest (on wifi, not ethernet) it may start off at 40mbps for a few seconds then drop straight down to 10-20. I just can’t seem to figure out what is causing that. So my goal is to figure out what’s happening. Because just because i’m getting good wifi for one device using ethernet doesn’t mean the rest if my family is too.

[xray]

If you are consistently getting good Ethernet speeds then your Internet speed is not the issue. As you suspected it's your WiFi.

What model phone you have?

Do you have other WiFi devices and if so are you able to do speed tests on them to cmpare?

How many other WiFi SSIDs do you see from your phone? Could be a channel congestion problem.

[Jsun]

I’ve tested on multiple devices. (computers and phones) and I did actually suspect a conjunction problem with the servers or something but I am not sure what to do😅.

[Jsun]

Oh and the results were the same on the other devices too so it’s not just my phone.

[Jsun]

Sorry i keep forgetting to answer your question for some reason. I have an Iphone XR, 64gb storage.

[Jsun]

2 Wifi SSIDs (2.4G and 5G).

[RonAKA]

@Jsun 

For what it is worth, I am on Internet 75 with a bonded modem (two copper lines), and  I just tested my ethernet connected PC. It came out at 75 Mbps, with a 4 ms ping. My iPhone 8 which is connected to the 2.4 GHz SSID just tested as low as 34 Mbps, and as high as 59 Mbps, 10 ms ping. It seems quite variable on the WiFi, and quite consistent and high on the ethernet. 

I used to have a 50 Mbps modem, which was also bonded. It has some speed issues when it was first installed. One tech that came to the house tested the two lines and decided one was weak. He said there was a "tap" on the line that should not be there. I don't fully understand it, but I think that means when I was not using the one line somebody connected another line to it (and probably should not have). In any case it was repaired and the signal strength improved. It is something you could ask about. However, if you are getting good ethernet speed, then it seems it is a WiFi problem within your home. 

[Jsun]

Thank you, I will try and ask about that. What do you mean by tested both lines? Lines meaning 2.4g and 5g?

[RonAKA]

@Jsun 

I think to get 50 or 75 Mbps they have to use two copper lines coming into your house. That requires a bonded modem. They split the signal between the two lines at the wire centre, and then bond it back together at your home with the bonded modem. At least that is my memory of what they used for the 50 Mbps service. I switched to the 75 Mbps service when I called to complain about the price of the 50 Mbps. As a result of my call I got the 75 Mbps service for less than I was paying for the 50. I am also on Telus Optik, so perhaps the need is driven by the combination of TV and internet...

[RonAKA]

I just tested an older Asus laptop that is on the 5 GHz WiFi and it ranged from a 30 to 34 Mbps upload, a bad 18 ms ping, but a consistent 20 Mbps upload. 

[xray]

When I asked about how many SSIDs you see I meant other people's SSIDs (your neighbors).

[Jsun]

about 11, including my own

[Jsun]

I am also on Telus optik. So just to update, today I tested Ethernet and it would be at 43 for a second and then go down. My final results after three tests were 29 mbps download speed, 29 again and then 20. I’m confused because I did the test not too long ago and it was at a steady 45-50. I am calling Telus, I also think it’s a problem with the modem. Btw, would it be better to have the modem and router separated? Instead of combined.

[RonAKA]

Do you have your router secured with a password? Could your neighbours be signing into your WiFi?

[Jsun]

Yes. It’s secured. I also have access to who’s on the network. I called a friend who’s daughter works for Telus, she said that unless the green lights on the back of the router from the telephone lights are flashing, the router is fine. So since i’m getting less than 30 mbps via ethernet, it’s the weak connection coming in from the lines and we need to ask them to make the window they have open for the connection wider and increase it because we aren’t getting what we’re supposed to be. I also found out that they already don’t include the amount of wifi ur TVs use in terms of it affecting your mbps. I’m not very good at explaining it, but your TVs should not affect whether your wifi goes under 50 or not. Why? Because they already gave you the extra “wifi” through the lines to cover for it, and security cameras too. meaning if they were to give you the same amount of wifi, but let’s say the TVs disappeared but still on wifi 50, you would be getting 75-80 mbps download speed but they didn’t increase it enough so now i’m getting around 30 via ethernet. My point is, they already put the amount of wifi your TVs use in consideration and don’t include it in the wifi 50. Sorry for my bad explanation I am just trying to re -explain what I was told.

[Nighthawk]

@Jsun  - The connection itself has overhead built in to it to allow for separate bandwidth for the TV so that it doesn't affect the rest of your devices. Depending on the maximum available speed on the lines, that overhead sometimes isn't too big.

If there are 11 other wireless networks in range, it's entirely possible there is too much interference coming from them. There could also be environmental factors in your house that could interfere as well. Wireless speeds are never guaranteed since there are so many things that can affect them. The ethernet speed is going to be the key. If it's consistently 30mbps, contact Telus. They may need to ensure the connection to the modem is fast enough.

Does your modem have one or two phone cords attached to it?

To see what your connection speed is:

1. Log in to the modem and then click Status at the top.
2. On the left column click on Line 1 Status on the left, and then scroll to the bottom.
3. We need to know what both numbers are next to Line Rate.
4. If you have a second phone line connected, on the left column click on Line 2 Status, and then scroll to the bottom again.
5. We need to know what both numbers are next to Line Rate.

[RonAKA]

@Jsun,

My thoughts are that there is no way that Telus can reserve part of the copper coming into your house for TV. It is true that they do not charge you for data used by the regular TV. But as far as bandwidth goes, the TV has to add to the demand. I believe the TV uses the 5 GHz WiFi if you have wireless set boxes in your home. My main TV PVR is ethernet, but the remote set top one is wireless. I would think it adds to the 5 GHz bandwidth demand, but I seldom use it.

As @Nighthawk mentions find out if you have two phone lines coming into your router, or check via the router menu. My memory is fading of the hoops I went though, but I believe I started out with a single phone line at Internet 25, and then signed up for Internet 50. They tried to make it work on a single line, but in the end, I believe that is when they connected up the second unused phone line and found that it had a "tap" on it. Once the tap was removed I got good speed, but obviously from my tests yesterday, I am not getting 75 Mbps with my WiFi...

[RonAKA]

@Jsun,

It is a bit of a long shot, but some years ago before I was using Windows 10, I was having issues with my Internet 25 having slow download and poor ping time. One of the Telus techs or perhaps someone here suggested this change:

Control Panel, Device Manager, Network Adapter, Ethernet device, Advanced, Speed & Duplex: The default setting here is Auto Negotiate. I changed it to 100 Mbps Full Duplex. It improved my ping time to 6 ms and download to 24.8 Mbps. This was with a single phone line and Internet 25.

After I upgraded to Windows 10 I have not been making that change. I just looked at it and tried it now both with Auto Negotiate and the 100 Mbps. It made no difference. I got 4 ms, 80 down, and 21 up, with both setups. I am supposed to get 75 down and 15 up, so hard to complain. When you look at how the Ookla test behaves mine just goes straight to 80 and sits there steady. Same with upload, straight to 20-21 and sits there steady. I think that indicates I am getting full speed out of the router, and Telus is throttling the speed down to what I am supposed to get with a bit of a 5-6 Mbps bonus. I recall when I was having issues the speed would go up and down during the test.

My thoughts are that if you are on a single copper line, that is likely the issue. It may not be good enough for 50 Mbps. If you are on two lines bonded, then you should easily get 50 Mbps. 

[Jsun]

It has two phone cords. The technician that came today gave us a new router. It was fine till her left then it dropped to once again 20-30 mbps ETHERNET. Wireless was 0.16 mbps at one point. So it’s not a problem with the router.

[RonAKA]

@Jsun 

Not sure if you have looked at the Line status as suggested by @Nighthawk ? For what it is worth here is what I see for my T3200M router. Note that you have to be signed to the router to see this information. The normal user name is admin and the password unless you have changed it is normally on the side of the router. 

Line 1 Status

Line 2 Status

@Nighthawk may be able to explain better than I can what this means, but I guess it is a line quality measure and the maximum data transfer rate. At least in theory it would be the sum of the two lines, but I would suspect there is some overhead involved that would cut into that simplistic total.

[Jsun]

May I ask how you log into the modem??

[RonAKA]

Just enter 192.168.1.254 in your browser URL bar.

[RonAKA]

The details including the router password should be on the side of the router.