Why is my wireless slower than my wired connection?

alkaufmann · Oct 8, 2013

I just installed a new wireless ac adapter and I do get a 1.3Gbps connection to my router. However when I test this connection by transferring some large files I get about 350Mbps for sending and 600 Mbps for receiving. When I transfer the same files with a 1Gbps wired connection I get about 970Mbps for sending (I think that includes some caching) and 760 Mbps for receiving.

Are there some options in Windows 8.1 Pro that can be set to get better wireless performance?

my2cents · Oct 8, 2013

You may get a much better explanation than mine but a wireless connection generally has overhead because of the need for encryption. From my experience wired has always been (at least a bit) faster than wireless. I wish I had your problems.

chev65 · Oct 8, 2013

Yes these slow wireless connections are simply terrible.

No magic button fix or real options for this although I would expect the wireless to be a bit slower and even with the 1.3GB speeds you still might need to get through another A/P or switch at 1GB.

You might try working with the advanced settings for the wireless AC NIC in Device Manger.

I think that actual throughput is supposed to be closer to 480Mbps even with a wired connection but it looks like a bit faster is possible from what the Op posted. Maybe I should measure this on my network.

Typically with wireless you would get maybe 1/2 the actual throughput compared to what the status is showing.

Maybe you can find more answers in the link which talks about wireless ac and it's potential.

In perfect conditions, close to the access point, a three-stream 11ac radio can achieve the maximum raw data rate of 1.3Gbps. But no users will actually realize that in terms of useable throughput. "Typically, if the client is close to the access point, you can expect to lose about 40% of the overall raw bit rate due to protocol overhead acknowledgements, setup, beaconing and so on,"

802.11ac 'gigabit Wi-Fi' starts to show potential, limits - Computerworld

Surgikill · Oct 9, 2013

Change the channel if you are in a crowded wireless zone

alkaufmann · Oct 9, 2013

my2cents said:
You may get a much better explanation than mine but a wireless connection generally has overhead because of the need for encryption. From my experience wired has always been (at least a bit) faster than wireless. I wish I had your problems.

Thanks, I did forget that the wireless connection requires security which may slow things down.

alkaufmann · Oct 9, 2013

> You might try working with the advanced settings for the wireless AC NIC in Device Manger.

I did look at that and there are a ton of options there. I will start to look for a thread on how these options should be set, Asus provides no information.

> I think that actual throughput is supposed to be closer to 480Mbps even with a wired connection
> but it looks like a bit faster is possible from what the Op posted.

When transferring large files from one computer to another with a wired connection I can get very high speeds and the network utilization is greater than 90%. What I find strange is the transferring the file from one hard drive to another in the same machine is slower. :shock:

> Typically with wireless you would get maybe 1/2 the actual throughput compared to
> what the status is showing.

I have moved that machine so that the signal travels through a couple of walls and the connection has dropped to around 877.5 Mbps to 1Gbps. When I transferred a bunch of files the average speed was 350Mbps and network utilization approx. 37%.

> 802.11ac 'gigabit Wi-Fi' starts to show potential, limits - Computerworld

Thanks for that link.

alkaufmann · Oct 9, 2013

Surgikill said:
Change the channel if you are in a crowded wireless zone

Live in an apartment building surrounded by other apartments buildings and my system can see a lot of wireless connections but none in the 5Ghz range. I will try some different channels and disable everything but the ac connection and see if that changes anything for me.

chev65 · Oct 9, 2013

alkaufmann said:
> You might try working with the advanced settings for the wireless AC NIC in Device Manger.

I did look at that and there are a ton of options there. I will start to look for a thread on how these options should be set, Asus provides no information.

> I think that actual throughput is supposed to be closer to 480Mbps even with a wired connection
> but it looks like a bit faster is possible from what the Op posted.

When transferring large files from one computer to another with a wired connection I can get very high speeds and the network utilization is greater than 90%. What I find strange is the transferring the file from one hard drive to another in the same machine is slower. :shock:

> Typically with wireless you would get maybe 1/2 the actual throughput compared to
> what the status is showing.

I have moved that machine so that the signal travels through a couple of walls and the connection has dropped to around 877.5 Mbps to 1Gbps. When I transferred a bunch of files the average speed was 350Mbps and network utilization approx. 37%.

> 802.11ac 'gigabit Wi-Fi' starts to show potential, limits - Computerworld

Thanks for that link.

I'm honestly surprised that you can achieve 877.5Mbps going through a couple walls with 5Ghz frequency which typically doesn't go through walls worth a darn, at least that is how it works for me and everyone else, many complaints about this although the 2.4Ghz frequency has no problems with a few walls.

I get the same 877.5Mbps but my access point "Asus AC66U" is mounted outside my house under the eves while the client is 35 feet away across my yard with only a few palm trees in the way.

Still it's a very fast connection and HD streaming works great and I can run multiple YouTube vid's without problems.

Why is my wireless slower than my wired connection?

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