Inconsistency in speed between two computers

[lastavpi]

Well, today we got fios internet installed in our house. While one computer regularly has download speeds of 17mb, the other computer barely goes up to 5 mb. What could be the problem considering that the computers are just 2 meters away from each other?

[smith6612]

How are both PCs connected to the router, and in addition, which operating system are they both running?

[lastavpi]

Both computers are connected wirelessly and both are running windows 7.

[tns]

Boty trying from roughly the same location? 

Obviiously diffeent hardware may make a difference as well as certain software such as firewall software.

[smith6612]

In that case, does one PC report a stronger signal than the other, or show a higher wireless link speed than the other? Second, what is the distance from the router to the PCs?

[lastavpi]

They both show the same signal, and they are relatively 15 feet from the router.

[jmw1950]

Normally Window7 adjust the TCP/IP buffers based upon demand, the more you use the connection, the larger the buffers get, and if you stop using the network, the buffers will shrink again.

The exception is wireless. Most Wireless adapters have an onboard memory that provides the buffer. That is fixed, so unless your PC's have the same wireless adapter in them, there is a high probability that you will get different speeds because differing buffer sizes in the wireless adapter.

You can check the receive window by using ndt.anl.gov and running the speed test.

Toward the bottom of the information you get by clicking on 'more details" you will find your receive buffer size. If the sizes aren't the same, the performance isn't likely to be the same either.

[lastavpi]

The thing is, before we got fios the computer with the slower speed actually had a stronger signal. And also, the upload speed on the slower computer is the same as the faster one, is there any problem here?

[viafax999]

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@lastavpi wrote:

The thing is, before we got fios the computer with the slower speed actually had a stronger signal. And also, the upload speed on the slower computer is the same as the faster one, is there any problem here?

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You could use your pre fios wireless broadcast device in conjuction with the VZ router and have your pcs connect to it and then you would be back at the signal you had before you got the fios setup.

Was it perhaps a wireless-n devive which has a stronger seignal?