Internet speed over 100x slower using wireless compared to wired connection

[Joey_P1]

I currently have Verizon Fios and have very slow internet speeds. Despite paying for 75/75 mbps I frequently get less than 5/5 mbps. I just ran a speed test where I was using a wireless connection and only 2 feet away from the router which showed that my upload speed was 700 kbps, then ran the same test with a wired connection which showed that my upload speed was 80 mbps. Why would there be such a huge reduction in speed going from wired to wireless? It isn't like I was across the house or that there were any objects obstructing the connection. Another thing to note is that on a wireless connection my bufferbloat was over 1000, while on a wired connection is was only around 30. I have tried restoring the router to factory defaults in the past and it has not helped. 

I boosted my speed last month from 15/15 to 75/75 and have seen no improvements over a wireless connection. It is worth noting that I have run similar tests from multiple devices, so it is not a faulty wlan chip or driver issue.  There is a lot of space between my house and other houses in the neighborhood so it is unlikely that there is signal interferance.

In the past I have been very dissatisfied with Verizon's customer service, having spent 5 hours on the phone being redirected and on hold just to get in contact with someone who has any background in IT beyond "restore factory default settings." I am hoping that someone on here can be a little more helpful. 

The module number of my router is MI424WRI

[Gary221]

Hi Joey,

I'm very familiar with the experience you've had with support.

Chances are the spectrum where you are is just too saturated, which Verion can't do anything about. When you open the WiFi network selection menu, roughly how many networks do you see? I presume you're only on 2.4 Ghz (the answer's probably yes if you don't understand the question).

Cheers.

[UselessWireless]

Other than my router 25/25 Mbps, I have the same problem.  Running the speed test on my computer yields a whopping 5 Mbps Download wireless, 2 feet from the router, & 25 Mbps when connected with the Ethernet cable. 

Interestly, the Upload speed is around 30 Mbps both wirelessly & with the Ethernet cable.

I think Verizon should state in their ads that you're probably only going to get 5 Mbps download speed wirelessly unless you are directly connected with an Ethernet cable regardless of what Max Ethernet speed is!

[Gary221]

Distance from your router has no bearing on signal attenuation from spectrum saturation. That said, the discrepancy between upload and download in your case is very interesting, I'd guess there's something else going on there. If you'd like to answer the same questions I asked of OP, we can try to help you too.

[eljefe2]

Joey_P....

Given what you've described and the troubleshooting steps you've already taken, a couple of questions come to mind:

Have you tried resetting your Actiontec router back to factory defaults?  I'm wondering if something got set wrong, something like setting to Legacy mode, 802.11b/g.

It that is no help, are you able to get better speeds on one or several of the devices you've used to test speeds if that device(s) is connected to another wifi network?  That may indicate whether or not your Actiontec is broken.

I don't know if this will help any but let me throw in my configuration I'm using these days.  I also have an Actiontec Rev I.  It works great as my primary router.  I always get ~80/80 mb/s on my 75/75 plan via an Ethernet connection.  But I have wifi turned off on the Actiontec.  For wifi I use a Netgear R6300v2 router in AP mode.  I have the Netgear AP in a central location in our house.  This is a typical result I get on either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz on my iPhone 6s:

One more thing....make sure when you're testing your speeds via wired and wifi you're using the same speetest server.  I never used to see this behavior but in the past week or so if I test to a number of close by servers that used to give me goood results my speeds, upload in particular, are way lower than what you see above.

Good luck.  I feel your frustration.

[tns2]

Consider changing your "basic Wireless Settings" form automatic.  Try channels 1, 6 and 11.  Hopefully one of them will help.

Also consider using changing compatiblity mode from b/g/n to performance mode (n only). Obvioulsy doesn't work for you if you have devices that don't support wireless N

[UselessWireless]

Other than my router 25/25 Mbps, I have the same problem.  Running the speed test on my computer yields a whopping 5 Mbps Download wireless, 2 feet from the router, & 25 Mbps when connected with the Ethernet cable. 

Interestly, the Upload speed is around 30 Mbps both wirelessly & with the Ethernet cable.

I called tech support & they changed the channel that was being used.  That fixed the problem & the download speed now runs at 24 Mbps (close enough)!

[CRobGauth]

One of the biggest reasons that ISPs won't guarantee peformance over wireless.

I found an android app (doesn't work on IOS due to iPhone limitations) called wifi analyzer.

It looks at your signal and others and recommends optimal channel for your WIFI.

[eljefe2]

I'm hoping for a wifi analyzer app for the iPhone one of these days, but in the meantime, inSSIDER 4 does a good job of showing the wifi environment on a PC:

http://www.inssider.com/

[CRobGauth]

I was reading about them (my daughter has an iPhone and needed one).

Issues is that IOS does not give access to the hardware in a way that an app like wifi analyzer can get info.