How to increase laptop WIFI speed

[Gjac]

My Iphone MBPS is 14 MBPS while my laptop is only 4 MBPS at the same distance from router. How do I increase the speed of my laptop? I need a speed of at least 4 MBPS to use the internet. Ipad is usually in between the laptop and Iphone usually about 7 MBPS. Laptop is an old HP pavilion, Ipad is an Ipad air and phone is an Iphone 7.

[Gdetrailer]

Gjac wrote:

AllegroD wrote:
Get a new air card for the laptop with higher speed.

How will an air card get higher speed than what is coming out of my modem? I am paying for 12 MBPS and currently getting 12- 14 MBPS out of my laptop, Iphone and Ipad .

Not sure myself other than if it was referring to a external Wifi radio it might have helped but obviously the fault was your Frontier modem/router failing and a new radio card would have been temp at best..

On the other hand may have been referring to a Cellphone modem and in that case you would now have a possibility of getting far greater speeds than Frontier can deliver as long as you have decent cell service.. 12-14 Mpbs speeds were great back in the early 2000's, not so much now days but cellphone internet can be very costly compared to wired Internet..

[Gjac]

AllegroD wrote:
Get a new air card for the laptop with higher speed.

How will an air card get higher speed than what is coming out of my modem? I am paying for 12 MBPS and currently getting 12- 14 MBPS out of my laptop, Iphone and Ipad .

[AllegroD]

Get a new air card for the laptop with higher speed.

[Gjac]

It was a fantastic trip. I was surprised CG's were full and a lot of traffic, maybe spring break for kids. Temperatures were high also. I noticed a lot of smaller MH's and trailers. I can only imagine what the summer will be like.

[enblethen]

Gary: Got your card! Glad you enjoyed your trip!

[Gjac]

Just got back from a trip to NV, Utah and AZ. GS installed the new router while I was away, and speeds went up dramatically. Speeds from each devise went up to 15 MBPS so all is well again. Visited Zion NP, Bryce Canyon, Lees Ferry, Antelope Canyon and Grand Canyon. It was a great trip but was surprised at the number or people traveling in late March and early April. First time at Antelop Canyon and it was very beautiful.

[Gjac]

Update, I called Frontier tech support this morning because I could not get on the internet with any devise, all devices read 2 MBPS or less. After an hr of phone time troubleshooting the system, the tech said my modem was failing and they would send me a new one. They can see how many time the modem had to reboot over the last month. Unfortunately, I will be out of town for 2 weeks, so I won't know how good it works. The other thing he told me is that with DSL sometimes changing the channel will increase speed, they have 4 channels which I asked him to do until the new one arrives. Speed went up from 1.93 to 14.5 MBPS on IPhone. Laptop however is still half the speed of Iphone.

[Gdetrailer]

delwhjr wrote:


In my case it doesn't bypass it because I removed it completely from the unit (has a nice little removable cover). The new external one is all the way to WiFi6 compatible.

Well, if you remove the hardware and replace it with new hardware you technically have bypassed the non functioning OEM hardware with aftermarket functioning hardware.

In this case, if the OEM radio card malfunctions you do not have to remove it physically unless you bought one that will use the same physical location.

The old one can stay in place and you can ignore it with no ill effects to your system. Some laptops and devices may have the WiFi radio card fully soldered in place and simply adding an external card is the only fix there is.

If it annoys you, you can of coarse always go to the device manager and select the offending device and tell Windows to disable the device and it will no longer show up as a possible network connection.

[Gdetrailer]

Gjac wrote:
I realize frontier can't change frequency on my lap top I was referring to changing the frequency coming into my router. I assume the laptop, Iphone and Ipad may all use a different frequency?

Frontier should only be able to modify the MODEM properties.

They should not have any access to your router, how your router works, your WiFi access points.

Your router and Wifi access points should be configurable by you and not Frontier.. If that is not true that is a major security hole which would allow ANYONE outside of your home with a master password to gain access to your router and access point. Frontier's control should stop at the specific modem settings for their network.

I had Centurylink/Embarq/Sprint DSL for many yrs, they never had any "control" over any settings of my modem/router/AP ever. When the modem they supplied got hit by lightning they told me if I wanted back up and running faster than waiting for replacement in the mail to go and buy any modem/router/AP I wanted to as long as it was for DSL.. Bought a new one, plugged it in waited a couple of minutes and bam had Internet light.

On the underside of your modem/router/AP there should be a tag which gives the IP address of your router plus the administrator name and the default password (this is the factory password that you should have changed for security purposes since all of that manufacturer brand will often reuse the same password).

To administer the router, you should always use the hardwired ethernet port. Open your browser, type in the IP address into the search bar and hit enter.

Now you should get some sort of welcome screen for the router which should have lines for the administrator name and the password.

Once entered you should now be able to browse through the menus until you find WiFi or Radio settings..

In those settings you should be able to change the WiFi CHANNELS (technically frequency) that the AP will use. Save the setting then exit and retry your Wifi connections..

Note, this may affect your other devices which may require reconnecting them depending on if your AP is dual band or single band.

For less generic instructions, you can post the modem/router/AP make and model number and we may be able to find the manual for your Modem/router/AP. But honestly, rather than guessing at this, take your laptop to your nearest fast food joint which has free WiFi access (you may need to ask for password) and see if your laptop connects at a higher speed or not. For all I know, your modem/router/AP may be only 2.4ghz band and not dual band as often on older DSL systems the default was a single band AP.

If it connects at 7Mbps then the issue is the radio card in your laptop (drivers or physical issue) and nothing to do with your DSL connection, modem, router, AP..

Very quick test.

[Gjac]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Gjac wrote:

Yes I get a full 12-14 MBPS from my ethernet cable. when I check for drivers in network apapter it just tells me I have the best on for my laptop. Besides a WiFi adapter is it possible that the laptop uses a different frequency than the Iphone and Ipad and that Frontier can adjust the frequency to increase speed on the laptop?

Frontier can't change anything on your PC or your phone, they may have the ability to manage your router/access point if it is their equipment.

It is possible that your laptop WiFi may be preferring 2.4ghz but even 2.4ghz Wifi is capable of far greater speeds of 54mbps.

If your other devices are using 5ghz WiFi then it is possible the 2.4ghz radio in the Frontier router/AP is failing.

As far as drivers on your laptop, it is normal for Windows to report you have the newest drivers available, but it doesn't mean the newest drivers are the best.. Win10 is designed to use only the drivers MS supplies, manufacturers submit drivers to MS, MS then includes the drivers into the OS package and driver updates.. This system tends to be problematic.

For instance, I ran into a issue with a new MB that only has USB3.0 hardware ports, No legacy USB2/1 hardware the USB2 and USB1 speeds are simulated from the USB3 ports. MS with Win10 has packaged a broken USB3 driver for Intel boards that does not play well with devices that are USB2/1.. There is a long workaround for this issue which involves a third party that figured out how to install the USB3 driver from Windows 7 which fixes the broken driver issue.

I realize frontier can't change frequency on my lap top I was referring to changing the frequency coming into my router. I assume the laptop, Iphone and Ipad may all use a different frequency?

[delwhjr]

Gdetrailer wrote:

delwhjr wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:

delwhjr wrote:
I had an HP Laptop that used that wireless adapter. It had many issues over its life and one was slow speeds. I replaced it with an external adapter and all was right with the world.

Am using an HP laptop Though it Wi-Fi's at 5 Gig.. The speedometer wrapped the needle round the pin when I plugged in a CAT 5 adapter and hard wired it.

When mine is hard lined it performs great. When it was using the original WiFi adapter there were many issues. Adding an external USB solved these and gave me the 5ghz ability. The original adapter was only 2.4.

By using hardwired Ethernet or a USB external WiFi card you are bypassing the internal Broadcom WiFi adapter which from the complaints I found when looking up the model number the OP gave appears to be either a flakey adapter or possibly flakey drivers.

Has nothing to do with not being able to use 5ghz..

This seems to be a common and mainly a HP laptop issue with their WiFi radio cards.

I didn't find any other laptop manufacturers with this same common complaint (they most likely are using other WiFi radio card manufacturers, Dell is using Qualcomm WiFi cards).

Surprised the OP hasn't had this issue before although it is possible that their Frontier modem/router/AP 2.4ghz WiFi radio is going bad.

Rather than beating ones self to death trying to figure out why the HP WiFi isn't up to par anymore on old PC equipment, bypassing with pretty much any external USB WiFi radio will most likely fix the problem permanently.

On edit,

Since the speed problem is mainly the laptop, the OP could take the laptop to any place like McDs or a coffee shop that offers free WiFi to see if the laptop connects at speeds greater than 7 Mbps.

If they get a connection greater than 7 Mbps then it may be an issue with their ISPs modem/router/AP which may need replaced in this case.

If they continue to get speeds of 7 Mbps at other locations that offer free WiFi. Then the issue must be the internal Broadcom WiFi radio card. The fix would be bypass with an external USB WiFi radio and not bother trying to figure out why the internal one isn't working correctly..

In my case it doesn't bypass it because I removed it completely from the unit (has a nice little removable cover). The new external one is all the way to WiFi6 compatible.

[Gdetrailer]

delwhjr wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:

delwhjr wrote:
I had an HP Laptop that used that wireless adapter. It had many issues over its life and one was slow speeds. I replaced it with an external adapter and all was right with the world.

Am using an HP laptop Though it Wi-Fi's at 5 Gig.. The speedometer wrapped the needle round the pin when I plugged in a CAT 5 adapter and hard wired it.

When mine is hard lined it performs great. When it was using the original WiFi adapter there were many issues. Adding an external USB solved these and gave me the 5ghz ability. The original adapter was only 2.4.

By using hardwired Ethernet or a USB external WiFi card you are bypassing the internal Broadcom WiFi adapter which from the complaints I found when looking up the model number the OP gave appears to be either a flakey adapter or possibly flakey drivers.

Has nothing to do with not being able to use 5ghz..

This seems to be a common and mainly a HP laptop issue with their WiFi radio cards.

I didn't find any other laptop manufacturers with this same common complaint (they most likely are using other WiFi radio card manufacturers, Dell is using Qualcomm WiFi cards).

Surprised the OP hasn't had this issue before although it is possible that their Frontier modem/router/AP 2.4ghz WiFi radio is going bad.

Rather than beating ones self to death trying to figure out why the HP WiFi isn't up to par anymore on old PC equipment, bypassing with pretty much any external USB WiFi radio will most likely fix the problem permanently.

On edit,

Since the speed problem is mainly the laptop, the OP could take the laptop to any place like McDs or a coffee shop that offers free WiFi to see if the laptop connects at speeds greater than 7 Mbps.

If they get a connection greater than 7 Mbps then it may be an issue with their ISPs modem/router/AP which may need replaced in this case.

If they continue to get speeds of 7 Mbps at other locations that offer free WiFi. Then the issue must be the internal Broadcom WiFi radio card. The fix would be bypass with an external USB WiFi radio and not bother trying to figure out why the internal one isn't working correctly..

[delwhjr]

wa8yxm wrote:

delwhjr wrote:
I had an HP Laptop that used that wireless adapter. It had many issues over its life and one was slow speeds. I replaced it with an external adapter and all was right with the world.

Am using an HP laptop Though it Wi-Fi's at 5 Gig.. The speedometer wrapped the needle round the pin when I plugged in a CAT 5 adapter and hard wired it.

When mine is hard lined it performs great. When it was using the original WiFi adapter there were many issues. Adding an external USB solved these and gave me the 5ghz ability. The original adapter was only 2.4.

[Gdetrailer]

Gjac wrote:

Yes I get a full 12-14 MBPS from my ethernet cable. when I check for drivers in network apapter it just tells me I have the best on for my laptop. Besides a WiFi adapter is it possible that the laptop uses a different frequency than the Iphone and Ipad and that Frontier can adjust the frequency to increase speed on the laptop?

Frontier can't change anything on your PC or your phone, they may have the ability to manage your router/access point if it is their equipment.

It is possible that your laptop WiFi may be preferring 2.4ghz but even 2.4ghz Wifi is capable of far greater speeds of 54mbps.

If your other devices are using 5ghz WiFi then it is possible the 2.4ghz radio in the Frontier router/AP is failing.

As far as drivers on your laptop, it is normal for Windows to report you have the newest drivers available, but it doesn't mean the newest drivers are the best.. Win10 is designed to use only the drivers MS supplies, manufacturers submit drivers to MS, MS then includes the drivers into the OS package and driver updates.. This system tends to be problematic.

For instance, I ran into a issue with a new MB that only has USB3.0 hardware ports, No legacy USB2/1 hardware the USB2 and USB1 speeds are simulated from the USB3 ports. MS with Win10 has packaged a broken USB3 driver for Intel boards that does not play well with devices that are USB2/1.. There is a long workaround for this issue which involves a third party that figured out how to install the USB3 driver from Windows 7 which fixes the broken driver issue.