Forum Discussion

pianotuna's avatar
pianotuna
Nomad III
Nov 24, 2018

usb vs hotspot

Hi all,

Just a note to say I'm getting 50 megs down on a USB cable to the phone, vs 40 megs down on the hotspot on my phone. Ping times are also lower.

The computer is new (ten days) and so has fast usb ports. Win 10

The phone is a Samsung A8 with the new non polarized USB cable.
  • hard wired is faster than Wi-Fi

    Direct connection, no extra transmit and receive in the middle of the connection
  • 2oldman,

    Faster isn't necessarily better. I can blow through my data lots faster......

    Thanks for the explanation MrWizard.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    There is Wi-Fi and there is WI-FI.. (2.5 and 5 Gig) I've gotten some very impressive speeds using 5 GIG (Though not when using the phone as a hot spot. in fact I'm not sure I've done that with the phone as a hot spot. Will have to give it a try)

    I normally use the phone on the lower speed because somne of the hardware I have is 2.5 only and the phone gives me a choic of low or high. not both.
  • Never tried USB on my latest phone.

    Was getting 95mb down and 25mb up through AT&T 4g earlier this week.
  • wa8yxm

    I thought that was the frequency 2.4 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz.
  • pianotuna wrote:
    wa8yxm

    I thought that was the frequency 2.4 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz.
    It is. 5 gig works well for newer equipment but has a shorter range.

    Dave
  • pianotuna wrote:
    wa8yxm

    I thought that was the frequency 2.4 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz.


    It is. It's not a speed setting. However, you can sometimes get better speeds on 5Gzh but much less range.
  • Bill.Satellite wrote:
    pianotuna wrote:
    wa8yxm

    I thought that was the frequency 2.4 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz.


    It is. It's not a speed setting. However, you can sometimes get better speeds on 5Gzh but much less range.

    My experience is there is a speed difference and an environmental difference between 2.4G and 5G wifi networks.

    Below are graphics to show my configuration and results (Burke is my SSID). I ran an Internet speed test with my router configured as shown and alternating with my laptop connected to use the 2.4 Gig and 5 Gig wifi network. According to my router, 2.4G wifi gets up to 600 Mbps speed and 5G wifi gets up to 1.3Gbps speed.

    Range is not an issue (my router is in the next room) but congestion in our condo with wi-fi networks is an issue. One's environment can be a major factor as can be seen in the graphic below of my condo wi-fi environment as represented by Metageek's inSSIDer. I have selected wi-fi channels that avoid as much conflicting traffic as possible.

    As can be seen, in this environment 5G wins handily on downloads. That can't be explained by the router's indication of a 2:1 speed difference for 5G vs 2.4G so congestion on the 2.4G network has to be a major factor. Either users don't have the 5G option on their routers, they don't connect to it if they have it or they don't know the difference. Upload speeds apparently are limited by the Spectrum broadband service I have because there is little variation there.

    Speed Test Results:



    Router Configuration:



    Condo WiFi networks

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