Virgin Speeds - Actually slow, or am I expecting too much?

Hi folks,

Apologies for the lengthy post. The short version is, if two devices share an internet connection, should one's speeds suffer at the hands of the other?

The very long version is:

I have Virgin Media (I believe I have a 'fibre to the home' setup - KN Networks dug up all the streets, Virgin installed cabinets, and my router is hardwired by a cable running via the front garden, into a footpath and the Virgin media cabinet is about 5 meters from my front door.. whether that's the cabinet I'm actually connected to or not, I'm not sure, but I presume so).

My broadband package is "Limitless 240mb".

Now, for clarity, there are two of us in the house, and one of us wakes up at about 7am and goes to bed about 8pm (retired pensioner). Practically all day, non-stop, the smart TV (connected wirelessly) will have NetFlix or Youtube on it.

I, on the other hand, would use a Desktop Computer and most of my internet is boards, reddit, reading etc. however, I find that, although the Smart TV is firing away on all cylinders without a care in the world, for me at the computer, videos take an age to load.

I'm forever looking at 240p as standard, as it struggles to get up to 480p, and if i set the default to 720 or such, I'm waiting ages for videos to load. Basic gifs make me lose the will to live at times. Desktop is connected via a USB adapter.


I did a speed test a few times, this seems to be the norm:




Which is obviously stupidly low for download speeds.

So I'm wondering if anyone can advise me here, on whether or not I'm missing something obvious, or if this is to be expected? It seems odd to me that the TV will run no bother, around the clock with HD content, but the desktop (which is a decent spec) struggles to get a youtube video without me wanting to commit mass murder out of frustration.

Is it just a case of the TP link adapter perhaps being a bit dated (i've had it about 2 years I'd say).


Cheers for any help here.

RoadRunner

Try wire the router directly into the pc and see what the difference is.

Radio signals and other devices interfere with the router. You can switch router off and back on again to reset - it tries to find best channel to use when you do this.

Slippin Jimmy

While you will get good speeds over TP links, you will also loose a slight bit of speed. As the above poster said, plug directly into the router and run the speedtest again. If it is still very low you will have to get someone from VM to look at it.

It's not really plausible to wire the router to the desktop, as they're on different sides of the house. i'd make a mess dragging wires around the place.

(edit: the router is installed in the sitting room at the front of the house, and the computer is in a back bedroom, upstairs).

I have one of these in the kitchen, near the tv: TP Link Extender should I look at getting another one for the same room as the desktop? (the extender is on the ground floor, and computer is upstairs, but they are practically on top of each other, so only about 12ft away from each other).

ongarite

If you can't or won't bring the PC closer to the router, then do the same speedtest on a smartphone/tablet at PC and see if results are similar.

ongarite

ongarite wrote: »

If you can't or won't bring the PC closer to the router, then do the same speedtest on a smartphone/tablet at PC and see if results are similar.

Quite clever!


I hit near 70mb on the phone. So I suppose the question is what can I do to get the PC to that level? Should I run out and get a new TP Link USB adapter incase the one i have is after living it's life out, or is there a better product/idea to sort this out for myself?




(I don't think it's the same thing, but the extender i use has an ethernet port on it, so i can hardwire to that.. not sure if that would actually be of benefit though, seen as that's still wirelessly connected to the router anyway?

Yakuza

TP Extenders can be affected by other devices in the circuits between the two ends of the connection (think of everything you have plugged in between the router in the front and your PC at the back of the house). Presumably they are on different wiring rings so that will affect performance too. You could get an electrician to run a cable from your router to your bedroom for not much €€ (might be easier to run it outside the house?) as that is the best way to get a signal. Is your PC's network card a 1 Gigabit or 100 Megabit?

Well that was well worth spending an hour fiddling about with!

Yakuza

Yakuza wrote: »

TP Extenders can be affected by other devices in the circuits between the two ends of the connection (think of everything you have plugged in between the router in the front and your PC at the back of the house). Presumably they are on different wiring rings so that will affect performance too. You could get an electrician to run a cable from your router to your bedroom for not much €€ (might be easier to run it outside the house?) as that is the best way to get a signal. Is your PC's network card a 1 Gigabit or 100 Megabit?

It is 100mb. Would that severely hamper me? or am I okay, seen as Im not actually even hitting that speed?

muckwarrior

Sounds like wifi signal issues.

I used to get pretty poor download speeds in certain rooms. Since getting a wifi mesh system I now get full speed everywhere https://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/4339186/Trail/searchtext%3ENEST.htm

Slippin Jimmy

That is a nice price to pay

Yakuza

muckwarrior wrote: »

Sounds like wifi signal issues.

I used to get pretty poor download speeds in certain rooms. Since getting a wifi mesh system I now get full speed everywhere https://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/4339186/Trail/searchtext%3ENEST.htm

Unless I'm misreading things, it's not a Wifi issue. The TV downstairs works fine but the PC upstairs (using a TP link) is getting poor reception, and a phone on Wifi near the PC works fine too.

@KKV if you're getting 240Mb to your house, but your PC's NIC is only 100Mb you'll never get the full benefit of what you're paying for (even if you were to run a Cat 5e cable to the PC). You could get a USB Wifi dongle for your PC and use that, that would beat what you're getting now with the TP link.

smuggler.ie

Yakuza wrote: »

Unless I'm misreading things, it's not a Wifi issue. The TV downstairs works fine but the PC upstairs (using a TP link) is getting poor reception, and a phone on Wifi near the PC works fine too.

@KKV if you're getting 240Mb to your house, but your PC's NIC is only 100Mb you'll never get the full benefit of what you're paying for (even if you were to run a Cat 5e cable to the PC). You could get a USB Wifi dongle for your PC and use that, that would beat what you're getting now with the TP link.

Did you read OP?

dam099

Yakuza wrote: »

Unless I'm misreading things, it's not a Wifi issue. The TV downstairs works fine but the PC upstairs (using a TP link) is getting poor reception, and a phone on Wifi near the PC works fine too.

@KKV if you're getting 240Mb to your house, but your PC's NIC is only 100Mb you'll never get the full benefit of what you're paying for (even if you were to run a Cat 5e cable to the PC). You could get a USB Wifi dongle for your PC and use that, that would beat what you're getting now with the TP link.

OP was originally using a USB WiFi dongle, possibly the placement in behind the PC is not optimal or its too old. A newer dual band USB dongle with 801.11AC and an external antenna might help.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Archer-T2U-Plus-Windows10-10-9-10-14/dp/B07PJV66CN/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=usb%2Bwifi&qid=1578422758&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&sr=8-3&th=1

dam099

Deleted User wrote: »

Hi folks,


I have Virgin Media (I believe I have a 'fibre to the home' setup - KN Networks dug up all the streets, Virgin installed cabinets, and my router is hardwired by a cable running via the front garden, into a footpath and the Virgin media cabinet is about 5 meters from my front door.. whether that's the cabinet I'm actually connected to or not, I'm not sure, but I presume so).

Sounds like you dont have FTTH if its coming from a cabinet, but you have the next best thing. Virgin is mostly Fibre to the Cabinet and then copper to your house, however its shielded Coax not lighter telephone wire so can reliably support higher speeds than VDSL.

Yakuza

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Did you read OP?

dam099 wrote: »

OP was originally using a USB WiFi dongle, possibly the placement in behind the PC is not optimal or its too old. A newer dual band USB dongle with 801.11AC and an external antenna might help.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Archer-T2U-Plus-Windows10-10-9-10-14/dp/B07PJV66CN/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=usb%2Bwifi&qid=1578422758&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&sr=8-3&th=1

My bad, I thought the "TP Link" in the OP was one of these - to be fair to me it literally has the same name has the Wifi dongle posted. I didn't click on the OP link to see what product it was actually referring to as I'd assumed it was what I linked.
So, I did misread it somewhat, sorry for any confusion OP.

Also - you could try something like what I've linked, might help. It uses your house's electrical cabling to conduct the signal (but is hampered by other items plugged in). I use one myself that helps extend wifi to a room that's blocked with two concrete walls from where the Wifi signal originates. Works like a charm.

To be honest, now that I have speeds of in and around 60-70mb on the PC, i am happy enough. TV downstairs is still streaming all day without any interference, and internet at the PC is now a much more pleasant experience with the added speeds i got simply by using a cat6 ethernet cable to a TP link plug (not sure why it made such a difference, considering i'm still wirelessly connected to the router, but how and ever)

nailer54321

How old is your computer? What speeds should it be capable of getting, I was getting low speeds before eventhough my computer was capable of receiving there highest speed, Technician called and done all the test and could not fibd anything wrong, I asked him to try change out routher to see if it was that, when he changed it oyt the speeds just straight up to what tgey should have been, if your computer is caoable of receiving the high speeds then call virgin to investigate this, when a technician calls get him to change the routher and see what happens.