Download speeds all over the map

[weamish]

The download speeds change dramatically - can get 90mbps and then literally one minute later it's less than 1mbps and everything has slowed to a crawl. The tech swapped out the router (Gateway Model CGM4140COM) but there's been no change. I've tried the pods, they seem to make no difference (and Comcast apparently provides no tech support for them). Any ideas? Thanks!

[Nerdburg]

Start here: troubleshooting guide. If you still need help, please post your equipment details (make/model of your modem/gateway/router) and a screenshot of your signal levels and your error/event log. Thank you!

[weamish]

Running Win 10 on a Lenovo Yoga2 Pro that's about 5 years old. Seems possible that the wifi adapter is going bad - sometimes will get much higher speeds on other devices at the same location, but that could be because the Yoga's adapter is 2.4G only, not dual speed. I've tried disabling the adapter and using USB ac, with no change in speed. At the moment, I'm getting 70mbps. Earlier today it was less than 0.5mbps, low enough that the speedcheck page took forever to load.

Happy to post the error log, but I'm not sure where to find that.

[Nerdburg]

You want to figure out if you have a wifi issue or if the issue is modem/signal related. So start by directly connecting to the modem/router via ethernet and see if the speed issues persist. Verify that your power levels meet specifications. 

See the troubleshooting guide.

[weamish]

"Start by directly connecting to the modem/router via ethernet and see if the speed issues persist."

Wish I could - as with many laptops these days, this one does not have an ethernet port.

[EG]

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@weamish wrote:

"Start by directly connecting to the modem/router via ethernet and see if the speed issues persist."

Wish I could - as with many laptops these days, this one does not have an ethernet port.

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You could try using one of these;

https://www.amazon.com/Network-CableCreation-Ethernet-Supporting-Required/dp/B013G4C8RE

[RobertWy]

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@EG wrote:

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@weamish wrote:

"Start by directly connecting to the modem/router via ethernet and see if the speed issues persist."

Wish I could - as with many laptops these days, this one does not have an ethernet port.

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You could try using one of these;

https://www.amazon.com/Network-CableCreation-Ethernet-Supporting-Required/dp/B013G4C8RE

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I use them with my laptops; works great.

[weamish]

I've tried disabling the internal wifi adapter and replacing it with a dual band USB, didn't seem to make much difference. But it does seem that disabling the internal wifi adapter and then re-enabling it will boost the speed, at least for a while.

[EG]

Did you try a hardwired USB to ethernet adapter ? We are trying to narrow things down to see if this is a WiFi only problem.

[weamish]

Yep, it appears to be wifi only. If it's a problem with the internal wifi adapter, would that also affect the USB adapter?

[RobertWy]

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@weamish wrote:

Yep, it appears to be wifi only. If it's a problem with the internal wifi adapter, would that also affect the USB adapter?

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The USB adapter plugs into the computer's ethernet port.  If the computer's ethernet NIC can't support the speed you are signed up for, you should downgrade to a speed that your computer can support.