I recently moved from a home where Wi‑Fi speeds were usually over 500 Mbps to an apartment with Verizon Fios 300 Mbps. The connection works normally on my MacBook and iPhone, but my Windows PC only gets around 10–15 Mbps. I tried looking for the 5 GHz network instead of the 2.4 GHz one, but it doesn't appear on the PC. I'm not very familiar with Wi‑Fi settings and would appreciate help troubleshooting this.
2 Answers
Check the Wi‑Fi adapter in Device Manager. Under Network adapters, open its Properties and look through the Advanced settings for a wireless mode option. If available, set it to a modern mode such as 802.11ac or 802.11ax, and make sure the adapter isn’t configured for an older 802.11 mode. Also check the Power Management tab and disable any option that lets Windows turn off the adapter to save power.
Since the 5 GHz network doesn’t show up at all, the PC’s Wi‑Fi adapter may not support 5 GHz, or its driver may be outdated. Install the latest driver from the computer or adapter manufacturer, then check again. If the PC has external Wi‑Fi antennas, make sure both are attached firmly and positioned away from the case; a loose or missing antenna can cause very poor speeds even when the connection still works.
The antennas are attached, so I’ll focus on checking the adapter model and updating its driver.
I’ll check those settings. I couldn’t find anything labeled 802.11 under the network adapters, though, so I may need to identify the exact Wi‑Fi adapter first.