I have a nine-year-old Lenovo laptop and an Xfinity modem/router. My plan is advertised as 1 Gbps, and Xfinity says the full gigabit speed is reaching the router. However, speed tests on my laptop consistently show about 200 Mbps, even though the laptop is close to the router. Would connecting the laptop directly to the router with an Ethernet cable let me get closer to the advertised speed?
3 Answers
The laptop’s wireless adapter may simply be the bottleneck. Older laptops often support only older Wi-Fi standards or the slower 2.4 GHz band, where real-world speeds around 200–300 Mbps can be completely normal. Testing the connection with a newer phone or laptop can help show whether the router is actually providing faster Wi-Fi.
A wired Ethernet connection is the best first test. It avoids wireless interference and limitations from the laptop’s Wi-Fi hardware, so it should show whether the service itself is delivering the expected speed. If the wired result is still low, then it makes sense to have the provider check the modem, line, or account—just confirm beforehand whether a technician visit could incur a fee.
Check the units in the speed test. Internet providers usually advertise megabits per second, written as Mbps, while file downloads may show megabytes per second, written as MB/s. If your test really says 200 Mbps, try Ethernet and compare. If it says 200 MB/s, that is already roughly 1,600 Mbps and exceeds a 1-gigabit plan.
They offered to send a technician, but they couldn’t guarantee that the visit would be free. I’ll try Ethernet first.