I've been experiencing a strange issue with my PC's download speeds lately. Normally, I would get around 30 MB/s when downloading games on Steam over WiFi, but now it's only averaging about 5 MB/s. Occasionally, for short bursts, it jumps back up to 30 MB/s, but that's rare. I want to know what steps I can take to fix this problem. Also, I've checked Task Manager and Steam is the only program using the network, showing around 46 Mbps, which aligns with the 5 MB/s I'm seeing. I even tried downloading a game through GOG, and the speed fluctuates even more—from 1 MB/s to 8 MB/s.
3 Answers
Honestly, if your router is close enough to your PC, you'd be better off using an Ethernet cable instead of relying on WiFi. A good Cat7 Ethernet cable is pretty cheap, and it can significantly improve your download speeds and stability.
Have you checked your ISP speed plan? Getting 5 MB/s isn't terrible, but it sounds like you should be getting more if your plan promises 30 MB/s. You can run a speed test to see what you’re really getting.
I did a speed test and it showed I was getting around 246 Mbps, which seems fine and should give me around 30 MB/s! I’m puzzled why I’m only seeing low speeds on Steam.
Since you're using WiFi, interference could be an issue. Try changing the channel on your router or moving it to a more central location to see if that helps increase your speeds.
I’ll give that a shot. I haven’t looked into interference before, but it makes sense now that I'm dealing with slower speeds.
That’s a valid point. I might consider switching, especially since my speeds have dropped recently. But I’ve always used WiFi and it worked well before. Just wondering why that changed.