Varying Internet Speed Tests On PC's Connected To Same Network.

[Over-Dose]

I have 3 machines that are running Windows 10 Pro 1803, two of which are Laptops (1 x Acer TMP453-MG & 1 x MSI GE70-2PE). The MSI is for work exclusively and the Acer is primarily for multimedia stuff.

I use the laptops at home and at work. At home I have a Huawei B315 LTE modem (best speeds are 95Mbps Down + 8Mbps Up via Ethernet connection), but I connect the laptops via WiFi to get internet at home. At the office we have a Fibre (100Mbps Up + 100 Mbps Down) connection and the MSI is connected via Ethernet cable for access to server info, and the Acer remains on WiFi, but still has access to the mapped server drives.

Today I fixed another issue related to the Data Usage Meter not working on the MSI laptop, then I ran speed tests at work just to see that all is in order. I discovered that the MSI (Laptop 1) was achieving slower speed test results as compared to the Acer (Laptop 2) laptop.

Here are some of the speed tests I achieved from the work network and the home network.

Work Network:
MSI Laptop:
94.71 Mbps Download & 0.81 Mbps Upload connected via LAN.
26.35 Mbps Download & 29.76 Mbps Upload connected via WiFi.

Acer Laptop:
94.13 Mbps Download & 94.36 Mbps Upload connected via LAN.
72.22 Mbps Download & 44.71 Mbps Upload connected via WiFi.

Home Network:
MSI Laptop:
77.09 Mbps Download & 0.88 Mbps Upload connected via LAN.
45.13 Mbps Download & 3.70 Mbps Upload connected via WiFi.

Acer Laptop:
85.58 Mbps Download & 5.28 Mbps Upload connected via LAN.
63.82 Mbps Download & 7.81 Mbps Upload connected via WiFi.

So from the above speed tests, the Acer machine better reflects the true speeds of whichever network the machines are connected to.

And I obviously made sure that nothing else is using the internet which would distort the speed test results for any of the speed tests I ran.

What could I look for that is happening on the MSI laptop that seems to be working fine on the Acer laptop? I didn't make any extra tweaks to either of the Windows 10 installs on either machines.

 

[Over-Dose]

Here's some additional information for both laptops & the router:

MSI Laptop Network Cards:

Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
2.4GHz, 5GHz card capable of transfer speeds of up to 433 Mbps on a 802.11ac network

Killer E2200 Gigabit Ethernet Controller

Acer Laptop Network Cards:
Qualcomm Atheros AR5BWB222 Wireless Network Adapter
2.4GHz card capable of transfer speeds of up to 300 Mbps on a 802.11 N network

Qualcomm Atheros AR8151 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller

Home WiFi Router:
HUAWEI LTE CPE B315
802.11b/g/n WiFi Protocols

Work WiFi Router:
I'm unsure about this, but I'll check this when in the office again.

I ensured to select the same servers for speed tests both at home and at work, which are servers in my city, so that there isn't a discrepancy with where it tests to.

The previously listed speed tests were run using the same WiFi network, as well as the same LAN cable. It's a CAT5e cable at home and I think the same cable at work.

Distances are not more than 5 metres from the WiFi modem at home and in the office.

Speed tests in the office were run with nobody else around.

Side Note:
I did find a YouTube video that claimed to show a "fix" for slow Ethernet speeds by disabling Large Send Offload (LSO), and I did this and the internet speeds test via Ethernet at work immediately jumped up to 90Mbps Down and 90Mbps Up. But at the moment I have the LSO settings back to the default settings, since the Acer laptop has not needed to have this tweak done.

 

[sajunky]

Network adapter on Asus probably ignores LSO settings.
Killer drivers, yes but I see you fixed it already. Lower upload speed on cellular connetion is normal. If you now get 6-7Mbps upload on the MSI LAN connection home, then everything is fine.

 

[Over-Dose]

Network adapter on Asus probably ignores LSO settings.
Killer drivers, yes but I see you fixed it already. Lower upload speed on cellular connetion is normal. If you now get 6-7Mbps upload on the MSI LAN connection home, then everything is fine.

So I can leave the LSO disabled and it won't affect any other network usage by doing so? As in is there no downside to that?

And if it's fine to leave LSO disabled, is there a similar setting I can do for the WiFi adapter to achieve better internet speeds on the laptop?

 

[Over-Dose]

Just for confirmation:

MSI Laptop Speed Tests With LSO Disabled:
Connected via LAN Cable


Connected via WiFi



Acer Laptop Speed Tests With No Tweaking Done:
Connected via WiFi


So there is still a large discrepancy between the two machines, when speed testing over WiFi, while connected to the same network.

 

[sajunky]

Yes, I think LSO is an unusual settings, most of drivers do these things automatically.

Quick look at the AC 3160 product specification reveal that maximum signalling rate on 2.4Ghz is 150Mbps, while Huawei can achieve 300Mbps (2x MIMO). The other WiFi adapter can utilize the maximum, twice of Intel. In other words it is correct that Acer WiFi is much faster. Intel specs are here: https://ark.intel.com/products/75442/Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-3160

This forum put me on the right track - a different Intel product, but the same limitation: https://superuser.com/questions/1257599/why-do-i-have-such-a-low-wifi-speed

Your solution seem to be pretty obvious: disable WiFi on Huawei and get a dual band ac WiFi access point with a LAN connection to Huawei. I am very sorry, Intel is a crippled product, this is a cause.

 

[Over-Dose]

Yes, I think LSO is an unusual settings, most of drivers do these things automatically.

Quick look at the AC 3160 product specification reveal that maximum signalling rate on 2.4Ghz is 150Mbps, while Huawei can achieve 300Mbps (2x MIMO). The other WiFi adapter can utilize the maximum, twice of Intel. In other words it is correct that Acer WiFi is much faster. Intel specs are here: https://ark.intel.com/products/75442/Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-3160

This forum put me on the right track - a different Intel product, but the same limitation: https://superuser.com/questions/1257599/why-do-i-have-such-a-low-wifi-speed

Your solution seem to be pretty obvious: disable WiFi on Huawei and get a dual band ac WiFi access point with a LAN connection to Huawei. I am very sorry, Intel is a crippled product, this is a cause.

Thanks @sajunky, that does seem to be clearing up what is happening on the MSI machine, on the two networks that I use to connect it to. And the recommendation to get an Dual Band ac WiFI access point for home doesn't seem to be bad one, if I want the MSI's internet speeds to be up to par with the Acer's.

I've also referred the matter to MSI's forums, so that if there is any other alternate solution they can provide, I would look into it.

Thanks for effort, it really helped.