inconsistent WiFi performance. Is my router to blame?

[Robert clark]

Morning all

I’m not UK based (live in Denmark) but looking for some advice. I pay for 300mbps broadband and currently use just the technicolor cga4233 router my isp sent me.

My speed performance though is so so inconsistent. One speed test gives me 250-300mbps download and another test done 2 minutes later is 40mbps and so on.

question is whether my router is to blame for this lack of stability or is it something I can work on with settings (channels etc)? I’m tempted to shell out on a top of the range router or mesh system to try and get stable performance but I’m nervous about spending lots of £ without knowing that’s the actual reason.

Any advice out there from folks who know about this kind of stuff?

thanks!

 

[Zefan]

There are a lot of variables in this equation, so you need to start isolating each one to rule them out, which should eventually bring you to a conclusion.

I assume you've already ruled out the device you're using to perform the tests, by running them on multiple devices via WiFi. Have you tried plugging a device in via a network cable and running the tests on that? If the issue disappears, it's related to WiFi, if it remains it's something else.

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

As daft as this sounds, have you tried an alternative browser?
Seen some give low results only for another test to be ran on another browser and this run fine.

Then as zefan says above, is it device specific? Whats the router seeing?
Ran any wifi analyzer apps? inSSIDer will give you an idea of the population of channels around you.

Once teh tech is taken into consideration you've then got the physical building that could be impeding the signal, altho that would likely be permanent opposed to erratic like you've mentioned.

 

[Avalon]

Firstly benchmark using a wired connection direct to the router, as above using ‘auto’ for the nearest test server is usually OK, but it simply goes off ping, so use a few local servers and feel free to try different browsers as they can make a difference. Once you have established a reasonably consistent set of results doing that and likely established the connection is fine, then it’s either the wifi set-up/router (site survey/common sense here regarding overlapping channels/using the correct band for the situation) or the device itself.