fluctuating wifi speeds

[athlonoc]

recently noticed my 500mb ultrafast fibre wifi speeds are fluctuating every day.
Hard wire from my Sky Router SR203 speed is constant around 490mb
When using wifi it varies between 150mb and 490mb

Apart from the obvious of the router being faulty, I guess this is likely to be interference from something in the house.

What is the best tool to find out the culprit?
Is there a good piece of hardware kit that will get to the bottom of this and what might that be.
I've looked at software options but not sure it will deal with giving me a clear obvious answer as to what is causing the problem.
Is it going to be a case of switching off all wifi based devices and checking ( which will take time as it's ad-hoc with thee intermittent speeds )

Second to this, if I were to choose a good solid reliable DSL router, any suggestions on a good replacement for the sky router. I've read somewhere the Asus DSL routers are an ok replacement.

 

[alex24]

What band and channel are you using? Maybe try changing it. You can get apps to scan for WiFi networks (WiFi analyzer in your App Store of choice) and see what channels they are all using just on your phone or laptop. 2.4GHz channels tend to be crowded (especially in flats etc) and also subject to various sources of interference.

Try to go onto 5GHz or higher bands if you have it available.

Otherwise, if I’m being honest those numbers seem fairly normal for a bog standard router as WiFi signal does vary.

ISP routers aren’t usually that good anyway. If you can put it into a modem or bridge mode, you can use your own router with it assuming it’s also the modem/ONT or just plug your own router into the separate modem/ONT. You can also add a WiFi access point (AP) or several to help with coverage.

I wouldn’t recommend ASUS from personal and others experience. What would be your budget if you wanted to upgrade and what kind of devices do you use on WiFi? Are you tech savvy or would need something simple to setup?

 

[athlonoc]

I have a mixture of devices that are on 2.4 and 5
Most are on 2.4 but the two smart phones and laptops are on 5. Not sure how I can tell which are definitely on 2.4 or 5. Is there an app that will list the IP addresses and their corresponding channels and bands?
I have 24 devices in all
I live in a rural area with no industry or commercial building just a small estate with 9 detached homes.
Devices currently used include, Sky Q box with 3 mini's - 2 laptops, 2 smart phones, Central heating hub, Energy usage device, soundbar, 4 smart tv's, fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, doorbell chime, solar inverter, doorbell camera, 2 security cameras and a printer

Closest device to sky router is the energy monitor about 5 feet away and the central heating hub and 4 feet away. Next closest is the doorbell chime about 12 feet away.

As for budget I would be happy to go up to around the £150 mark
Not sure I would say I'm as tech savvy as I use to be but I'm confident I could set up most routers.

 

[Orcvader]

If you log into the Sky Q box, it should have a list of connected devices somewhere and will also tell you how it's connected. Some routers will tell you if it's 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz, not sure if the Sky one will.

First thing I would try first before buying a new router is changing the WiFi settings. Instead of having the channels on auto, fix them to certain channels (2.4GHz best to use channels 1, 6 or 11, 5GHz 36 to 48), and also change channel width (2.4GHz to 20MHz, 5GHz to 80MHz). As recommended previously use a WiFi analyser app on your phone to see which of these channels have the least interference. If you want to make sure your devices stay on 5Ghz, give the 5GHz band a different WiFi name.

 

[athlonoc]

Thank you for this and I will look at changing the auto function. I already differentiate in name between between 2.4 and 5 band. I've simply just added 5 to show the 5gHz band. The same for the Access point just has EXT at the end for both.
Sky hub/router unfortunately doesn't show which devices are 2.4 or 5. It just list the lot with their MAC addresses. My 2.4 is on ch.1 and 5 is on 36
Is it possible to share screenshots on this forum?

 

[Disco_P]

Thank you for this and I will look at changing the auto function. I already differentiate in name between between 2.4 and 5 band. I've simply just added 5 to show the 5gHz band. The same for the Access point just has EXT at the end for both.
Sky hub/router unfortunately doesn't show which devices are 2.4 or 5. It just list the lot with their MAC addresses. My 2.4 is on ch.1 and 5 is on 36
Is it possible to share screenshots on this forum?

Use imgur or img.vdoerig.com to upload your pictures and copy the image url then put it in img tags.

How are you testing speed? Is it always the same device, on 5Ghz in the same place? Are you sure that you're always connected to the main box and not one of the minis?

 

[athlonoc]

I use either my Asus laptop or Galaxy S23 phone and either connect to the main router ( Sky SR203 ) or the TP link Access Point RE700. Main router ( sky SR203 ) is connected straight from the ONT and the access point is connected via Wired ethernet. Both wired ends connect well at top speed, so I know the issue is with Wifi. Either interference from another device or routers wifi now has problems. I believe it has to be one or the other.
I only ever connect the laptop or phone on which I do speed checks to the 5gHz connection. I haven't got either of them able to connect to the 2.4gHz, so I know its not dropping onto that because the signal is poor.
In a previous life I had an Asus router and can remember with that router I was able to see just the devices that were connected to the 5gHz band. This Sky router doesn't show that.
If only I could see what devices are connected to the 5gHz band as I assume it would only be those devices that could be interfering with the speed when testing the speed on the phone and laptop connected to 5gHz.

Thanks for the info on image uploading.