{"id":441172,"date":"2022-05-03T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/why-is-my-wi-fi-not-as-fast-as-advertised\/"},"modified":"2022-05-03T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T11:00:00","slug":"why-is-my-wi-fi-not-as-fast-as-advertised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-is-my-wi-fi-not-as-fast-as-advertised\/","title":{"rendered":"#Why Is My Wi-Fi Not as Fast as Advertised?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfe41da4a4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfe41da4a4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-is-my-wi-fi-not-as-fast-as-advertised\/#%E2%80%9CWhy_Is_My_Wi-Fi_Not_as_Fast_as_Advertised%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Why Is My Wi-Fi Not as Fast as Advertised?&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-is-my-wi-fi-not-as-fast-as-advertised\/#The_Routers_Advertised_Speed_Is_Theoretical\" >The Router\u2019s Advertised Speed Is Theoretical<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-is-my-wi-fi-not-as-fast-as-advertised\/#Maximum_Device_Speeds_Are_Theoretical_Too\" >Maximum Device Speeds Are Theoretical, Too<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-is-my-wi-fi-not-as-fast-as-advertised\/#Your_Devices_Are_Slower_Than_Your_Router\" >Your Devices Are Slower Than Your Router<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-is-my-wi-fi-not-as-fast-as-advertised\/#So_What_Should_You_Do_About_It\" >So What Should You Do About It?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CWhy_Is_My_Wi-Fi_Not_as_Fast_as_Advertised%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Why Is My Wi-Fi Not as Fast as Advertised?&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage wp-image-799610 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/WiFiAdvertisedSpeed3.jpg?width=398&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 400w, https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/WiFiAdvertisedSpeed3.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, 400w, 1200w\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/WiFiAdvertisedSpeed3.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"A Wi-Fi router sitting on a home office desk next to a computer and notebooks.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" data-credittext=\"TP-Link\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\">TP-Link<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So the marketing for your Wi-Fi router promises a certain speed but your experience with the router doesn\u2019t live up to that speed. What gives? Here\u2019s why you\u2019re not getting the advertised experience.<\/p>\n<p>Before we jump into talking about why your router\u2019s speed is less than what the box advertised, let\u2019s narrow down the scope of this article im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re starting from the position that your internet connection is functioning as expected (speed tests look good, your Wi-Fi signal is strong, and you\u2019ve used these tips to optimize your Wi-Fi) but you\u2019re not getting the speed you expect based on your router\u2019s specs.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Routers_Advertised_Speed_Is_Theoretical\"><\/span>The Router\u2019s Advertised Speed Is Theoretical<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The speeds advertised on the box and in the documentation for a particular router are the theoretical maximum speed the router can sustain under perfect conditions and when paired with an equal or better test device in a lab. We discuss this in detail in our article on how to decode the letters and numbers in Wi-Fi router names, but here\u2019s a quick overview:<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s say you have a router that is labeled as AC1900. That letter and number combination indicates the generation of Wi-Fi (AC is generation 5) and the maximum bandwidth the router can sustain under ideal conditions (in this case, 1900 Mbps across all the router bands\/radios.)wss<\/p>\n<p>When you\u2019re using your iPhone, Xbox One, or whatever device on your Wi-Fi network, you are limited to the connection that device has negotiated with the Wi-Fi router. Unless you h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>en to be using a modern device with an ancient single-band router (in which case you could potentially actually max out the available bandwidth) you\u2019ll never see a single device use all the bandwidth a router has to offer.<\/p>\n<p>On that AC1900 router, for instance, the bandwidth is divided between a single 2.4Ghz band that maxes out at a theoretical 600 Mbps and a 5 GHz band that maxes out at 1300 Mbps. Your device will either be on one band or the other, and can\u2019t take advantage of the full capacity of the router.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Maximum_Device_Speeds_Are_Theoretical_Too\"><\/span>Maximum Device Speeds Are Theoretical, Too<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>While we\u2019re talking about theoretical speeds, it\u2019s also important to note that the maximum speed for a single band is also largely theoretical. A device using Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) on the 5GHz band can theoretically get up to 1300 Mbps but in practice, it will only get a fraction of that.<\/p>\n<p>Because of overhead in the Wi-Fi protocol, you can expect anywhere from 50-80% of the expected \u201cadvertised\u201d speed based on your gear. Newer routers paired with newer devices are more efficient, older devices and older routers, are less so.<\/p>\n<p>If you run a speed test on a gigabit connection and your Wi-Fi device only gets a portion of that speed it\u2019s to be expected. It\u2019s also, by the way, why you shouldn\u2019t use your phone for speed tests.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, there\u2019s no way to use tips, tricks, or hacks to get around this limitation. The difference between the way router and device speeds are advertised and the way they are actually realized during real-world use is always going to be out of alignment.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Your_Devices_Are_Slower_Than_Your_Router\"><\/span>Your Devices Are Slower Than Your Router<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-799614 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/WiFiAdvertisedSpeed4.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Someone using their iPhone and laptop on a Wi-Fi connection.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/business-woman-using-mobile-smart-phone-2107622525\" data-credittext=\"TippaPatt\/Shutterstock.com\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/business-woman-using-mobile-smart-phone-2107622525\">TippaPatt\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Assuming you\u2019re not running into Wi-Fi issues because you have an ancient router, the individual clients are likely the bottleneck. Even under ideal conditions, there\u2019s a good chance that your router can run circles around your devices in terms of transmission power and bandwidth capacity.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a router with a 4\u00d74 MIMO capability, for instance, but the devices you\u2019re connecting to the router only support 2\u00d72 MIMO, then it\u2019s impossible for that device to even begin to approach the maximum speed the router can handle.<\/p>\n<p>As of the time of this article, April 2022, configurations greater than 2\u00d72 MIMO are rarely found outside of routers or Wi-Fi access points. Some Apple laptops have 3\u00d73 setup, and a few high-end Dell laptops have a 4\u00d74 setup, but nearly everything else only has 2\u00d72 MIMO. So even if your router is a\u00a0Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)\u00a0router and your devices support Wi-Fi 6, there is still an imbalance of radio arrangement and transmission power between your device and the router.<\/p>\n<p>Until most devices sport the hardware equivalent to the router and have similar transmission power, you\u2019ll always be limited by the device.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"So_What_Should_You_Do_About_It\"><\/span>So What Should You Do About It?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If your concern was simply that the speed you saw in speed tests or when downloading large files didn\u2019t match what you expected, there\u2019s really nothing you should do about it now that you know why it happens.<\/p>\n<p>There aren\u2019t really any day-to-day activities where maxing your Wi-Fi connection to get closer and closer to that theoretical speed matters that much. How much bandwidth you need for various internet activities is surprisingly low. Even an old Wi-Fi 3 (802.11g) router has enough bandwidth capacity to stream HD video to your smart TV or iPhone.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, what matters more than any individual device getting a blazing fast single connection to your router is the ability of your router to support multiple devices with ease. For the vast majority of people, it\u2019s far more useful to have a router that can handle a household full of Wi-Fi devices than to have a router that can deliver their entire broadband bandwidth capacity to one device. Nobody needs a gigabit connection fire-hosed to their iPhone, they need that connection properly allocated across all the smartphones and devices in the house.<\/p>\n<p>If you found yourself reading this article not because some benchmarks had you curious why you weren\u2019t getting the advertised router speed you expected, but because your Wi-Fi devices are struggling and basic home internet activities like streaming video and gaming are a laggy mess, a router upgrade is probably in order. Assuming you have an adequate broadband connection, the culprit is almost always that your router can\u2019t keep up with the demands your household imposes.<\/p>\n<p>For the vast majority of people, they don\u2019t need more bandwidth, they need better device management and bandwidth allocation\u2014and a shiny new current generation router has the hardware to make that happen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/798624\/why-is-my-wi-fi-not-as-fast-as-advertised\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Why Is My Wi-Fi Not as Fast as Advertised?&#8221; TP-Link So the marketing for your Wi-Fi router promises a certain speed but your experience with the router doesn\u2019t live up to that speed. What gives? Here\u2019s why you\u2019re not getting the advertised experience. Before we jump into talking about why your router\u2019s speed is less&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":441173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/WiFiAdvertisedSpeed3.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-441172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}