TM Forums
Back to search

What speed is my Wifi (modem to device)?

#Post
1

First of all, I am not that technical!
I can measure the speed of my broadband. (15mbps using fast.com). The modem to my PC is connected by cable.
But how do I measure the wireless speed from the modem to my tablet or phone?
Going to fibre in Feb 2022, will there be a difference between cable connection and wireless connection?

kaconda - 2021-11-10 14:25:00
2

Post your modems manufacturer and model number along with that of the tablet. Otherwise, it's just a guessing game.

ronaldo8 - 2021-11-10 14:39:00
3

Different phones or tablets etc will have different connection capabilities.
Assuming you're using Android phone/tablet goto settings/wifi then tap the listing you are connected to........*your wifi ssid* ........then you should see further info including the 'link speed' .....that's the speed you're connected to the modem/router.

nice_lady - 2021-11-10 15:07:00
4

Going to Fibre in itself won't necessarily make any difference in connection speed between the device and the modem/router, that'll depend on the routers capabilities. However, yes cable connection will almost always be faster than a wifi connection.

Edited by nice_lady at 3:09 pm, Wed 10 Nov

nice_lady - 2021-11-10 15:09:00
5

In some rare/unusual circumstances cable might be slower than wifi.
For example if you only had a 100Mb/s capable network card in your laptop/computer which is cable connected, (that would be a pretty old computer !). My phone for example is currently connected to the 5Ghz wifi of my router at 300Mb/s. My laptop only does 150Mb/s. Different network hardware. However if i connected the laptop to the router by cable it'd be 1000Mb/s, (another more common name for which is 1Gb/s).

Now say for instance you have a very old computer and it's connected to the router by cable. It might be getting 100Mb/s. And you have a relatively new phone/tablet it might be getting the 5Ghz connection at 300M/bs.........But more usually the cable connection will be 1Gb/s and you wont get that on wifi.

Edited by nice_lady at 3:16 pm, Wed 10 Nov

nice_lady - 2021-11-10 15:15:00
6
kaconda wrote:

First of all, I am not that technical!
I can measure the speed of my broadband. (15mbps using fast.com). The modem to my PC is connected by cable.
But how do I measure the wireless speed from the modem to my tablet or phone?
Going to fibre in Feb 2022, will there be a difference between cable connection and wireless connection?

Download the Speedtest app on your mobile or tablet, you can measure the Wifi speeds through that.

If you are getting 15mbps on your cabled device, you can pretty safely say that you will not get faster than that on your Wifi device and you could also safely say that the speeds all round will be faster when you get to fibre, as you should be provided with a new router. As mentioned above though, with every running as it should a cabled connection will perform better than any Wifi connection.

As a rule of thumb in my house with all our devices, if you can cable it in, it is cabled in. The only devices we have connected to the Wifi here our our mobile phone, whereas all other PCs, gaming consoles, TVs etc are cabled.

cube_guy - 2021-11-10 15:40:00
7

I think you miss the point.

spyware - 2021-11-10 20:16:00
8

"If you are getting 15mbps on your cabled device, you can pretty safely say that you will not get faster than that on your Wifi device"

Not correct.

You could 'safely say' that even if your device is connecting to your router much faster the download from the internet speeds will not exceed the link speed of the router. HOWEVER you will be able to use the internal wifi speeds to your advantage if you are moving files or etc.

For example our INTERNET link speed from the Fibre connection to the router is limited to 30Mb/s but as I stated above my phone connects to the router at 300mb/s.

Edited by nice_lady at 9:02 pm, Wed 10 Nov

nice_lady - 2021-11-10 21:01:00
9
nice_lady wrote:

"If you are getting 15mbps on your cabled device, you can pretty safely say that you will not get faster than that on your Wifi device"

Not correct.

You could 'safely say' that even if your device is connecting to your router much faster the download from the internet speeds will not exceed the link speed of the router. HOWEVER you will be able to use the internal wifi speeds to your advantage if you are moving files or etc.

For example our INTERNET link speed from the Fibre connection to the router is limited to 30Mb/s but as I stated above my phone connects to the router at 300mb/s.

Well sure, but as usual you have to correct something trivial just to be totally "right".

In all my years of reading this forum, I have never seen anyone come in and ask about the link speed of the router. This person asked "But how do I measure the wireless speed from the modem to my tablet or phone?". I would bet my house they couldn't care less about what their link speed is and wouldn't care 2 hoots about transferring files to a phone or tablet, and why would they? I like to think I am technical, and couldn't tell you the last time I sent files across my network by Wifi. They want to know what their INTERNET SPEED will look like on fibre and how to measure it just like every other person who has ever come into this forum asking the same sort of thing.

Kudos to you though for being completely technically correct when all I was trying to do was try to keep it simple for someone who said they weren't that technical.

cube_guy - 2021-11-10 22:56:00
10
cube_guy wrote:

Well sure, but as usual you have to correct something trivial just to be totally "right".

In all my years of reading this forum, I have never seen anyone come in and ask about the link speed of the router. This person asked "But how do I measure the wireless speed from the modem to my tablet or phone?"..

And I told them how. I detailed the steps to find the listed speed the phone/tablet will be showing. I also explained to them why that speed would be different to the actual 'link speed' [the 'internet speed'] their router would be getting. And I mentioned as they'd requested that, yes, indeed the cable speed would be different to the wifi speed - and why.

So it wasn't 'trivial' at all I was actually accurately answering their question.

cube_guy wrote:

I would bet my house they couldn't care less about what their link speed is


That would be because they didn't even know a 'link speed' existed and now they know it's their ACTUAL 'internet speed'......

cube_guy wrote:

and wouldn't care 2 hoots about transferring files to a phone or tablet, and why would they? I like to think I am technical, and couldn't tell you the last time I sent files across my network by Wifi. They want to know what their INTERNET SPEED will look like on fibre and how to measure it just like every other person who has ever come into this forum asking the same sort of thing.

Kudos to you though for being completely technically correct when all I was trying to do was try to keep it simple for someone who said they weren't that technical.

I think you need to re-read the Original post as to what they were asking. Including the title.

Edited by nice_lady at 11:09 pm, Wed 10 Nov

nice_lady - 2021-11-10 23:07:00
11

I am man enough to put my hand up when I am wrong. I read all of this yesterday while not being very well, and late last night while being tired as well as not being very well.

I didn't interpret things well at all and can clearly see now after a good sleep what was meant originally. My apologies!

cube_guy - 2021-11-11 06:55:00
12

Cool

nice_lady - 2021-11-11 07:15:00
13
kaconda wrote:


I can measure the speed of my broadband. (15mbps using fast.com). The modem to my PC is connected by cable.
But how do I measure the wireless speed from the modem to my tablet or phone?
[/quote
Measure PC speed with cable. then do it again using wifi. The difference is down to wifi.
If that's what you mean.
You can perform the same test from a phone or tablet. Fibre is GREAT! Wifi, well, depends where in the house you are etc....if you have issues, look at using a mesh setup.

lythande1 - 2021-11-11 08:09:00
Free Web Hosting