Slow internet on laptop

Philip. · August 31, 2019, 12:15:20 PM

I have a Dell Inspiron and recently the internet has really slowed from 76Mbps to 10Mbps. This is on both wifi and wired. Wifes laptop is ok as is my phone, both getting top speed available.

Anyone any ideas, is it the network card, windows 10 or both. The nc drivers are up to date, just wondering what it may be. Thanks

jpendle · August 31, 2019, 03:46:08 PM

Unless its very very old it won't have a network card. Everything is integrated on the motherboard on a laptop.

Maybe a virus, or malware. Make sure your anti virus software is up to date.

John P

ntpntpntp · August 31, 2019, 05:02:07 PM

It might be busy downloading a large Windows 10 update?

Philip. · September 01, 2019, 11:35:50 AM

Quote from: jpendle on August 31, 2019, 03:46:08 PM
Unless its very very old it won't have a network card. Everything is integrated on the motherboard on a laptop.

Maybe a virus, or malware. Make sure your anti virus software is up to date.

John P

Scanned for any nasties, all clear [Avast/Malwarebytes]

Philip. · September 01, 2019, 11:36:36 AM

Quote from: ntpntpntp on August 31, 2019, 05:02:07 PM
It might be busy downloading a large Windows 10 update?

Not that I'm aware of, so dont think it's that

Philip. · September 01, 2019, 12:31:01 PM

Think I may have found the culprit, Dell installs a program called "SmartBytes" which apparently is software that allocates bandwidth for video streaming. The only streaming I do is Prime Video via the Amazon Firestick on the TV. I watch the occasional youtube video on the laptop but everything else is on the TV.

Why SmartByte decided to limit the laptop I have no idea, but its gone now and the laptop is back up to speed. Thanks for all your suggestions.

Newportnobby · September 01, 2019, 03:29:42 PM

Glad you're sorted. As someone once said "To err is human. To really foul things up you need a computer"

jpendle · September 01, 2019, 04:00:05 PM

I had a WiFi router that prioritised streaming over all other traffic, cos the internet is just for video.

I discovered it because I work from home and even with 75MB/s download speeds, it would take hours to download large files (1GB).

I ran speed tests but most of these also use streaming, so hat didn't help. I then ran SpeedOfMe which uses html packets (i.e. not streaming) and found that my WiFi ran in the KB/s region for file downloads. RTFM a few times and found the option to de prioritise streaming and all was well.

Regards,

John P