Internet speed off by 90%!

What device are you using to test with?

Are you wired or wifi?

I suspect your testing wirelessly on the 2.4Ghz network, not the 5Ghz network which supports higher speeds although at a shorter distance.

SOME devices only support, 2.4Ghz ... how many devices have you tried speed test on?

The other question is where are you testing from and to... ideally should be local server less than 100 miles from you. 

I am testing my WiFi on my three year old Dell desktop PC via a wireless router. I'm getting conflicting information as to what band I am using. Via the CMD prompt (using "netsh wlan show drivers"), I am getting 802.11b, 802.11g, and 801.11n. As I understand it, that means my computer is capable of 5G. However, going through the Settings app, it says the network band is 2.4Ghz. So, it seems like the router is using the slower setting. Why? (unless it's a choice you make at setup, and the guy who installed it picked 2.4 so it would broadcast further.) It's a brand new ATT router. So.... is this a setting I can change on either my computer or on the router? And if so, how?

What's the model number of the Dell?  Does it have a Dell wifi card, maybe a DW1707, or an Intel?  That Dell card is 2.4Ghz only whereas the Intel cards are 802.11ac and can handle 5GHz.

So your AT&T gateway has two separate SSIDs, one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz? 

I looked up my computer's specs. It's WIFI card stats say: 802.11bgn + Bluetooth 4.0, 2.4 GHz, 1x1. I thought if it had "bn" in the code, it was 5Ghz capable. Guess not.

Not sure why ATT's speed test said we were at 385.3 mbps and the others said 10% of that - was ATT checking the router and the others checking my PC?

How can we tell if the router is 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz. (The installer said we received the latest A&T had, and said we may have issues with signal reliability with receivers that were in other rooms or too far way - issues 5G is known for in routers.)

Btw, the dual capability I alluded to was because I ran across an article stating some routers are capable of both 2.4 and 5 Ghz. Whether ours is, I do not know.

Really, what this all comes down to is this: We just signed up for DirecTV Stream. When we change channels, once the new channel loads (which is a bit slow) the image goes blurry (standard def quality) for about ten seconds. Then, it clears up. At 300 mpbs, this should not be an issue with the signal - but one suggestion I received was our internet speed was too slow. 300 mbps is far, far above what is required for DTV-Stream, so we checked our internet speed on my PC. When it showed 10% of what we are paying for, I got concerned (even though that is still above what DTV-Stream requires.)

My real issue is to address what's up with DTV-Stream... the slowness to change channels, and the 10 seconds of blurry images once it does. It does this on two TVs…both a room away from the router.

OK, apparently the test I did was for the gateway (router). I just ran a test on the "device" via ATT, and it is in line with the "outside" tests: 35-36. I tested the gateway device, and it comes in at 386.

This still leaves the question about DTV-Stream. One of the TV's is hooked up with an Amazon 5G Firestick. You would think at least with that TV, there would be no slow loading of channels or 10 seconds of blurry image when the channel finally loads.

If you're interested, there are very inexpensive wifi cards for your Dell that will give you the full speed that your fiber brings.  It's super simple to swap cards so if that's something you'd like to do, post the model number of the desktop and I'll point you to the cards and instructions.

Yes, you're spot on about the difference in speedtests. 

You can tell how the AT&T gateway is set up by looking at the available network names (SSID).  If there's just one, which is the default, then you have a combined (called band steering) setup where the wifi device and the gateway negotiate whether the device connects to the 2.4GHz or 5GHz band.  Of course your desktop doesn't have a choice but for devices that also have 5GHz capability, that combined network can cause those devices to sometimes only connect to the 2.4GHz side of things.

That may be what's happening with your Firestick.  Go into the Firestick's Settings menu, then select Network and select your wifi network name.  On the right side check the Signal Strength.  You're looking for Very Good.  Then download the Speed Test WiFi Analyzer - analiti app from the Amazon app store and run the "detailed test" to see what your speeds are.  Report those results back and we'll go from there.

FTR:

• 802.11a only operates at 5 GHz
• 802.11b and 802.11g only operate on 2.4 GHz
• 802.11n can operate on either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz; some devices can only use 2.4 GHz.
• 802.11ac only operates on 5 GHz (but ac devices almost always also capable of n)
• 802.11ax can operate on both 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz simultaneously (or separately)

The computer is a Dell Inspiron 3670.

As for the Firestick, the signal strength is "Fair".

Here are the numbers:

Downloads: 13.94Mbps  Uploads 10.85 Mbps

WIFI Signal Strength:  Mean -76 dbm  Median -76 dbm  95% -75 dbm

Phys Speed (Link Speed):  Mean 53 Mbps  Median 43 Mbps  95% 130 Mbps

Ping RTT (Google):  Success 20%  Min 20ms Median 20ms  95% 26ms  Jitter 13ms

HTTP Connection Setup RTT:

Success 100%  Min 15ms  Median 15ms  95% 18ms Jitter 2MS

It said it was good to go for 1080P, but not for 4KUHD. (I hope this will not be the same story in our living room - that's where our WIFI router is, and we're about to buy a 4K UHD TV for that room... so hopefully the signal strength will be better.)

Speaking of signal strength, I don't know if WIFI boosters would help for the TV that I tested... it's roughly 40 feet away from the router, with 4 walls in between. Or, is this truly an issue with the router (running on 2.4Ghz instead of 5Ghz).

OK follow up.  I used my phone to test thing in my living room. The speeds were only a little better than in my office. But I looked at Analiti and nosed around to see what band the router was using. I looked under channels, clicked 5Ghz, then went back and ran the test again... and got 347 and 119. So I think our router is a dual.

I did the same thing in my office where the TV I've been testing is, and reran the test... I did it twice and got 73 -47 and then got 112-70.

I checked the firestick settings on the TV, and it is picking up the network as 2.4Ghz. 'm trying to get it to see 5G, but so far no luck.