The first thing we are going to see is why Wi-Fi is faster on mobile phones than on computers, explaining its possible causes. Then we provide a series of possible solutions that will be able to help us solve this problem.
Reasons why Wi-Fi is faster on a mobile
What we have to do to be clear about our expectations about what we can expect regarding the speed of our devices, will be to know their wireless specifications. Here we would have to look at the regulations that it supports and the theoretical maximum speed that it can reach, for example, 802.11ac. Also the bands in which it can operate, the normal thing would be that they could operate in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Then we would have to find out these aspects in the following equipment:
- The router.
- That desktop or laptop computer.
- The smartphone.
A case that explains why Wi-Fi goes faster on a smartphone than on a computer may be due to a simple configuration error. Thus, it may be that we have the computer connected to the 2.4 GHz band, which is slower, instead of the 5 GHz band. Then, we simply connect to it for which we will have to enter the password if we have not done it before. This failure is very typical when we are relatively close to the router.
On the other hand, this failure can occur in reverse if we are very far from the router. In that case, the 2.4 GHz band connections that better support distance in specific situations could exceed 5GHz in speed. Therefore, a very typical error that we usually have is the wrong choice of band. You may be interested in knowing some solutions to solve problems with Internet speed.
The other case would have to do with them having very different wireless capabilities and in which the router was not a limiting factor. This would occur when:
- The smartphone supports the same Wi-Fi standard as the router or higher.
- That computer has an adapter with a lower Wi-Fi standard than the router.
How to make the PC get the same speed as the mobile
The cause of why Wi-Fi is faster on a smartphone than on that computer has a clear culprit. It is clear that it is not equipped with the necessary hardware to be able to connect at that speed. The element that does not allow us to do so is the Wi-Fi network adapter of our desktop or laptop computer. Then, after making its replacement, if we do not obtain the desired results, it may be because the equipment is very old. Therefore, not always putting a late-model Wi-Fi adapter can be the solution. Before buying anything, the ideal would be to do a network cable speed test to see what speed it could reach at most.
In relatively modern notebooks that still perform well, we often find that their Wi-Fi card supports the 802.11n standard. This means that it only supports the 2.4 GHz band and it will not be able to use the 5GHz band that provides a higher speed. We can also have a low Wi-Fi speed related to the sync speed.
In summary, if we want to obtain greater speed in these teams we will buy:
- A mini PCI Express card for the laptop that is compatible with your motherboard.
- The Wi-Fi PCI Express network card for the desktop computer.
- A USB 3.0 Wi-Fi adapter, which we could use in both desktop and laptop computers. At a minimum, its ports should be USB 3.0, otherwise we will not be able to achieve speeds higher than approximately 300Mbps.
As you have seen, the causes of why the Wi-Fi is faster on the mobile than on the computer usually have to do with a configuration error or an outdated Wi-Fi network card in the laptop, we must take into account Note that smartphones change more frequently, every two or three years, however, laptops we usually change every 5 or 7 years approximately.
