Slow Download Speeds on Wireless Adapter?

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WesOnlyLivesOnce

Honorable
Aug 14, 2013
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I've recently built myself a PC, and with it I bought a wireless adapter because I couldn't route an ethernet cable from my upstairs bedroom to the router downstairs. The wireless adapter I got is a Rosewill RNX-N180UBE USB that advertised 300Mbps download speeds (Not sure on the upload speeds), and came with a little antenna to maximize reception and whatnot. Anyways, I build the PC, run the driver CD (It says to run the CD BEFORE plugging in the adapter), and then plug in my adapter to a USB 3.0 port on the back of my case. After all this, I connect to my WiFi, and it tells me I have an "Excellent" signal strength connection. To test it out, I went onto XFINITY Speed Test and ran a test on the Washington DC server (It's the closest one to me). Now, I have a 20Mbps internet plan, but the Rosewill RNX Hardly even gets 1/20th of those speeds at times. I was even more confused when I saw the upload speeds were the exact same I would get on my laptop (4.5Mbps). To make sure it wasn't just my internet, I ran a speed test on my laptop, and sure enough I was getting my max speeds of 20Mbps. I honestly have no idea what's wrong, because I got the latest drivers from both the CD AND Rosewill's website, have the Ethernet and USB 3.0 drivers for the motherboard, AND I'm getting a perfect signal strength!

NOTE: I tested the Rosewill RNX-N180UBE on my laptop, and sure enough I got the same slow speeds I got from my desktop. I'm beginning to think I got a faulty model or something.
 
Solution
burdenbound
Sounds like the adapter doesn't want to play nicely with your router. This happens sometimes and the only solution is to try a different adapter. I recommend returning it and getting an adapter from another good quality company.

I have an internal adapter made by Rosewill which works perfectly but not all products are created equally. You may want to poke around firewall settings and make sure that is not causing any issues.

I also recommend an internal adapter, I find them to perform better and last longer, the USB adapter kind tend to get really hot and then experience connection issues after some time. The USB adapter is nice to have around in a pinch but internal is a better solution for long term use.
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dextermat

dextermat

Splendid
Sep 21, 2007
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Hi,

When downloading you have to consider many things.

First off if your wireless card isn't wireless n, it will not get to full speed also if their interference or you have a bad card, you might get slower speed.
Also, if you download from a slow server, you won't achieve full speed either.

First thing I would do is connect with a Ethernet cable and do a speed test (speedtest.net) Then you'll see if your getting the 20 mbps you are supposed to get.
 
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burdenbound

burdenbound

Splendid
Aug 9, 2011
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Sounds like the adapter doesn't want to play nicely with your router. This happens sometimes and the only solution is to try a different adapter. I recommend returning it and getting an adapter from another good quality company.

I have an internal adapter made by Rosewill which works perfectly but not all products are created equally. You may want to poke around firewall settings and make sure that is not causing any issues.

I also recommend an internal adapter, I find them to perform better and last longer, the USB adapter kind tend to get really hot and then experience connection issues after some time. The USB adapter is nice to have around in a pinch but internal is a better solution for long term use.
 
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