Aspire One 722 WiFi Speed...

bizwiz41

Hi All,

 

My first post!

I have a question/issue I'm hoping to get some insight on. I have an Acer Aspire One 722; like most I use the WiFi connection for internet access. However, I have noticed that my connection speed is about 50% of the other laptops tested in/on my WiFi. And it's sort of bugging me why?

My Acer registers between 38Mbps-45Mbps on www.speedtest.net.  These numbers are with the Qualcomm "n" card in my Acer. I am about 5-6 feet away from router, in direct line. I also have done all the "tricks" to the Acer to improve speed. (DNS flush, optimized device settings, etc.)

The other laptops register around 80Mbps. The "testing conditions are all identical. The ISP is Xfinity, rated speed is 75Mbps, I'm using my own Motorola SB6183 modem, with a Netgear WR3700v3 dual band router. The other laptops are all running 802.11n cards as well.

The only other change was this morning; thinking it was the WiFi card in my Acer, I switched to a Broadcom card I had. I still pulled the same connection speeds (40-45 Mbps). But, now I have Bluetooth capability too! Bonus I guess!

So, has anyone else had this issue? What speeds do you get on the same models? I'm simply beginning to think that this is a "power issue" of netbooks, or a processor issue? I simply don't know, but it is starting to bug me why.

Any insight is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

JackE

What do you get on this one?

https://www.cnet.com/internet-speed-test/

 

What do you get on comcast?

http://speedtest.xfinity.com/

 

What do you get when you ping bing, google & yahoo?

 

According to these, my AO722 is almost but not quite getting the advertised ISP speed I'm paying for. CNET's better. Google 18ms. Bing 20ms. Yahoo 40ms.

 

Jack E/NJ

 

 

 

 

 

bizwiz41

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JackE wrote:

What do you get on this one?

https://www.cnet.com/internet-speed-test/

 

What do you get on comcast?

http://speedtest.xfinity.com/

 

What do you get when you ping bing, google & yahoo?

 

According to these, my AO722 is almost but not quite getting the advertised ISP speed I'm paying for. CNET's better. Google 18ms. Bing 20ms. Yahoo 40ms.

 

Jack E/NJ

 

Hi Jack E/NJ,

Thanks for the quick reply!

To answer your questions:

1) I couldn't get the CNET speed test to run, not sure why...

2) Xfinity test was same results: 44Mbps download, 12Mbps Upload, ping 25ms

3) I only pinged Google, but ping results were similar: 26-27ms were the most frequent readings.

 

So, I'm not sure what the difference is, the only other info I can add is that I remembered that I have two HP Mini netbooks that also get about the same speeds ( 40Mbps +/-). So, is this simply a "netbook thing"?

Since this sort of bugs me, I'm thinking of taking the WiFi card out of a Gateway laptop (one that read about 80 Mbps download) and try to run it in my Acer. Gateway and Acer are nearly identical, so perhaps I can find a driver to run that card in my Acer 722......

Again, this speed is more than adequate, but the difference is simply winding up my curiosity as to wht the difference in connection speeds?

Thanks again.

 

 

 

 

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JackE

>>> So, is this simply a "netbook thing"? Since this sort of bugs me, I'm thinking of taking the WiFi card out of a Gateway laptop (one that read about 80 Mbps download) and try to run it in my Acer.>>>

 

Don't know about the netbook thing. Mine is somewhat faster than my full-size HP though the HP is a year or so older. I think the N-standard was sort of a loose one among card mfrs 7-8 years ago. Things like bus speed etc might also interplay. If you borrow the Gateway card, please let us know the results. Jack E/NJ 

bizwiz41

HUGE Difference in WiFi speed with different card!

 

I finally performed my trial of using another WiFi card. I used an Atheros AR5B125 from a Gateway NE56R series, this is an "N" card, with no Bluetooth. I tried this card as Gateway and Acer are often identical, and felt it may work. I first did find a driver for the Atheros card, downloaded it, then installed it in my Acer AO722.

 

The download speeds were more than doubled! Using my original Qualcomm, and my "new" Broadcom cards I always got speed test results around 40-45 Mbps. Download speeds were always rock solid at 12.0-12.4Mbps. These results were consistent across speedtest.net and xfinity speed test.

With the new Atheros card (AR5B125) I pulled download speeds of 75-80Mbps on speedtest.net, and on xfinity I pulled speeds of 114-115 Mbps! Upload speeds improved a bit to 16.0 Mbps.

So a different WiFi card does make a difference. The key is finding compatable cards and correct driver(s). I was lucky that this card worked, and a driver was easily found. I am now going to search for a card that also provides Bluetooth capability. The Broadcom card I installed from an HP Mini worked, and I now have Bluetooth on my Acer AO722.

Last but not least, the Atheros ARB125 card can be found on EBay for only $4.99. 

 

 

JackE

Great result from a great little machine! How about trying dongle dingies instead of cards? 8^) My little CSR4+ BT works great. I might even try a USB wifi or a wifi/BT combo when the price drops to $2.99 with free shipping.    Jack E/NJ

bizwiz41

Update to my original post:

Pursuing both speed and Bluetooth capability, I tried an Atheros AR5B225 card. The result was that the Acer AO722 did see the Bluetooth radio, but would not recognize the WiFi. I could not find a driver for this card anywhere.

So, I installed the Atheros AR5B125 WiFi card, again which more than doubled my download speeds.

If anyone out there has found a WiFi + BT 4.0 card that works for the 722 series, I'd love to hear about it.