Internet Speed Way Off

I have xfinity. I can test the internet speed on my cellphone and get 43 mbps. I open up my wireless adapter in Control Panel on my laptop and it shows speed of 43 mpbs. I used the xfinity speed test, and also a third party speed test, and both of them show I am getting between 1.5 and 2.0 mbps. It is an older laptop but when the control panel on Windows10 showed under properties for the adapter that it had a speed of 43 mbps, I figured the adaptor was working. Why the drop? The computer is moving so slow, there is no question it is only running at 1.5 to 2.0 mbps. What is crazy is that the upload speed is around 7.0 mbps.

 

It is not quite clear what you did or what speeds you are referring to, but I'll take a guess.

There is a difference between the connection speed you see on your adapter, which is your wireless connection speed. This speed is related to the type of connection and your wireless protocol. At the connection you are receiving, I will assume that you are connected via wireless g, that is IEEE 802.11g, which tops out at 54 Mbit/s. At 43, mbps, I assume at least one of your devices (router or laptop... and I'll bet router) is operating on the G protocol and there is some distance and/walls between you and the router, accounting for the drop to 43.

Your actual download and upload speed is dependent on what you buy from your provider, you will not usually get more (or less) than this amount and you will also be limited by your connection speed. Meaning if you have a 100 MBPS download and your G connection limits you to 43, you will top out at the most limited connection at 43 mbps.

To test your upload and download speed, use a service such as;
https://fast.com/#
https://www.speedtest.net/