Find out how much speed your Wi-Fi is losing
A single test tells you your speed in one spot. Three tests tell you where the problem is:
- Next to the router on Wi-Fi. This is the best your Wi-Fi can do.
- In the room you use most — the bedroom, the office, the far end of the house.
- With a cable plugged into the router, if you can. This is your true internet speed.
If test 3 is fast but test 1 is slow, your router or device is the bottleneck. If test 1 is fast but test 2 is slow, the signal isn’t reaching that room — move the router or add a mesh point. If all three are slow, contact your internet provider.
Typical Wi-Fi speeds by standard
| Wi-Fi standard | Also called | Realistic speed in the same room |
|---|---|---|
| 802.11n | Wi-Fi 4 | 50–150 Mbps |
| 802.11ac | Wi-Fi 5 | 200–600 Mbps |
| 802.11ax | Wi-Fi 6 / 6E | 400–1,000+ Mbps |
| 802.11be | Wi-Fi 7 | 1,000+ Mbps |
Your phone or laptop must support the same standard as your router to reach these speeds. Each wall can reduce speed by 20–50%.
Quick fixes for slow Wi-Fi
- Restart your router and modem — unplug for 30 seconds.
- Put the router in a central, high, open spot, not inside a cabinet or on the floor.
- Connect to the 5 GHz network when you are near the router.
- Keep the router away from microwaves, cordless phones, fish tanks and thick concrete walls.
- Disconnect devices you are not using and pause large downloads.
- For large homes, use a mesh Wi-Fi system rather than a single router.
There are more detailed fixes in How to speed up your Wi-Fi.
Frequently asked questions
How do I test my Wi-Fi speed?
Connect your phone or laptop to your Wi-Fi network, open this page and press Start test. To find out how much speed your Wi-Fi is losing, run the test once next to the router and once where you usually use the internet.
Why is my Wi-Fi slower than my internet plan?
Wi-Fi signals weaken with distance and walls, compete with neighbouring networks, and are shared by every device in your home. A device connected by cable usually gets close to the full plan speed; Wi-Fi often gets 30–70% of it.
Should I use 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz Wi-Fi?
Use 5 GHz (or 6 GHz on Wi-Fi 6E/7 routers) when you are in the same room or one room away: it is much faster. 2.4 GHz reaches further through walls but is slower and more crowded.
Is a Wi-Fi speed test different from an internet speed test?
It is the same measurement. When you test over Wi-Fi, the result includes both your Wi-Fi link and your internet connection — whichever is slower sets the number you see.
What is a good Wi-Fi speed?
If your Wi-Fi delivers at least 70–80% of your plan’s speed in the rooms you use most, it is doing well. Results below half of your plan point to a Wi-Fi problem rather than a provider problem.