Why is the ethernet speed on my phone faster than my laptop when they are plugged into the same network with the same cable?

[ptd18b]

Hi All,*

A couple of months ago, I was getting around 900 Mbps on my laptop but now it’s slowed down to less than half that. I have Fios 1 Gig. Nothing on the PC has changed. My phone gets 900 plugged into the same network with the same cable. If anyone has any ideas I would greatly appreciat it. TIA

DELL XPS 15 9520

PRO: 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H 2.30 GHz
RAM: 32.0 GB
STO: 500 GB
SYS: 64-bit op sys x64-based proc
OS: Windows 11 Home
VER: 24H2
BLD: 26120.1542
EXP: 1000.26100.18.0

Realtek USB GbE Family Controller 12.1.620.2024

Power management: Unchecked
Adaptive Link Speed: Disabled
ARP Offload: Enabled
Batt Mode Link Speed: Not Speed Down
EEE: Enabled
Flow Control: Rx & Tx Enabled
idle pwr dwn restr: No Restriction
idle pwr Saving: Enabled
IPv4 Checksum Offl: Rx & Tx Enabled
Jumbo Frame: Disabled
Lge Send Offlv2(IPv4): Disabled
Lge Send Offlv2(IPv6): Disabled
Misc Transf Settings: Enabled
Network Address: Not Present
NS Offload: Enabled
Priority & VLAN: Priority & VLAN Enabled
Receive Buffers: 37
Receive URBs: 6
Recv Seg Coal (IPv4): Enabled
Recv Seg Coal (IPv6): Enabled
Speed & Duplex: Auto Negotiation
TCP Cksm Offl(IPv4): Rx & Tx Enabled
TCP Cksm Offl(IPv6): Rx & Tx Enabled
Transmit Buffers: 37
Transmit URBs: 3
UDP Cksm Offl(IPv4): Rx & Tx Enabled
UDP Cksm Offl(IPv6): Rx & Tx Enabled
VLAN ID: Not Present
Wake on link change: Enabled
Wake on Magic Packet: Enabled
Wake on pattern match: Enabled
WOL&Shutdwn Lnk Speed: 10 Mbps First

*Please accept my apologies if this question is posted in the wrong place or generally improper for this forum. I've been lurking for years and respect the members' expertise immensely.

 

[degrub]

model number of phone ?

 

[thiggins]

My phone gets 900 plugged into the same network with the same cable.

How can your phone be cabled?

 

[Crimliar]

How can your phone be cabled?

Maybe referring to the cable entering the home.
The fastest Wi-Fi device on internet speed-tests is still the Poco F3 phone. The laptop with the slowest speed-tests (it's just slower, not slow) is about 10% slower than the others, but I tend to put that down to the ruggedised design probably dropping the signal strength a little. When it comes to cabled connections, the new laptops and the NanoPc-T6 (RK3588 based) all have 2.5Gbps ports and report a touch faster (>2%) than the router itself. So there's some variance, but here at least not enough to lose and sleep.
Add to this that there may sometimes be bottlenecks outside your home network, and occasionally you can find devices connecting on 2.4GHz rather than 5GHz which all makes a difference.

 

[thiggins]

Maybe referring to the cable entering the home.

Thanks, but still want to hear from @ptd18b

 

[XIII]

How can your phone be cabled?

On iPhone like this:

How to Hook Your iPhone Up to Wired Ethernet

Sometimes Wi-Fi isn't the best choice, even for an iPhone.

www.howtogeek.com

However, you won’t achieve the speed the TS mentioned with this solution.

 

[thiggins]

@XIII Again, thanks. But want to hear from OP.

 

[ptd18b]

How can your phone be cabled?

Like this.

 

[ptd18b]

model number of phone ?

Pixel 6 Pro MP1.0
Andriod 14
Build AP2A.240905.003.F1

 

[Tech9]

If anyone has any ideas I would greatly appreciat it

Your USB-to-Ethernet adapter perhaps switched to USB 2.0 move. It happens quite often, they are not very reliable. Unplug it, plug it back in and test again.

 

[ptd18b]

Thank you all for your replies.

Btw, I posted about the phone just to show that the problem is not with the cable, the phone was handy. My other laptop gets 900 with the same cable.

 

[CaptainSTX]

How can your phone be cabled?

You use an USB-Ethernet dongle on your phone.

 

[degrub]

Thank you all for your replies.

Btw, I posted about the phone just to show that the problem is not with the cable, the phone was handy. My other laptop gets 900 with the same cable.

How is the lan cable connected to the two laptops - direct or through USB dongle ?
Is wireless data / wifi data turned off on the phone when you tested with the dongle ?

 

[ptd18b]

How is the lan cable connected to the two laptops - direct or through USB dongle ?
Is wireless data / wifi data turned off on the phone when you tested with the dongle ?

Laptops have only USB-C ports, so through the dongle.

Wifi and 5g both off on the phone (and wifi off on the laptops)

Thanks

 

[degrub]

Thank you all for your replies.

Btw, I posted about the phone just to show that the problem is not with the cable, the phone was handy. My other laptop gets 900 with the same cable.

And same USB adapter ?
If each laptop has its own physical USB adapter, try swapping and see if the issue follows the adapter.

What are you using to test for bandwidth ?

 

[ptd18b]

And same USB adapter ?
If each laptop has its own physical USB adapter, try swapping and see if the issue follows the adapter.

What are you using to test for bandwidth ?

Same adapter.

Test with speed test (ookla)

Thanks

 

[sfx2000]

Your USB-to-Ethernet adapter perhaps switched to USB 2.0 move. It happens quite often, they are not very reliable. Unplug it, plug it back in and test again.

Good call

I've seen this directly with USB ethernet dongles and ports...

I've got an older Dell XPS-13 (intel core-i5 7th gen), and it's fairly picky, even down to which side of the laptop I'm plugging into - the left side is thunderbolt 3/usb3, the right side is usb3 only, so you have to assume there are two different controllers in play...

That said, I would suspect the dongle itself - Realtek USB 1-gig chips are a bit interesting - the Asix USB chips tend to be more reliable...

 

[tgl]

I've yet to see a USB-to-ethernet gizmo that didn't have random performance issues.

It's possible that your problem traces to one of the configurable settings --- I'm eyeing "EEE: Enabled" in particular --- but I don't have useful advice beyond frobbing them to see what happens.