AX200NGW Wifi Extremely slow

[BenS1]

I've got a very strange problem that I've been battling with for a couple of months now.

I have a new Lenovo laptop that using an Intel AX200NGW card for Wifi, and I'm trying to use it with my BT Internet Router (Home Hub 5), however for some reason the Wifi connection is extremely slow.

All my other devices (Including my other different Lenovo laptops) get a download speed of around 36Mb/s and upload speed of around 6Mb/s, and a ping time of 11ms (To the test server), but this particular laptop gets a download speed of around 1Mb/s and up of 0.1Mb/s or less and a ping that often exceeds 1500ms. In fact even pinging the router itself from the laptop can result in pings between 500ms and 3000ms (As opposed to the expected 3ms or so).

I've checked physical positioning by swapping laptop locations and it hasn't made any difference. Note that the laptop is about 1.8m from the router with direct line of sight.

All drivers have been updated to the latest version, so it's not that either.

I'm now on my 3rd new router and that hasn't helped, so it's not a faulty router.

I've checked that the AX200 card is seated correctly and that the Wifi antenna are properly connected, which they appear to be.

One other thing I have noticed is that when I use the new laptop it can sometimes take down my whole wifi (i.e. all devices lose their connection, so I have to reboot the router.). 

My initial thoughts were that the laptop Wifi is just faulty, however I just tried one last experiment which yielded some very interesting results. I enabled Mobile Hotspot on my cell phone (and turned Mobile Data off) and connected the laptop to the phones Wifi, and the phone was then connected to my router. When connected like this I get full Wifi speed on the laptop!

Basically all the data is still going through the router and laptop Wifi card but now with the extra device in the middle the connection is > 30 times faster! 

To me this feels like a chipset compatability issue between the AX200 and the router chipset (Sagemcom apparently), however the router is probably the most popular in the UK so I'd be really surprised if this hadn't been noticed before.

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance
Ben

[AlHill]

Please review this thread:  https://community.intel.com/t5/Wireless/AX200-slow-internet-speed/m-p/1217428#M31281

especially "Considering the revelations regarding Microsoft's responsibility for wireless connectivity issues (see: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10-kb4577063-update-fixes-internet-connectiv...), I would install the latest updates and then test again."

[BenS1]

Thanks for your reply,

I'm not sure that this is the same problem, as reading the details those problems were only introduced in August, whereas I'm still on build 1809, which is older than that (IT Policy controls which version we're on, so lags behind the latest by a couple of releases.).

That said, I have permission to update and apply that KB, so will let you know if it helps.

Thanks again
Ben

[BenS1]

Unfortunately the OS update didn't help at all, however I did discover something very interesting...

If I connect my laptop to my cell phones Mobile Hotspot (Which is then connected to my Wifi router) then I get full speed! Similarly if I connect the laptop to my Range Extender (Which has a different SSID), which again connects to the same router then again I get much higher speeds.

So it seems like the AX200NGW doesn't like talking directly with my BT Home Hub router, but it's quite happy if it talks to it via another device in the middle!

Surely if there is a compatibility issue here then it would be well known already given that the BT Home Hub is probably the most common router in the UK?

I can't think of anything else it could be?

Thanks
Ben

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello BenS1, 

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.   

Based on what you have reported, I would like to recommend the following: 

1. As the Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 works when connected with the hotspot or the extender, it seems to be a communication with the router directly. You may want to check with the router manufacturer for the recommended settings and a possible Firmware update that can fix this problem.    
2. Can you provide the brand and full model number of the router that you are using?  
3. You mentioned that you have other devices working properly, are they also using AX wireless cards? Please explain.  
4. Run the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) and attach the report generated:  

• Open the application, check the "Everything" box, and click on "Scan" to see the system and device information. By default, Intel® SSU will take you to the "Summary View".   
• Click on the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".   
• To save your scan, click on "Next", then "Save".   
• Use the option under the reply window to attach the report to the thread (Drag and drop here or browse files to attach). 

Regards, 

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[BenS1]

Thank you for your reply Sebastian,

Unfortunately today is the day I switch ISP (My old connection has gone down, and I'm currently using Mobile Hotspot on my phone until my new connection is live.) so I'm unable to do these exact tests.

Once my new ISP connection goes live at some point today I'll see if I still have the same problem with the new (Completely different) router.

I'll update you with my results.

Kind Regards
Ben

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello BenS1, 

Thank you for your reply. 

In that case, we will be waiting for your outcome. 

If you are facing the same problem with the new network and router, please include the info requested in the previous post. 

Regards, 

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello BenS1,  

By any chance, do you have an update on this? Please let me know if you need more assistance.   

Regards,  

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[BenS1]

Ok I've now switched to my new ISP (Sky) with their new router (Sky Hub 4.2) and after some initial unrelated problems (A fault at the exchange) I'm up and running and getting full WiFi speed from my laptop.

This seems to confirm that there is a compatibility issue between the AX200NGW and the BT Home Hub/PlusNet Hub One routers (They're both the same router but with different branding). 

I'm surprised that this isn't a well known issue though given that these a probably the most common home routers in the UK. I suspect there are many non-techy people out there getting Wifi speeds of ~1Mb/s and just assuming that's just how it is.

Thanks for all your help,
Kind Regards
Ben

[n_scott_pearson]

You answered yourself Ben. You are in the UK. No testing is done in the UK. Most of it is done in the U.S. or Taiwan with locally-sourced routers.

...S

[BenS1]

"You answered yourself Ben. You are in the UK. No testing is done in the UK. Most of it is done in the U.S. or Taiwan with locally-sourced routers."

Thanks for your reply Scott. Sure I understand what you're saying, however even if their QA didn't test with my specific router I expect there are now many thousands of end users in the UK with both the BT router and the Intel AX200 wifi card, and therefore I would have thought there would be more reports of this specific computability issue.

Thanks
Ben

[n_scott_pearson]

Well, I can't say that I remember any reports mentioning the BT Router before and very few identify where they actually are (though wording sometimes makes it obvious). Still Intel Customer Support should be tracking this stuff and can hopefully tell us if there are any known issues with this combination. I would also think that the AX201 would have the same issues (it's only difference is CNVio2-based offloading of some of the work).

...S

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello BenS1,   

Thank you for your update. 

As per what you report, this does not seem to be a problem with the wireless card nor the settings on the PC, most likely it should be a missing feature or configuration in the routers you had to work with Wi-Fi 6. 

Since your system is getting full speed, we will proceed to close this inquiry. If you have any additional questions, please submit a new thread as this one will no longer be monitored.  

Regards,   

Sebastian M   

Intel Customer Support Technician   

[BenS1]

"As per what you report, this does not seem to be a problem with the wireless card nor the settings on the PC, most likely it should be a missing feature or configuration in the routers you had to work with Wi-Fi 6. "

Thanks for your reply, however I'm not sure I agree with your conclusion. There is clearly a compatibility issue between the card and the router and there is evidence to support a hypothesis that the router was the device at fault, nor that the card was the device at fault... all we know is that at least one of them wasn't behaving correctly.

We know that the card works with other routers correctly, and we know that the old router was working with other wireless devices correctly... it was just the combination of the 2 that didn't work.

Also note that the old router was not WiFi 6.

Thanks for your help
Ben