Wireless
Participate in insightful discussions regarding issues related to Intel® Wireless Adapters and technologies
7368 Discussions

Wireless AC 9560 - Slow speed with newer driver. Works fine with older version.

AndBr
Beginner
10,337 Views

I've got a ThinkPad X1 Extreme 1st gen with the Intel Wireless AC 9560 adapter.

 

My ISP provides up to 74Mbps for my contract. I've noticed that the highest speed I can reach with my laptop over WiFi is about 40Mbps. I remember having the laptop working perfectly months ago, so I've started investigating and this is what I've found after trying multiple Intel driver versions for that adapter:

 

  • 21.10.1.2 (published in 2019): perfect speed up to 74Mbps
  • 21.70.0.6 (latest version provided by Lenovo in 2020): slow speed between 30Mbps and 40Mbps
  • 21.90.3.2 (latest version provided on the Intel website): slow speed between 30Mbps and 40Mbps

 

Other devices connected to the same router reach the full speed of 74Mbps (a MacBook and an Android phone for example). Note that the router has just the 5Ghz band enabled (so no risk of randomly using the 2.4GHz) and there's no other router nearby on the same channels. The router is a Billion BiPAC 8900AX-1600-R2 with the latest March 2020 firmware (the issue was happening also with the previous June 2019 firmware, but seems to be related to the Intel drivers anyway).

 

After trying multiple times to switch between driver versions, the results are always the same. The 2019 driver works perfectly while the latest 2020 drivers don't. The OS is Win 10 Pro 1909 (with all the patches available at the end of May 2020 applied).

 

Is anyone aware of the issue with the latest drivers? Has anyone found a solution except for downgrading to older drivers?

0 Kudos
11 Replies
Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
10,253 Views

Hello AndBr,

 

Thank you for posting your question on this Intel® Community.

 

To better assist you, we would like to have more information about this behavior.

 

  • Did the Intel® Wireless adapter come pre-installed in your computer?
  • Are the Wi-Fi AP (i.e. wireless router) and your client (computer) using the same Wi-Fi standard and configuration? e.g. 802.11ac
  • Does the router support 802.11ax standard? Have you tried using other standards such as a,b,g,n for testing purposes?
  • Please generate a system report with the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) and attach the report directly to this thread.

 

  1. Intel® SSU Download link
  2. Open the application and click on "Scan" to see the system and device information. By default, Intel® SSU takes you to the "Summary View".
  3. Click on "Summary" to change to a "Detailed View".
  4. To save your scan, click on "Next", then "Save".

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

0 Kudos
AndBr
Beginner
10,253 Views

Hello Wanner,

 

Here are the answers.

 

  • Did the Intel® Wireless adapter come pre-installed in your computer? Yes.
  • Are the Wi-Fi AP (i.e. wireless router) and your client (computer) using the same Wi-Fi standard and configuration? Yes. Both using 802.11ac.
  • Does the router support 802.11ax standard? Have you tried using other standards such as a,b,g,n for testing purposes? No. The router doesn't support 802.11ax. I've not tried to use a,b,g or n. I've been using the same router for over 3 years and 1.5 years with the current laptop. I've never had any issue up the 21.10.1.2 Intel driver. The issues just started from 21.70.0.6.
  • Please generate a system report with the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) and attach the report directly to this thread. I would be happy to send you the report, but honestly I prefer to avoid attaching it here where everybody can download it, given the information it has (like network name, IP address, etc...). If there's a different way to send you the report, I would be happy to send it.
0 Kudos
Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
10,253 Views

Hello AndBr,

 

Thank you for your response.

 

You can also send me a private message with the report.

 

To send a private message, hover the mouse over a username and click on "Message"

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

0 Kudos
AndBr
Beginner
10,253 Views

I've sent you a message with the report.

 

Thanks for your help.

0 Kudos
Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
10,253 Views

Hello AndBr,

 

We received the report.

 

Please allow us to look into this issue.

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

0 Kudos
Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
10,253 Views

Hello AndBr,

 

We are still looking into this issue.

 

Are you able to connect your computer to another network/router using the latest driver available at https://downloadcenter.intel.com/?

 

Does this issue persist?

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

0 Kudos
AndBr
Beginner
10,253 Views

Hello Wanner,

 

I have additional information for you.

 

I found out a setting that makes a difference. I've installed again the latest driver available on the Intel website as you've suggested (which is still 21.90.3.2). In my router, I can change the Protected Management Frames setting for the WiFi. So here are the tests and the results with that latest Intel driver version:

  • Protected Management Frames set to Disable: perfect speed up to 74Mbps
  • Protected Management Frames set to Capable (this is the original setting before I made changes): slow speed between 30Mbps and 40Mbps
  • Protected Management Frames set to Required: slow speed between 30Mbps and 40Mbps

 

So it looks like that's the option that makes the difference (I've tried other options, but didn't make any difference). It was originally set as Capable and I didn't have any issue with the 21.10.1.2 driver, but with the latest 21.90.3.2 the only way to get full speed is to disable the Protected Management Frames.

 

I've also tried with another router. The only one I have is from my ISP (BT UK) and it doesn't really tell me anything about whether that setting is enabled or not in the router because it has basic settings. Anyway, on 5Ghz and 802.11ac (that's what the router supports) I was having the full 74Mbps speed on the latest 21.90.3.2 driver. But, as I mentioned, I don't know if Protected Management Frames are enabled or not for that router.

 

I hope this gives you some more useful information to identify why the older driver was working at full speed and the new one doesn't unless I disable Protected Management Frames.

0 Kudos
Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
10,253 Views

Hello AndBr,

 

Thank you for the update.

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

0 Kudos
Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
10,253 Views

Hello AndBr,

 

We would like to provide an update.

 

We have not been able to reproduce slow Wi-Fi performance in-house using the latest drivers available at the Download Center.

 

Given the fact that the driver also works in your environment when changing the router, this seems to be an issue related to router/AP optimization.

 

Our recommendation is that you contact your computer vendor or the router vendor to optimize the Wi-Fi AP.

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

0 Kudos
CoreyA1
Beginner
10,064 Views
Hello!

I just solved this issue for myself. I have been struggling with good speed on my ac9560. Here is what I did:

1. Access your router through an internet browser (type your router IP address into your browser. This can be found by googling you router model and how to access it's settings).
2. Find the Security/encryption settings for the connection you are trying to connect with (should say WPA, WPA2 etc.).
3. If it is set to WPA2-PSK (AES), then change it to WPAWPA2-PSK(TKIP/AES).

I am unsure of why this worked, but jumped from 38Mb/s to over 200Mb/s. Apparently wifi encryption can affect wireless speeds. I hope you're no long having this issue, but if you are then I hope this helps you as it has helped me.
0 Kudos
Merrillie
Beginner
6,769 Views

This was my solution

Spent a week troubleshooting this and reading many posts across the Internet with similar issue.
Brand new MSI GF65 laptop was getting half the wifi speed of my older MSI laptop and my phone.
Intel Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz
Full speed when connected by ethernet.
I did all the usual updated drivers etc but the solution for me was actually in the modem/router settings.
What worked for me with this laptop was changing the settings in the NF18MESH modem router :
Authentication to WPA2-PSK and Encryption TKIP/AES
I changed it on both the 5GHz and the 2.4GHz.
 
Full speed ahead wifi speeds are now what they should be.
0 Kudos
Reply