My computer is a bit old (5 to 6 years old range). Lenovo laptop. My bad in that I bought one that only has 2.4 ghz wifi. That being said, it was "good enough" until recently. I have top tier spectrum (200 mbps) internet with Orbi. My laptop was doing ok but recently my download speed in the evening is dropping like a rock. I just did a speed check using speedtest.net and it came in at ONE mbps. Yes, ONE. I hopped on my wife's laptop, 206 mbps. My work laptop, 226 mbps. Of course they have 5.0 ghz wifi but still. I usually would get at least 25-30 mbps before. What could possibly be causing such a huge dropoff at night in the 2.4 ghz range? I have to think it isn't the signal coming in to the house given the speed of the other laptops. I am getting ready to just dump this thing and get a new 8.11ax or whatever but still, this just bothers me. What could the issue be that my 25 mpbs signal drops to 1 in the evening?
I think you're headed in the right direction. You should probably try to determine if it's the router's 2.4 band or your laptop.
Are you sure nothing else uses the 2.4? Phones, smart TVs, tablets, etc.? Maybe a Roku or Firestick was still streaming video after you turned off a TV? Maybe your neighbor figured out your 2.4 password and is more active at night? I think most dual-band routers will show you which devices (or at least MAC addresses) are connected on each band. If there are multiple devices using its 2.4 band, your router may have settings for prioritization that makes your laptop's traffic a lower priority.
If you're sure your laptop is the only thing using the 2.4, then next time this happens you should switch one of the other laptops from 5.0 to 2.4 and see if the problem affects everything on 2.4 or just the one laptop.
- If it's just your laptop, getting a new 8.11ax router won't help. But if you have a spare USB port on the laptop, USB 5 ghz wifi adapters are about 15 bucks.
- If it's the router, restarting the router may resolve the problem.
My router's 2.4 ghz radio gets slow sometimes while it's 5 ghz is still fine. I've been too lazy to fix or replace it, since the problem is infrequent (every 4-6 weeks) and nothing important is using the 2.4. I just restart it when that happens and it's good until next time.
Not sure if Spectrum does this, but Comcast increases my internet speed about every 3-6 months. Connections get nutty when that happens. Restarting the router doesn't help. Restarting the cable modem resolves it.