Brand New HP Laptop Wifi Incredibly Slow, other devices fine.

[rjbrown]

Hi, 

Just bought a brand new HP Laptop and the Wifi is very slow. Other devices in the house (Partner's Dell, iPhone, and iPad ) are reporting 40 Mbps while the HP laptop is reporting, at good times, 10 Mbps but mostly <1 Mbps. 

The problem is solved briefly after a restart but soon reverts back to incredibly slow speeds again. Have tried the other suggested fixes such as updating drivers but hasn't worked. It's a Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Adapter. 

Looking for help before I return and get a Dell also.

Cheers,
Robin

[ub6424]

Hello @rjbrown 

Your notebook wifi device ist:

Wireless connectivity

Realtek RTL8821CE-M 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (1x1) Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® 4.2 combo

What wifi router (brand/model) do you use and what wifi settings combination ( a/b/g/n/ac ) is configured ?

[rjbrown]

As above my adapter is Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Adapter, so does that mean I use the ac? I have no idea. 

The brand and model of the Wifi is a BT Smart Hub 2 and again works fione with all my other devices, just not the HP Laptop

[Emsielou]

I have exactly the same problem.  I have noticed it does not like the 5GHz Network Band and certain network channels.

It is currently on 2.4 GHz and a different numbered network channel and is working fine. This is a rarity!!!  I wish it would not flit around.   I don't understand why it has to, my other two laptops do not. I have a Dell and a Samsung and they are both so reliable. 

The HP Notebook issue does not occur however, when it is in the same room as the router, so must be a range issue?  I have spoken to an agent in the states who had me uninstalling and reinstalling drivers but no improvement.   It has me pulling my hair out!

[ub6424]

Hello @rjbrown 

Can you please make a distance test from the wifi router and check/measure the speed ?

Reference 802.11ac:

•  at one metre: 90MBps (+/-) ?
• at 10 metres: 70MBps (+/-) ?
• at 20 metres behind two solid walls: 50MBps (+/-) ?

[rjbrown]

At every distance 1 Mbps - 10 Mbps. Once I restart the connection I can get up to 40Mbps, something then switches after a time period and I end up back down to 1-10Mbps. What can it be that's changing or switching that throttles the signal?

Bit concerned based on Emsielou's reply that the brand new HP laptop I just bought simply doesn't work with Wifi versus other brands that seem to have no problem. Can anyone from HP confirm before I send it back?

[ub6424]

Hello @rjbrown 

(1) Update wifi driver

Realtek RTL8xxx Wireless LAN Drivers

1.0.0.194 Rev.S

24.6 MB

Dec 6, 2021

Download

(2) Install optimizer

HP Connection Optimizer

2.0.16.0 Rev.A

8.7 MB

Dec 23, 2019

Download

(3) Reboot your notebook

(4) Test again ...

Drivers page of your notebook:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-15-f2000-laptop-pc-series/35900344/model/2100381...

[rjbrown]

No, that still doesn't solve the problem. It is now reporting 40 Mbps when I am in the same room as the router but as soon as I go next door to the office, it's back to 1 Mbps. Dell laptop right beside me works fine, are the adapters in HP just really bad? Sounds like a return is needed for another brand, if no one from HP can explain

[ub6424]

Hello @rjbrown 

I would advise you to talk to HP. Return the notebook and get a proven more powerful notebook.

Or you change the brand ...

[stvlai]

Hi, I may have a solution. I am also having similar issues on the RTL8821CE Wifi speed. Incredible slow at less than 12 MBPS. I troubleshoot on 2 exact HP Laptops and both have the same slow Wifi speed. This helps to conclude that it is the Laptop issues and not my ISP issues. So, I try all kinds of different Wifi Drivers. The best driver that gives the fastest and stable speed is dated back to 7/10/2019 v2024.0.8.108 from Microsoft. The latest driver from Realtek, dated back to 2021 to 2022, provides the slowest Wifi speed. DO NOT use the latest Realtek driver. I am surprised that HP Tech Support wasn't even aware of such problem and QC allows such junk Wifi speed to even pass their QC. It's terribly poor QC quality.