HP Tablet 11: AX201 wifi card - slow speed

[jimtim]

I have gigabit fiber internet and gets >700 Mbps speed on my GPD Pocket 3 with AX201 wifi 6 wifi card. However, my HP Tablet 11, with the same wifi card, only gets maximum 300 Mbps speed. Both devices have Windows 11 Home. I checked to make sure the wifi configuration ("Advance" section of wifi card in Device Manager) are identical (NOTE: maximum "transmit power"). I have tried enabling "throughput booster" and change "preferred band" to "5GHz" (from "auto") but no difference. I also logged into the wifi router (10.0.0.1) and it shows the HP Tablet is connected at 5GHz. I tried uninstalling the device and reboot, allowing automatic reinstalling, but no difference. I updated the wifi card driver to the latest 22.130.0.5 and have the latest Windows update on both devices. Both devices are running in "Balanced" power mode with identical settings (you cannot change any wifi setting here anyway). I tried running the HP Tablet 11 in "maximum performance" mode but the wifi speed does not change. I have also looked at the BIOS and see nothing you can change related to wifi. I also have a MS Surface Go 2 with an older AX200 wifi 6, which connects at about 700Mbps. Therefore I don't think there is anything wrong with my wifi router (from the ISP).

Why does the AX201 perform so differently in two different devices? Any suggestion??

[jimtim]

I did a Windows reset and reinstalling all the latest drivers, but this did not solve the problem. I went ahead to do a fresh reinstall of Windows 11, and again this did not solve the problem. There must be something in the hardware or BIOS which limits the wifi card function.

[jimtim · Accepted solution]

I finally found out there is nothing wrong with the AX201 - I originally tested the HP Tablet in my sitting room at the same distance from my router as my Pocket 3, which is about 10 ft away. I thought that this is such a short distance in a condo there is no problem with wifi transmission. When I move the HP Tablet right next to the router and test the speed, it rises to 680 Mbps (when I test with the Pocket 3, the speed remains at the same at 750-760 Mbps). In fact, I also notice there is a subtle difference between the performance of the HP Tablet and the Pocket 3 (which also has Pentium N6000 and 8GB RAM), when the former is slightly more sluggish in opening apps and screen transitions.

Therefore I conclude that the HP Tablet is throttling power delivery to the wifi card (and probably all the hardware), most likely a measure to prolong battery life.