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#61
I've just gone down this road myself. I've sensed for a while that there has been a slowdown in my Internet download speeds, as well as file transfer speeds between devices - phone/desktop/laptop. Please see my profile for my home setup specifics.
Using this speed test internet speed test - Google Search, I learned today that my desktop's ethernet speeds are basically 270 Mbps down and 70 Mbps up using a Cat6 wired connection to my ATT fiber router/modem. However, my laptop, connecting wirelessly to the same device, tests 600+ down and well over 120 up.
It was easy to figure out that the Cat6 ethernet cable was not the problem. I disconnected my laptop's wireless connection, then connected the same Cat6 Cable between it and the ATT device. The speed test returned results slightly better than the wireless connection. The Cat6 cable is good, IMHO.
My ethernet adapter is a Gigabit 10/100 Realtek PCIe that I've used for ten years with no problems, but it was running a very old 2016(?) driver. I downloaded and installed the latest Realtek driver Directly Download - REALTEK. It's version 10.65.421.2023, dated 4/21/2023.
I then went through the settings and found that VPN was turned on, even though I don't have a VPN profile. In deference to the folks who suggested turning off VPN, I did just that. Subsequent speed tests showed that the changes I made to the driver and VPN settings made no difference in ethernet speeds. The wired connection for my desktop is still less than half the speed of my laptop's wireless speeds. My immediate conclusion is the Realtek network card is the problem child, except that I haven't received any pop-ups or error messages.
I'm frankly baffled at the performance difference I'm seeing.
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