Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-01-19)

Issue 623 •19January–1February 2022 53

Testingspeedsbyadding
Wi-Fi6dongle
Tomeasureouractualdata-transfer
speeds,weaddedaD-LinkDWA-X 1850
Wi-Fi6USBadapter(£ 45 fromwww.
snipca.com/4 0530 )toanoldAsus
VivoBooklaptopthatdoesn’thave
Wi-Fibuiltin(aspicturedright),and
usedthistoconnecttoaNetgear
NighthawkRAX7 0 Wi-Fi 6 router(www.
snipca.com/4 0531 ,picturedbelowleft).
Weattachedanexternalharddriveto
therouterviaUSB,thenmeasuredhow
longittooktocopyasingle5 00 MBfile,
aswellasafolderwith1,8 29 filesthat
togethertotalled 50 0MB,fromthelaptop
tothedrive.
Ourresultswereinfluencedbythe
speedsoftheUSBadapterandrouter,the
dataconnectionbetweenthem,any
interferenceorobstructionsfromother
devices,networks,wallsanddoors,the
speedofthedriveconnectedtothe
router,andtheSSDinthelaptop.
However,crucially,itshouldn’thavebeen
impactedbylesspredictableinternet
congestionbecausetheoperationwas
confinedentirelytoourlocalnetwork.
Thetestswereperformedintwo
locations:once,downstairs,inthesame
roomastherouter,andagainonan
upperfloor,oneroomtotheside.Asan
addedcomplication,ourtesthomehas
beeninsulatedtoeco-homespecifications
–andthesehavepreviouslyhampered
ourWi-Fi5signals.
Theseresultsnaturallytakeinto
accountthewritespeedofthedrivebut,
asyoucanseefromthetablebelow,Wi-Fi
6transferredboththesinglefileandthe
folderoffilesfasterthanWi-Fi5inevery
instance.
Whencopyingthesingle5 00 MBfile
betweenfloors,itreachedspeedsof
191Mbps, andwheninthe same room
this increasedto194Mbps. These were

eachaconsiderable

improvementontherespective

55 Mbps(nearlyquadrupling)

and 14 7Mbpsweachieved

whenusingtheWi-Fi 5

componentsinourlaptopto

connecttothesamerouter.

Perhapsmoreimportantly,

theperformancedropwhen

movingoutoftheroomand

goingupstairswasslightwhen

usingWi-Fi6, butfarmore

pronouncedwhenusingour

laptop’s integratedWi-Fi5

connection.

Weperformedthetestsforathird

time,withthelaptop’sbuilt-inWi-Fi 5

hardwareconnectedtoourexistingWi-Fi

5 network,andtheWi-Fi 6 dongle

connectedtothenewWi-Fi 6 network

simultaneously,andachievedmixed

results.

Usingthissetup,transferringthesingle

50 0MBfilebetweenfloorswasslower

thanusingWi-Fi 6 only,buttransferring

the5 00 MBfolderwasfractionallyfaster.

However,whenwewereinthesame

room as therouter,wesaw aslight

improvementinbothcases.

Inpractice,whetherconnectedonlyto

theWi-Fi 6 network,orbothnetworks

simultaneously,it’slikelywewouldnot

havenoticedanydifferencehadwenot

beentimingtheprocess.

SwitchingbetweenWi-Fi 5 and 6 is

easy–justclicktheWi-Fiiconinyour

taskbar(orthejointWi-Fi/speaker/

batteryiconinWindows 1 1–see

screenshotabove),thenselectthe

network.Confusingly,theoptionsyou’re

showndon’tmatchtheactualWi-Fi

standard,soi nour screensh ot,‘Wi-Fi2’

is Wi-Fi5,while ‘Wi-Fi 3’ is Wi-Fi6.

UPSTAIRS FROMROUTER SAME ROOMASROUTER

500 MBfile 1min 11 sec

55.6Mbps

20 secs

191.7Mbps

21 secs

187.8Mbps

27 secs

147.6Mbps

20 secs

194.5Mbps

19 sec

201.4Mbps

500 MBfolder 4min 41 secs

14.2Mbps

2min 52secs

23.1Mbps

2min 28secs

26.9Mbps

4min 20 secs

15.4Mbps

2min 39 secs

25Mbps

2min 27 secs

27.2Mbps

WeaddedWi-Fi6toanold laptopby insertingtheD-LinkDWA-X1850dongle

Addthe dongle andyoucaneasilyswitchbetweenthetwo

Wi-Fistandards

TRANSFERSPEEDS:Wi-Fi5vWi-Fi6

WI-FI 6

WHYYOUMUST

UPGRADETO