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Work Laptop's Slow Network Speeds!

amigan_99
amigan_99 asked
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So I'm at this new gig any they have a 1Gbps Internet feed. If I plug in a work built laptop (HP Win 10) I am seeing like 12Mbps down and 20Mbps. But if I get a fresh laptop that has not been built out I am seeing about 100Mbps down and as much as 400, even 600Mbps up. This is on the very same 1Gbps network port on a Cisco enterprise switch the WS-4510R-E. No errors seen at those ports. They run Trend Micro on their standard issue. Could that slow down speed tests that much? I'm testing against AT&T speed test but have tried a bunch of others and they all tell essentially the same story. There's also VMWare Horizon drivers on there and some other. Any thoughts on how to track down what's the party pooper for the network speeds?
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Jackie Man IT Manager
Distinguished Expert 2019

Commented:
If I plug in a work built laptop (HP Win 10) I am seeing like 12Mbps down and 20Mbps.

What is the hardware specifications of your HP laptop?
amigan_99Network Engineer

Author

Commented:
HP 255 G7
Jackie Man IT Manager
Distinguished Expert 2019

Commented:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/5m4b1s/issues_with_realtek_8821ae_wireless/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body

Do you mean slow in wireless network?

If yes, it is a known issue for the wlan of your notebook and you need to play around with the drivers.
amigan_99Network Engineer

Author

Commented:
I've mostly surmounted he WLAN difficulties by migrating everybody to 5Ghz. The trouble now is actually the wired LAN where two machines using exactly the same Ethernet port have vastly different results.
IT Manager
Distinguished Expert 2019
Commented:
In such case, you need to uninstall Trend Micro and test whether it is the cause of your problem.
Dr. KlahnPrincipal Software Engineer
Commented:
If there's a firewall and an antivirus in the test system, plus who knows what else in terms of malware checkers etc., then the speeds quoted would not be unreasonable, considering all the overhead.  Raw speed does not equate to what can be shoved through any given system.
Robert RComputer Service Technician

Commented:
what type of network cable are you using? a cat 5 of 5e cable will not reach a gigabyte speed. A crappy network cable may also cause slow network speeds. How about trying another network port, or in a port in another office as it may be a bad jack on the wall or interference from other source like magnetic waves from motors or ballasts from electrical lights etc.

If you are having wifi issues how strong is the network signal where the laptop is located. Or there may be interference from devices such as microwaves, cordless phones etc.
amigan_99Network Engineer

Author

Commented:
Hi Robert - so the WiFi issue is pretty much figured out moving everyone to 5Ghz with steering.

The mystery on the cabled connection is that both laptops are using the same cable on the same port.
Since they're the same model of laptop and both using Win 10 I'd expect their speed tests to be
pretty similar. The one difference is the Trend Micro on the one and I have had a chance to disable
that yet in a test. Also there are a bunch of VMWare drivers/services on the slow one. Maybe
I'll need to go service by service to figure this out.
amigan_99Network Engineer

Author

Commented:
I updated the network drivers to the latest version and my initial 10 tests were more consistent - between 150 and 250 Mbps. I need to do another day of tests to declare victory. But this is looking pretty positive.
amigan_99Network Engineer

Author

Commented:
Thanks for the replies. The problem I found was that the speed tests use up a lot of CPU and Trend at some times of the day takes up a lot of CPU. At other points other apps do. Unloading Trend temporarily made a huge improvement in download from the test sites.