Slow Wireless

It looks like maybe the wifi on the Acer is connected to the 2.4GHz band.  That's not uncommon with bandsteering enabled, which is the default mode for all AT&T gateway,

What make/model wifi chip is in the Acer?

What does Windows show is the connect rate for the wifi?

What is the model # of the AT&T gateway?

Tonydi:

Router

Manufacturer ARRIS
Model Number BGW210-700
Serial Number 
Software Version 3.19.4
MAC Address 
First Use Date 2020/07/09 16:17:15
Time Since Last Reboot 02:03:30:10
Current Date/Time 2022-10-28T14:43:26
Datapump Version A2pvbJ042x3.d27n
Hardware Version 02001C0046004D

Correction, my PC is an Asus super gaming laptop.

PC WiFi

All seem proper?

Sorry, I should have given you a command line to get some of the info.

Open a command prompt and run this command and copy back the results:

netsh wlan show interfaces

Thank you tonydi:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.2130]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\AROC>netsh wlan show interfaces

There is 1 interface on the system:

    Name                   : Wi-Fi 2
    Description            : MediaTek Wi-Fi 6 MT7921 Wireless LAN Card
    GUID                   : 4067bc58-d909-4550-bec1-5d67f9a772aa
    Physical address       : 34:6f:24:2e:8e:fb
    State                  : connected
    SSID                   : 2WIRE484
    BSSID                  : 46:2b:50:23:3e:d3
    Network type           : Infrastructure
    Radio type             : 802.11ac
    Authentication         : WPA2-Personal
    Cipher                 : CCMP
    Connection mode        : Auto Connect
    Channel                : 149
    Receive rate (Mbps)    : 866.7
    Transmit rate (Mbps)   : 866.7
    Signal                 : 77%
    Profile                : 2WIRE484

    Hosted network status  : Not available

Still way slower than it should be.  281/866.7 = 33%.

Ok, good, that confirms you are using the 5GHz band so that's not the issue.

Just for grins, turn Bluetooth OFF and test again.

Oh, while the BGW210 is 3 yrs old, that's not old by AT&T standards.  It's still the default gateway for most as the BGW320 has been in short supply and only used on new accounts.  In some areas, the BGW210 is used in new accounts that aren't subscribed to >1Gbps service.

tonydi:  I never have Bluetooth on unless I'm using it for something.  So, all speed tests with Bluetooth OFF.  This seems to indicate that the BGW210 cannot handle high WiFi speeds.

While 234 / 120 is a bit lower than I would expect, I think your expectations of 802.11ac may be higher than they should be.  The BGW210 is, I believe, a 4x4 device, so the highest theoretical speed is 1750 Mbps.  [Theory is a nice place, I'd like to visit it someday because everything seems to work there. ]  You can't even achieve that in controlled lab conditions.  To add to that, your device appears to be 2x2, meaning cut that speed about in half, or 867 Mbps, still theoretical, not real world.  Real world, probably half it again.  433 Mbps.  That's still twice what you're seeing. 

The BGW210 has internal antennas, and it doesn't really have the greatest Wi-Fi.  The BGW320 has 802.11ax, but AT&T has a limited supply of those, and they have to be used for Fiber connections of 2 or 5 Gbps.  So, if you want one of those, upgrade to 2 Gbps. 

AT&T never said that the BGW210 would give you full gigabit Wi-Fi speeds.  If you want to get better than what the BGW210 can give, I'd suggest you find some device marketed by a company that lives or dies on how good a Wi-Fi connection its device provides and connect that to your BGW210.  

I mentioned the Bluetooth thing because that was the magic bullet for a number of MediaTek MT7921 users.  That idea came from some different online threads where people were complaining about the same speed problem as you are.  The general consensus is that the card has issues at these higher speeds and those that swapped out the card for an Intel AX201 or AX210 immediately saw full speeds.  These cards are <$30 and take a few minutes to swap out so if this were my laptop that's what I'd be doing.

The BGW210 is perfectly capable of delivering the max speed in a laptop-based card.

Here's my AX201.  This is about all there is for a 5GHz connection. 

tonydi:  I see.  AT&T routers cannot do 1 Gb wireless.  Can come close.  We have about 13 WiFi devices here.  Perhaps we should look to Google or Verizon...

Have been a loyal AT&T customer for over a decade.  But if no 1 Gb speed with wireless perhaps time to change.  Want to get what I pay for.