A research study released Wednesday by Epitiro suggests that broadband consumers lose an average of 30 percent of download speed when using Wi-Fi within the home in place of a wired broadband connection. The U.K. based network measurement and analysis firm also said that Wi-Fi users faced an increase in latency of 10 to 20 percent, which it suggested could impact the performance of online gaming, VoIP telephony services and video streaming.
Many Wi-Fi routers share the same default communication channel, which can cause interference in urban areas, which consumers can fix by selecting an alternate modem channel. Moreover, Wi-Fi speeds are impacted by physical barriers such as walls, doors and furniture, as well as interference from other wireless devices such as baby monitors, television remote controls, microwave ovens, garage door openers and cordless phones.
“Our data shows that connectivity over Wi-Fi degrades broadband performance considerably in typical circumstances.” said Epitiro Chief Technology Officer J.P. Curley. “Consumers who are experiencing performance issues with Wi-Fi should take steps to improve their home environment or connect directly via wired ethernet.”
Router Upgrades and QoS
Epitiro’s new report is based on one million test results collected by a test application embedded on the computing devices of 14,000 volunteer consumer panelists based in four countries. Epitiro also conducted lab tests on a selection of popular routers, which revealed that even a small loss in signal strength can result in an average Wi-Fi speed decline of 30 percent in comparison with wired service.
Depending on the country, the average Wi-Fi speed decline ranged from a low of 26.5 percent in the U.K. to a high of 40 percent in Italy. In the United States, the average speed decline was 29.7 percent.
The variations in Wi-Fi performance between nations could be due to a combination of factors, such…