This problem is really challenging my view of the universe.
Let me describe what's going on. I have two computers -- my desktop machine is hardwired (Ethernet) to my router and my laptop is using wireless to the router. I have Comcast HSI.
As you may know, Comcast has a "Test Your Speed" page. The page allows you to select the geographic location of the server that you will communicate with during the test.
Now here's where it get's interesting. I live near Chicago. If I test my speed against the Comcast Chicago server, my desktop (wired) and laptop (wireless) speed scores are about the same (~29 Mbps download). If I test against a Boston server, which is about 1,000 miles from Chicago, the wired connection stays at about 29 Mbps whereas the wireless drops down to about 26 Mbps. If I test against a Seattle server, which is about 2,000 miles from Chicago, the wired speed goes down to 22 Mbps but the wireless speed drops to 13.5 Mbps!
As the server moves farther from Chicago, the laptop's wireless connection becomes slower than the wired connection. I've tested with other geographic locations and this pattern is consistent. I would expect both the wired and wireless connections would become slower equally.
Can anyone explain why I am seeing this behavior.
Btw, the laptop is a Lenovo W500 with an Intel 5300 AGN wireless device.
Thanks very much.
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