PC Running Slow - Wi-Fi Issue - Will Full Fibre Solve It?

[trapper]

Hi,

This could be a long story but if anyone is willing to read it and offer advice then that would be great.

I have what looks to me a Sagemcom Fast 5364 router. TalkTalk/City Fibre have tried a few times to get me to upgrade to Full Fibre but I have been reluctant to do so as the router would then be in a different room to the PC and things were working ok as it was (apart from a sluggish PC).

Up until a month ago I had an ageing PC connected to the router via an ethernet cable but the PC was just getting too slow. I took some advice and decided upon a new PC in order to be able to get Windows 11 and become wireless in order to get myself ready for the inevitable Full Fibre.

I had a new PC built by a trusted local computer guy which he installed wirelessly along with a new wireless printer, keyboard and mouse. The new PC has twice the memory of the old one and a solid state hard drive. When it was all up and running everything was hunky dory. The PC was fast and we were able to print directly from our phones through the Wi-Fi for the first time.

Then after a week or two we noticed things started to go wrong. The PC became very slow on occasions a couple of weeks ago to the extent we would give up on what we were trying to do. This has now become more regular and even as I type this it takes a while for the characters I type to appear on the screen.

I tried running a Talktalk speed test. This shows Speeds to the Router of of 74Mbps download and 20Mbps upload with green connection lines so that seems ok to me. However, when I check Speed to Devices the lines become red and it shows speed issues to most devices. That suggests to me that it may be the Wi-Fi that is the problem rather than the new PC or the Broadband.

I was surprised to see we had 13 devices connected to the Wi-Fi and some are only identified by numbers and letters. One says Unknown and may be the custom-built PC. I tallied-up all the devices I could think of (PC, printer, Smart TVs, phones, tablets, Firesticks, PVR, laptop) and came to 13.

The speed check lists many devices 'with an issue', sometimes as many as 11, depending on when I run the speed check. It also then lists 11 active devices working as expected, which confuses me.

We have 3 smart phones in use with no issues and although I don't watch much TV I don't get any complaints about the Firesticks, Smart TVs etc. Sometimes I hear a moan about the laptop being a bit slow when a family member is trying to watch a TV programme on catch-up but by and large the Wi-Fi is (and has always been) pretty good as far as we as users are concerned.

The only issue is with the slow PC and having just spent several hundred pounds on it I'm a bit frustrated.

My first intention is to get the computer guy back round to wire the PC to the router with an ethernet cable to see if that fixes the issue. If it does we will all be happy... in the short term.

The thing is I'm trying to get with it and embrace the Full Fibre next time it's offered to me. I've got everything wireless now and was just getting reasonably confident enough that when the new fibre and router is eventually installed in the front room everything (including the PC and printer in the back room) will work ok. Now I'm not so sure.

I think my main question is... If my new PC works as it should when connected to the router via an ethernet cable, how confident can I be that it will work as it should with Full Fibre and the new router (Eero6?) in the front room where I won't be able to run a cable to it?

I'm reluctant to burn my bridges if I can get everything working with my current set-up, albeit with the addition of an ethernet cable. By the same token, it would be good to get bang up-to-date with Full Fibre and total Wi-Fi.

Would Full Fibre and a new router deliver better broadband and Wi-Fi speeds that would allow everything (especially the PC) to work as they should?

My wife and I are both approaching 70 and think we do ok with the techie stuff but we get a bit flustered when things don't work and then realise how clueless we are. I say this so as to advise you that we don't always understand the technical jargon that may be in the answers to our questions.

Anyway, thanks for reading this if you managed to get to the end. This issue is bugging me so much that I have got out of bed at 3am to come down and type all this out to seek your advice.

Just as an afterthought... we live in a modern detached house so no brick or stone interior walls and if the router was in the front room it would be about 8 metres away from the PC. Currently there are no black spots in the house where we can't access the Wi-Fi.

It's just this pesky intermittently very slow PC that's bugging us.

[trapper]

Thanks for the quick response. I will get my computer man round when he's back from his holidays next week.

[angelique-TT]

Hi there. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Since all your other devices are working fine when connected the issue could be with the PC itself. You will need to contact the PC manufacturer and check with them. 

For more information regarding full fibre you can contact our better value team using the below contact details and they will be able to advise you further:

03451720088
They are open Monday - Friday 9am- 7pm and Saturday 9am- 6pm