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Jennifer A.
Austin, TX · April 15, 2026
Tech Support

My internet speed is fine on my phone and tablet but my laptop is extremely slow on the same WiFi. What is wrong with my laptop?

HBE
HelpByExperts Research Team
Editorial Research Team
Verified Editorial

When one device is slow while others are fast on the same network, the issue is always on the slow device, not the internet connection. The most common culprits are an outdated WiFi driver, background programs consuming bandwidth, or your laptop connecting to the slower 2.4GHz band while your phone uses 5GHz. First, update your WiFi driver: open Device Manager, expand Network Adapters, right-click your WiFi adapter, and select Update Driver. If Windows says it is up to date, go to your laptop manufacturer's support page and download the latest WiFi driver manually. Next, open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), click the Network column to sort by bandwidth usage, and see if any background app is using your connection — common culprits are Windows Update, OneDrive syncing, cloud backup services, and browser extensions. Also, open Command Prompt and type netsh wlan show interfaces to see which band and channel you are on. If it shows 2.4GHz, forget the network and reconnect specifically to the 5GHz SSID if your router broadcasts separate bands.

👍 87 people found this helpful·Answered April 15, 2026
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