How to improve and increase WiFi speed in Windows 11

October 3, 2022 Matt Mills Tips and Tricks 0

All WiFi cards for computers , whether desktop or laptop, have a set of configuration options to change the behavior of the WiFi network card itself. Depending on our needs and problems with the connection, we can adjust certain advanced parameters to make it work better, obtaining a higher Wi-Fi speed in the event that we have problems of this type. If we have a WiFi Mesh network at home, we will also notice a significant improvement because we can force WiFi roaming between routers more quickly. Today in this article we are going to explain all the options that we have available in an Intel AX210 WiFi card, the most used today in laptops and also in motherboards for desktop computers.

How to improve and increase WiFi speed in Windows 11

Explanation of all configuration options

If we want to access the advanced settings of our WiFi network card, we must perform a series of steps to access them, since these settings are not found in the main menu of the WiFi, but are found in the “Control Panel” section. control” where all the Ethernet, WiFi, VPN, and other virtual adapters are. Once we are in the correct menu, we will have very valuable information at our disposal to configure the card in detail.

Access to the advanced configuration menu

To access the available configuration options, the first thing we have to do is go to the “Start” section and search for “ Control Panel ”. Once we are inside the control panel, click on the “ Network and Sharing Center ” section, now we have to go to the left side and click on “ Change adapter settings ”.

Now we can see all the Ethernet and WiFi network adapters and also the virtual adapters that we have, such as VirtualBox or VMware if we have it. We will also be able to see 4G modems and another series of adapters, such as VPNs.

When we get to the menu where all the network cards and virtual adapters are, we must click with the right mouse button on the WiFi network card of our PC, then click on « Properties » and a new configuration menu will appear. In this menu we can make changes at the logical level, that is, configure IPv4 and IPv6 addressing among other available options. What interests us here is to click on the « Configure » button that we have just below the name of the WiFi card installed on our PC.

Once we are inside the ” Intel WiFi 6E AX210 Card Properties ” section we can see all the advanced options, the driver, the advanced details of the card, the events and also the power management of the wireless network card . It is in this menu where we have to look at all the advanced options and what settings we want to apply.

Once we are in the menu, we will see all the options that exist and what we must take into account.

Controller or driver of our WiFi card

The first thing we should look at in our WiFi network card is what driver we are using. If we go to the « Driver » tab we can see the date of the driver, this date must be recent, because both Intel and other manufacturers usually release new drivers or drivers to solve problems detected by the users themselves. We must also pay close attention to the version of the driver , in our case it is version 22.160.0.4 that is installed. This driver version corresponds to the latest available on the official Intel website.

It is very important to always have the latest version of drivers installed in our operating system, clicking on “Update driver” is of no use to us because the drivers that are in Windows are much older, we must go to the official website of the manufacturer of our model WiFi card and check if there is a newer version. This way is the best way to update your drivers with a guarantee that it will work correctly. Next, we explain the reasons why you should always have the latest drivers installed:

  • Support for new protocols is added at the software level . For example, WiFi 5 cards that are not compatible with WiFi 6, if we install the latest drivers, they will be able to “see” and connect to these WiFi networks, even if they use 802.11ax frames. If we have an old driver we won’t even be able to see the WiFi network at home.
  • Bugs and faults are corrected : the main reason to install the latest versions of the drivers is that they fix bugs, both potential security flaws and also operational ones.
  • Wireless performance is optimized : Another essential aspect of installing the latest drivers is that the manufacturer optimizes performance, so we could achieve a higher real speed in our WiFi connection.
  • Additional options are added in the “Advanced Options” menu : It is very possible that with the latest versions of the drivers, we will have more configuration options available in the “Advanced Options” menu that we are now going to show you. If any of these menus are not on your computer, it may be because you do not have the latest drivers, or because the WiFi card you have does not support these options available on the Intel AX210 that we have installed on our laptop.

Now that you know the importance of installing the latest version of drivers or controllers on a WiFi card, we are going to show you all the available options.

WiFi card advanced options

In this configuration menu is where we have all the advanced options related to our WiFi network card, we are going to explain the main options available and what they do in our WiFi card. In addition, we are also going to show you how we have it configured to obtain the best wireless performance in any condition.

  • Roaming aggressiveness : This option allows us to configure the level of aggressiveness of WiFi roaming between various nodes. By default it is set to “Medium”. If we see that we have a “slow” roaming, because it stays connected to the router when in reality we are closer to the Mesh node, then we must configure this parameter in “High” or “Maximum”. Our setting is “High” and the performance we get is optimal.
  • Channel width for 2.4GHz : this option allows us to force that we always have 20MHz of channel width. The normal thing is to leave it on «Automatic» to be able to use channel widths of up to 40MHz, as we have recommended as long as we do not have interference with neighboring WiFi networks.
  • Channel width for 5GHz : This option allows you to force the 20MHz of channel width in the 5GHz band. We do not advise you to configure 20MHz, because in 5GHz we can normally have channel widths of 80MHz and even up to 160MHz if the router supports it. You should leave this option on “Automatic”.
  • Channel Width for 6GHz – This option does the same thing as the previous one, but for the 6GHz band. In this case, all WiFi 6E routers and APs have 160MHz channel width, so all the more reason to leave it on “Auto” if you want the best possible performance.
  • Preferred band : this option allows us to prioritize one band over another if we have the band-steering function in our WiFi router or AP. In this case we have chosen 5GHz because we do not usually use equipment with Wi-Fi 6E, otherwise we always use the 6GHz option to be free of interference.
  • Ultra-high band (6GHz) : this option must always be “On”, in order to connect to the 6GHz band without problems. With the latest Intel drivers this option is enabled by default.

Other configuration options available here are the following, we are going to indicate what configuration you must have:

  • Wakeup Pattern Matching : On
  • ARP Offload for WoWLAN – Allows you to answer IPv4 ARP requests without turning on the computer. To activate it both the hardware and the driver must be compatible.
  • Download NS for WoWLAN – Same as above but responds to IPv6 Neighbor Request.
  • Packet fusion : it allows to save energy by reducing the number of reception interruptions, merging broadcast and multicast packets.
  • Boost Process Capability : Enabled
  • Wake-up Magic Packet – This setting wakes up the system if it is powered off, when it receives the Magic Packet from a sender. We leave it on “enabled” because it can later be disabled in “Power Management”.
  • MIMO Power Saving Mode – This setting allows the client to save power by keeping an antenna in an idle receive state. The available settings are:
    • Without SMPS : this function is completely deactivated, always having the maximum performance.
    • Automatic SMPS – The client decides which SMP mode to use, dynamic or static.
    • Dynamic SMPS : keeps only one antenna active. The WiFi AP must send an RTS request to wake up the client, in order to wake up this antenna or idle radios before sending MIMO packets.
    • Static SMPS – The client keeps an antenna active, the AP cannot send MIMO packets to the client.
  • Wireless mode 802.11a/b/g : allows you to restrict which is the maximum protocol allowed in 2.4GHz. The normal thing is to choose “dual band a/b/g”.
  • Wireless mode 802.11n/ac/ax : Allows you to restrict which protocol is allowed in 5GHz. It is normal to choose 802.11ax because it is backwards compatible.
  • Not compatible with 40MHz channel : disabled, this influences the width of the 2.4GHz channel. If we leave it activated, only 20MHz of channel width can always be used.
  • Transmission power : always at maximum, to have the maximum possible speed and coverage.
  • Mixed mode protection : we leave it as default, with the RTS/CTS activated always.
  • GTK Rekey for WoWLAN – This is to regenerate the Group Temporary Key (GTK) that is used to encrypt and decrypt WiFi network traffic.
  • U-APSD Support – Also known as WMM-Power Save or simply WMM-PS. Allows you to reduce power consumption in latency-sensitive low-traffic modes, such as VoIP. It comes by default deactivated, we have left it activated.
  • Sleep on WoWLAN Disconnect : Put the device into sleep mode or cancel the connection when WoWLAN is disconnected.

As you have seen, we have a large number of options to fully adjust our WiFi network card based on our needs. Although it is normal to leave the default values, we can change some of them to adjust the behavior to what we want, such as the behavior of WiFi roaming, band-steering, etc.

power management

Before we finish with the configuration settings on the network card, a very important setting is the “Power Management” setting. In this menu we will be able to configure the WiFi network card so that the device itself turns it off to save energy, we can also activate the option “Allow this device to reactivate the device” and activate the Magic Packet. Our recommendation is that all these options are disabled.

In the first case, the PC could turn off the device in case we have a low battery, so it would not be recommended. In the second case, it is possible that our PC turns on without us wanting it, so we recommend that you leave it deactivated as well.

Another aspect that we must assess is to go to the ” Power Options ” of our operating system, and configure in an advanced way that the WiFi network card we want to always work at 100% of its performance, that it does not lower the “power” to try save some energy. It is very important that you do this on all power plans (economizer, normal and high performance) so that the WiFi network always works as fast as possible and with maximum power.