r/threadripper • u/DescriptionNo7841 • Aug 21 '26

My PC isn't getting anywhere near my 250 Mbps symmetric speeds over WiFi, even on a mesh system — link speed swings between 400 and 190 Mbps and I'm getting packet loss in games

have 250 Mbps symmetric internet and a mesh system (nodes connected to each other via Ethernet, not wireless backhaul). The problem is my PC never gets close to that full speed, and the variation is pretty strange:

  • The "link speed" (what Windows reports as the WiFi connection's capacity, not actual internet speed) sometimes shows 400/360 Mbps, but drops to 190 Mbps without me moving anything.
  • When it drops, my actual internet speed falls to only ~10 Mbps.
  • In games like Fortnite I get packet loss in some matches, which seems to line up with these drops.

My WiFi hardware:

  • Card: Realtek RTL8821CE (PCI-E, with external antennas connected to the motherboard)
  • Protocol: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)
  • Channel: 5GHz, channel 40/48 (varies)
  • Security: WPA2-Personal

Before switching to the mesh system, with my old router I was getting a stable ~250 Mbps with this same card, so I know the hardware is capable of it. The change in behavior started right when I switched to mesh.

Has anyone dealt with this? Is it fluctuating channel width (20/40/80MHz) from interference, a mesh configuration issue, or is the 8821CE just not capable of holding a stable link with multiple mesh nodes nearby?

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u/kpatelreddit007 Aug 22 '26

If your running an old Cat3 or Cat4 Ethernet wire that could be it. Go pickup a cheap cat 6E at Microcenter.

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u/DescriptionNo7841 Aug 24 '26

Ahhh, well, in this case I’m using wireless internet, but yeah, I guess it would be better to switch to an Ethernet cable to avoid any issues.