iPhone 14/Plus Why does my Wi-Fi speed slow down if I don’t refresh Wi-Fi?

[Libertas]

When I’m home and on my Xfinity Wi-Fi where I have speeds of 800 down, if I haven’t speed tested in a while and I speed test it’ll be under 200 but if I turn the Wi-Fi off and back on speed will test closer to the 800 like it should, and this happens every single time and just with my phone, not the others in the house.

So in order to get the actual speed available, I have to refresh the Wi-Fi every single time I’d like to emphasize. Any ideas?

 

[now i see it]

my experience with Speed Test app is that the first test usually is slower. Then if I run it again, it’s faster — without changing anything else. I don’t have to toggle wifi off & on.

Try doing that. Just run it twice one after the other. Betcha the 2nd test will be faster.
Also in that app you can change servers. Try changing them and see what happens.

Also try a different speed test. Netflix has one you can test in your browser.

Internet Speed Test

How fast is your download speed? In seconds, FAST.com's simple Internet speed test will estimate your ISP speed.

fast.com

 

[Libertas]

my experience with Speed Test app is that the first test usually is slower. Then if I run it again, it’s faster — without changing anything else. I don’t have to toggle wifi off & on.

Try doing that. Just run it twice one after the other. Betcha the 2nd test will be faster.
Also in that app you can change servers. Try changing them and see what happens.

Also try a different speed test. Netflix has one you can test in your browser.

Internet Speed Test

How fast is your download speed? In seconds, FAST.com's simple Internet speed test will estimate your ISP speed.

fast.com

Thanks, I should’ve mentioned that I have done that several times tried it more than once without changing anything, but the servers idea might prove to be interesting.

Just now confirmed our other Apple phone also does this.

Multiple times now with both devices over several days and every single time to go from 200 speeds to 800. I have to refresh the Wi-Fi.

 

[Libertas]

my experience with Speed Test app is that the first test usually is slower. Then if I run it again, it’s faster — without changing anything else. I don’t have to toggle wifi off & on.

Try doing that. Just run it twice one after the other. Betcha the 2nd test will be faster.
Also in that app you can change servers. Try changing them and see what happens.

Also try a different speed test. Netflix has one you can test in your browser.

Internet Speed Test

How fast is your download speed? In seconds, FAST.com's simple Internet speed test will estimate your ISP speed.

fast.com

Thanks again, that Netflix speed app shows a fraction of the speed the other apps I use like speedtest.net or the Google speed app so I’m not sure what’s going on there but when it comes to picking a server if I’m out and about and I’m not on Wi-Fi and I’m on my Verizon cellular service and the server is a Wi-Fi source like Comcast or sonic or whatever, how does that work? Don’t I want to change the server source to Verizon? That’s confusing to me, but then I don’t know a lot about this stuff.

 

[MacCheetah3]

Thanks again, that Netflix speed app shows a fraction of the speed the other apps I use like speedtest.net or the Google speed app so I’m not sure what’s going on there but when it comes to picking a server if I’m out and about and I’m not on Wi-Fi and I’m on my Verizon cellular service and the server is a Wi-Fi source like Comcast or sonic or whatever, how does that work? Don’t I want to change the server source to Verizon? That’s confusing to me, but then I don’t know a lot about this stuff.

Most of the speed test apps will (by default) select a server geographically nearest to you — it doesn’t matter the provider as long as the server is running their speed test software (i.e., supported). This automatic selection is convenient but not as useful as you might think because it’s the best case scenario. My practice is to run at least a few tests, selecting servers a substantial distance from your current location. For example, if you’re in New York City, I recommend doing speed tests to a server in Seattle (WA), Phoenix (AZ), Denver (CO), and Miami (FL). This will simulate more realistic network requests. Additionally, network tests that require more hops are more likely to uncover other possible problems, such as DNS or CDN outages.

 

[Reverend Benny]

Throughout the years I've seen similar questions and got talking to some network experts at work that explained it as a normal behaviour (love great techies that share their knowledge)
Basically your device and the AP negotiates a speed at first, normally quite high. After a while sending data might end up corrupt due to interference the speed will get renegotiated to find a reliable service/speed, this is normally to a slower speed.

Reconnecting your phone will negotiate to the highest possible speed again and after data loss it will renegotiate to lower speeds to find a relible one that has no or little transmission errors.

Edit:
Another good idea, and its not a solution as what you are experiencing is normal behaviour, is to schedule a restart of your router if that feature is available and you don't need a 24 hour uptime.
Schedule a restart when the family is asleep once a week.

 

[ctjack]

I would only guesstimate that your xfinity gateway shuffles speed priority first on router then on server.

So everytime you reconnect, router allows you to be on 5Ghz(instead of 2.4 ghz) and running speedtest activates higher priority from servers.

I also think when you are away from router, it reconnects you from 5ghz band to 2.4ghz band. Maybe you have only 1 wifi name in selection? I have 2, one is 2.4 and 5, so i can kind of force to stay on 1 band. But again i am not using xfinity gateway - i am sure it also has an option to unhide 2 different wifis that you are connected.