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PacknCards's avatar
PacknCards
Follower
Jun 04, 2020

Different download speed between Nighthawk App and SpeedTest App

Lately I've been having internet troubles and have been testing on a regular basis. When I use the Nighthawk App (which says it's SpeedTest powered) I get 143 Mbps. But sitting in the same chair, using the same phone and the same wifi network but using the actual SpeedTest app instead I get 50 Mbps. But then if I use a random site on the web it gives me a third (and much lower) speed. Any clue why this is?

1 Reply

  • michaelkenward's avatar
    michaelkenward
    Guru - Experienced User
    Jun 05, 2020
    PacknCards wrote:

    When I use the Nighthawk App (which says it's SpeedTest powered) I get 143 Mbps.

    That is testing the speed between your router and the outside world, connected to SpeedTest. No wifi involved.

     

    PacknCards wrote:

    But sitting in the same chair, using the same phone and the same wifi network but using the actual SpeedTest app instead I get 50 Mbps.

     

    That is testing the wifi speed between your device and the outside world, going through whichever local server the SpeedTest app finds.

     

    A better comparison with the Nighthawk App is the speed you get with a device wired into your router, using the SpeedTest site, or the Windows app.