Find Your Wifi Speed and Theoretical Max Speed (haha)

by | Apr 27, 2026 | Misc | 0 comments

You can see both the current Wi‑Fi link speed and the theoretical max of your card with built‑in tools and by looking up the adapter model.

If that Latitude is running Windows 10/11:

Method A – Settings

  1. Press Windows + I → go to Network & Internet → Wi‑Fi.
  2. Click your connected Wi‑Fi network, then click Properties.
  3. Look for “Link speed (Receive/Transmit)” – that’s your negotiated Wi‑Fi rate in Mbps (e.g., 433 Mbps, 866 Mbps, 1.2 Gbps).

Method B – Task Manager

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc → Performance tab.
  2. Click Wi‑Fi on the left and check the “Speed” field – this is the link speed, not your internet speed test result.

2. See adapter capability (max Mbps)

To know what the radio itself is capable of (even if you’re not currently connecting that fast):

  1. Press Windows + X → Device Manager.
  2. Expand “Network adapters” and note the exact Wi‑Fi adapter name (e.g., “Intel Wi‑Fi 6 AX201”, “Qualcomm QCA61x4A”, etc.).
  3. Google that adapter name plus “specs” or check Dell’s Latitude spec page; for example, Intel Wi‑Fi 6 AX201 is listed as up to 2400 Mbps, while common Qualcomm and Realtek 802.11ac cards are up to 867 Mbps.
  4. Match the adapter’s Wi‑Fi generation to typical theoretical max rates (e.g., Wi‑Fi 4 up to ~600 Mbps, Wi‑Fi 5 up to ~3.5 Gbps, Wi‑Fi 6 up to ~9.6 Gbps, all theoretical at ideal conditions).

That tells you the max the hardware and standard can do, while the link speed you saw in Settings/Task Manager shows what you’re actually getting with your router and current conditions.

3. If you’re on Linux

On a Latitude running Linux:

  • Run iw dev wlan0 link (interface name may be wlp2s0, etc.) to see the current “tx bitrate” in Mbps.
  • Use lspci | grep -i wireless or lsusb to identify the Wi‑Fi chipset, then look up its datasheet/spec page like in step 2.