Windows USES both wifi and ethernet at the same time. (In the way you would want it to), How?

Question

Windows USES both wifi and ethernet at the same time. (In the way you would want it to), How?

Anonymous

Hi, I am able to get a speedbump, suggesting usage of both network adapters.

Im am talking about wifi+ether combining for one download.

(There is a tldr at the end)

INFO:

I use, Internet 200Mbit/s fiber and Router is Gigabit Ethernet and about 400Mb/s wifi.

PC has same capabilitys as router.

(Also English is not my first language, sorry

for spelling.)

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED:

I usually dont use wifi if dont have to.

I was installing Fortnite on my sons PC (win 11)

and its a big download. I noticed speedlimit of 100Mbit/s that made me think I wasnt from Epicgame or my internet connection but from the PC.

Acually I had forgotten that I used an old 100Mbit switch between my sons PC and router (for unrelated reasons) witch I remebered later during this and would not have found this strange issue if not for this.

When troubleshooting windows network ethernet settings I activated wifi and disabled ethernet and saw expected results on speed on Epicgames download.

But when I enabled ethernet again speed was bumped up to "wifi speed" (cant remember exact) plus 100Mbit.

I opened taskmanager to confirm and yes, ethernet was showing 100Mbit activity och wifi was showing "wifi speed" and I was only downloading from Epicgame.

Stopping/starting Epicgame and both Network adapters I could replicate this.

The key was to disable/enable Ethernet last after wifi and the download was active.

What I noticed was that when download was finnished or stopped the co-op also stopped the ethernet took over as one again.

I tried Egde with a big download, it worked.

I tried same thing on my PC and my wifes work laptop, and it also worked.

AFTERMATH:

Searching I only found one guy with Windows 10 in 2018 having same thing finding it when using Steam and noone could answer why.

He did the same by pulling and reconnecting ethernet cable.

ALSO: (If anyone cares)

There is a priority thing also in the net adapter

I have not tried yet, but in theori, if priority is

switched it could do the same thing but with

wifi activated last

THE TLDR:

If you use ethernet and also have wifi as an

option on same router (at least that was my config) they can be combined to add dl speed.

When wifi is on and downloading a big file you can enable ethernet adapter and you should

see an added speed to download.

This will work until dl is finnished and you

have to do it again for each download.

THE QUESTIONS:

So how is this happening, because it should not be possible?

How can we keep it from disabling after one dl and having to restart ethernet?

NOTE:

I am interrested of anyone else posting here if they try it, and they get the same thing.

Please ask if I should post screens or log files.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author

3 additional answers

Answer 1

Dear William,

Hello! Welcome to the Microsoft Community. I'm glad to be able to help you. If I don't understand your question, please let me know immediately.

I understand that you have discovered a phenomenon when you use Ethernet and WiFi at the same time. When you connect WiFi and then Ethernet, you will get a faster network speed, but you can't keep this state for a long time. I understand that this problem has caused some doubts for you. I will try my best to solve your doubts. In fact, I have had similar situations when I used it myself. When I was playing games before, the latency was very high. When I connected Ethernet and WiFi at the same time, the latency was significantly reduced.

This phenomenon is technically called network link aggregation or load balancing. Although the Windows system does not explicitly support the use of two network adapters at the same time to increase bandwidth, certain applications and configurations can make it happen in some cases. However, since this is not the default or stable behavior, the system often automatically reverts to using a higher priority network (usually Ethernet) after a period of time, causing Wi-Fi to disconnect. Here is an explanation and some suggestions for prolonging this "dual connection" state:

Why does the network speed increase?

Multipath Transmission Control Protocol (MPTCP):

Windows supports MPTCP, which allows multiple network paths to be used for data transmission in certain situations. Although this feature is not usually available to users, in certain special cases or with program support, multiple network interfaces (Wi-Fi and Ethernet) may work simultaneously, thereby increasing the overall bandwidth.

Multithreaded download of applications:

Some download programs (such as Epic Games, Steam) can use multiple connections to download files simultaneously. When Wi-Fi and Ethernet are enabled at the same time, these programs may allocate part of the traffic to Wi-Fi and part of the traffic to Ethernet, thereby speeding up downloads.

Load sharing of the operating system:

Windows will try to optimize the distribution of traffic when it detects that multiple network interfaces are available. Although this is not a stable behavior and priority is usually biased towards wired networks, sometimes the system will briefly use two network adapters at the same time.

Why does Wi-Fi disconnect?

Network priority:

By default, Windows prioritizes wired connections (Ethernet). If both Wi-Fi and Ethernet are enabled, Wi-Fi will automatically disconnect when the system detects that the wired network connection quality is better than the wireless network. This is an automatic adjustment made by the system to save resources and maintain a stable connection.

Power management:

Windows and many network adapters have power management features that automatically turn off the Wi-Fi adapter when the system is idle or detects that Wi-Fi is not needed. This can be configured in the network adapter power management options in Device Manager.

How to prolong this "dual connection" state?

Adjust the network adapter priority:

You can manually change the priority of Wi-Fi and Ethernet to make the system more inclined to use both at the same time. The steps are as follows:

Press Win + X and select Network Connections.
Click Change adapter options.
Press the Alt key and select Advanced > Advanced settings.
In the "Adapters and Bindings" tab, adjust the order of Ethernet and Wi-Fi so that they have the same priority, or set Wi-Fi to a higher priority than Ethernet.

Disable power management of the network adapter:

Open Device Manager and find the Wi-Fi network adapter.
Right-click it and select Properties.
In the "Power Management" tab, uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".

Use third-party software:

If you want to use Wi-Fi and Ethernet at the same time for a long time, you can use some third-party software to achieve network aggregation. There are some software applications that are specifically designed to merge multiple network connections to increase bandwidth. It can aggregate the bandwidth of Wi-Fi and Ethernet.

There seems to be some problems with this state, because the Ethernet connection is the highest priority connection in Windows, so it may still be the case that only the Ethernet connection continues to be connected. If this state is maintained for a long time, it may cause the router to heat up or other situations, causing the network rate to drop. If you use Ethernet and WIFI connected to the same router, your maximum rate will still not exceed the maximum network rate of the router itself.

I hope the above information can help you solve your doubts. There seems to be no detailed information on this issue, so please forgive me if I am wrong.

Best Wishes

Pyke.D | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

I don't know if this is a recent update for Windows 11, but there is no Advanced/Advanced settings in the Network Connections. There is no adapters and Bindings that I can find anywhere.

In the Device Manager, right clicking on the network adapter and going to Properties, there is no Power Management tab.

Neither option is possible on the current version of Windows 11.

Answer 3

Hi Pyke.D,

I must say -Wow!

Thank you for your answer that gave me confirmation, the how and why.

Also providing tips to maintain state, great information.

You, sir, by far exceeded my expectations posting this question. Again, thank you.

I really believe/hope your answer will be helpful to many others.

Best regards

Will

Answer 4

Dear William,

Thank you for your reply. It seems that my reply helped you to solve some doubts. I was really happy when I saw your reply. If you think my reply is helpful to you, you can mark "yes" for me freely. This is very important for our customer evaluation and can help people with the same problem to quickly locate this solution. I hope to gain your understanding.

If you have any questions, please feel free to create a new thread in Microsoft Community to ask questions. I wish you a happy life.

Best Wishes

Pyke.D | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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Windows USES both wifi and ethernet at the same time. (In the way you would want it to), How?

3 additional answers