Broadband Speed Anomalies

[Prudie]

i know there have been similar questions before but can someone pleeeeease explain. Using this site http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/ which we always use my OH and I have just got these very conflicting results and this happens all the time.
We are 10 feet apart using the same router. The test results over the last 5 minutes have been for download speed:

OH:
Laptop 30 Mps, phone 38 mps
Me
Laptop 12 Mps, phone 16 mps, tablet 24 Mps

Why oh why??

[Gromit]

Are you sure you are not using your phones' 3G/4G to access the internet. You need to have your phones data set to off to make it use your router.

If you do not turn off your phones connectivity then it will not use the router, so the readings will be different.

[Gromit]

if you are using wifi through your router, then the anomally over speed results will be down to the antenna in the devices. Some are better than others.

In my case, my Android Kodi box has about half the speed of my iPhone 7, and that is down solely to the iPhone having far better components.

[Gizmonster]

//// You need to have your phones data set to off to make it use your router. ///

If you've set your phone up correctly, you don't need to turn your data off; it'll automatically connect to the router when it's in range. When I go to my dad's house, my phone automatically connects to his router, as I connected my phone to his router a while ago, to check his network and my phone now remembers the router and connects automatically when it's in range.

[Prudie]

Just to clarify (and not meaning to sound snotty) but yes of course my phone mobile data is off and I'm using my home internet. Forgetting the phones what about the laptop differences? Gromit your receiver/antenna bit makes sense although not heard of it before. His laptop is a year old and mine about 5.

[Buenchico]

With so many electronic devices using radio signals, and many others (such as printers and even central heating switches) emitting radio frequency interference, any receiving device has to be able to separate out the data it's looking for from the background 'mush'. Some devices have far better 'selectivity' than others, so they'll be able to process wifi data far more quickly than others.

The wifi adapter in your OH's laptop, for example, appears to have far better sensitivity than the one in yours does. However that might only apply to the particular channel which your router is currently using. If you change the channel you might get different results. (If you need instructions for doing so, please tell us the make and model of your router).

It might also be interesting to see if you get different results using another speed-checker. This is the most popular one
http://www.speedtest.net
but, as long as your phone line is actually owned by BT OpenReach (rather than say, using a Virgin Media cable) then, irrespective of which ISP you're with, here's the 'official' one:
http://speedtest.btwholesale.com

It would also be interesting see what speeds you each achieve with a laptop connected to your router via an Ethernet cable. You ought then to get the same speeds. (i.e. it's the wifi part of your connections that's slowing performance, not anything along your phone line).