strange speed download

My son' laptop shows very low download speed ( 2.5 meg), whereas my laptop ( comparable spec to his) shows about 12 meg download. What is the reason for this? both machines at my house. Is there something to look for to explain the discrepancy.

I'd start with how they physically connect ...... So if the speed discrepancies continue when both connect using the same ethernet cable ...

next guess, how old is your son, is he likely to have some malware on his lappy ?

Thanks for the reply. My son does not play games, but he access football websites which might be dodgy. How can one check if the internet connection is as it should be.

Are you connecting via a physical network cable or over wireless?

both laptops connected via wifi..My son just told me that he gets 18 meg in his own flat which is connected to Virgin cable. The 18 meg seems low for a cable , but he is happy with it.

First thing to do is to test with a direct network cable with WiFi disabled on the laptop. That will show if it is the wifi setup causing the issue (which is the most likely culprit).

Both laptops have no Ethernet connections!! only WIFI.