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Today I tried getting Internet connection for my Windows 10 PC through what is called tethering: I purchased a data plan for an Android phone, connected it to the Internet, connected the phone to the PC using a USB cable and finally, on the phone toggled on "Tethering".

Sure, I got my Internet alright. And my PC didn't freeze. But it didn't continue to operate on tip-top shape either. It became sluggish in certain areas. First, the taskbar icon continued to show "Disconnected" state for the next half an hour. Attempting to launch Network and Sharing Center (or even Control Panel) was met with delays, and even when I finally saw Network and Sharing Center, it announced that the service allowing it to track network state was offline. Half an hour later, it finally recognized the new network status, but the networking-related UI was still working sluggishly.

As for other apps, I once lost control of a video playback. The picture and the UI froze, although the sound played on.

I'd like to reiterate that upon connecting the USB cable, I did get my Internet connection within seconds. Firefox was immediately able to navigate websites. Edge, however, seems to query the connection state from Windows shell and didn't allow me to connect anywhere for half an hour.

How can I solve this problem?

What I tried: Checking Task Manager was the first thing. My CPU or disks didn't seem extremely busy. I tried looking at Device Manager for something suspicious. I didn't find anything. And I didn't get to keep the Android phone for long. I had to switch it for an Apple iPhone, which was tethered without trouble. But I am going to have more Android tethering in the future.

  • Possible duplicate of [RNDIS Connection Lag On Windows, Not Linux](https://superuser.com/questions/446495/rndis-connection-lag-on-windows-not-linux) – qasdfdsaq Mar 19 '17 at 17:57
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    As an aside, I've been doing this for nearly 2 years (Windows 7, Android phone) and have not noticed any slowdown on Windows - with the exception of very occasional provider DNS issues (resolved mostly by retethering otherwise a phone restart (very rare)). – DavidPostill Mar 19 '17 at 17:58
  • @qasdfdsaq I can't say it is a duplicate. The problem is wildly different. (His problem is not actually getting connected for a long time. Mine is a sluggish Windows.) And the answer is wildly different. Perhaps the suggestion to update NDIS driver is a valid thing to try, but it no logical connection to my question. I can only say that question gives me an idea of something to try, which has equal probability of being a success or failure. –  Mar 19 '17 at 18:09
  • first of all you give the worst brief description of what tethering is, that I have ever seen. And why are you connecting your phone to your pc with a usb cable? The way I do it is I have an app called mobile hotspot https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stt.mobilehotspot&hl=en_GB I turn that on on my phone. Now my phone is like a wireless router. And I connect my computer to it like I would to any other wireless router. – barlop Mar 19 '17 at 18:13
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    @barlop it is vaguely reasonable to expect that a cabled solution, even a USB one, would be faster and more efficient than a wireless one. In addition not all desktop PCs have a wireless card so having to buy one simply to connect through your phone would be annoying when you've got perfectly good USB cables lying around. – Mokubai Mar 19 '17 at 18:20
  • I must admit though, last time i tried this the performance was not stellar. When you are connected can you see what, if anything, is using your bandwidth? Could Windows update be downloading and crippling your speed? – Mokubai Mar 19 '17 at 18:22
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    @barlop My PC does not have a wireless adapter. Also, what I wrote was not supposed to be a definition of tethering. I explained what I did. –  Mar 19 '17 at 18:31
  • @qasdfdsaq Alright. Updating NDIS worked. So, if you post it as an answer, I will give you a tick mark. Because I still think these questions are not duplicates. –  Mar 19 '17 at 18:59
  • @Mokubai: Indeed, I often use USB tethering instead of wireless because a) Faster and more reliable and b) Charges the phone at the same time. Even USB 2 will happily exceed 200Mbps whereas a lot of mobile phones' wireless won't. – qasdfdsaq Mar 20 '17 at 06:23
  • @FleetCommand: Eh, the underlying cause and symptoms are IMO, the same, as is the resolution. You may find different parts of Windows being sluggish but ultimately it's still the driver being unresponsive causing it. – qasdfdsaq Mar 20 '17 at 06:24

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