OT - Router issue?

caliking

I need to pick some brains about a personal IT problem. Disclaimer : no eggs were lit, no pictures were taken.

I'm supposed to be getting 105MBPS down from Comcast. I often find that I'm only getting ~7MBPS down. Doesn't matter if I power cycle the modem (Zoom 5341J). If I unplug the ethernet cable from the computer to the router specifically, wait 10-20 seconds, then reconnect, my download speed increases 10x to about 70MBPS. This is without power cycling the router.

My mind is too feeble to know what causes this. Anyone have an idea?

cazzy

Just call me fool 

cazzy

Nothing to see here...move along.   

Eggcelsior

**** answer: You answered your own question. You have Comcast. 

Non-**** answer: A) Have to hooked the modem directly to the computer? B. ) Call Carl. 

caliking

I was trying to be decent and leave you alone with your baby ( read: new  home theater). But that's what I was going to do next.

cazzy

Eggcelsior said:

**** answer: You answered your own question. You have Comcast. 

Non-**** answer: A) Have to hooked the modem directly to the computer? B. ) Call Carl. 

Agree....first thing I would suggest is to bypass router and connect directly to a computer.  After doing so...power cycle modem.  

cazzy

Also...router model would be helpful.

caliking

You guys are so picky... router is ASUS RT-N16

I know it will be faster if I bypass the router. And power cycling the modem didn't make a difference. What I want to know is why the the difference in speed kicks in when I disconnect the Ethernet cable from computer to router and then reconnect. I've tried this a few times over the past few days and it has been consistent. The speed does not jump if I unplug then reconnect the cable from the modem to the router.

@Eggcelsior - I hear ya about Comcast. But whenever they silently double my bill after the 12mo promo ends, I've been able to swing a deal with them. I'm paying $45/mo for 105 MBPS down (in theory), but I'm still pretty happy with the 70MBPS down that I get. They wanted to charge me $70/mo for 30 MBPS down when my promo ended recently.

jimithing

What are you doing that you are getting 7MBPS down?  Are you downloading a torrent or something from another website?  It's possible that whatever your downloading doesn't have the bandwidth that you do.  So you're not seeing the full potential.

Go to speedtest.net and run a speed test.  When it's done click "Share this result" and then post a link to your results.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/4192676189.png

Also, since you're on comcast your internet connection largely depends on how much bandwidth others around your house are using.  That's just how cable internet works.  That's why DSL was better to begin with and that's why fiber is better now.  So if you have Verizon Fios or AT&T Uverse those might be a better option if you're really after speed.

hapster

Here is my test result as an example...


Edit... never mind

<a href="http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4193209130"><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/4193209130.png" /></a>

paqman

Based on the fact that you simply unplugged and reconnected the ethernet cable, it could be some kind of throttling based on MAC address.

It could also be a configuration problem with your network adapter settings.  Full duplex VS half duplex, speed setting, jumbo frame setting.

Knowing that Comcast is a cable provider, it is unlikely to be an MTU conflict but if you are using some kind of VPN, it could be.

One last thing could be caused by security software on your computer.

Have you tried replacing the network cable?

caliking

Fixed!

@paqman - you nailed it. After snooping around on the interwebs for a solution, I checked the network adapter speed and duplex settings. Set it to "auto" and problem solved. I'm getting 95 down, 12 up consistently for days now. Earlier the speed would fall back to 6-7 down after a few hours.

Thanks!

DMW

caliking said:

Fixed!

@paqman - you nailed it. After snooping around on the interwebs for a solution, I checked the network adapter speed and duplex settings. Set it to "auto" and problem solved. I'm getting 95 down, 12 up consistently for days now. Earlier the speed would fall back to 6-7 down after a few hours.

Thanks!

Missed this thread. Manually setting speed/duplex has been solved for a decade. Auto FTW.

caliking

Damn you @DMW! Where were you when I needed you??

I'm just glad I didn't waste any time with tech support on the phone ("did you reset your router? Did you reset your modem? Did you reboot your computer?") and end up on a wild goose chase and change my router and modem out first.

Just goes to show that all of life's problems CAN be solved on this forum!

cazzy

So at one point did you screw your **** up?  You doctors, y'all always tinker with ****!  

DMW

cazzy said:

So at one point did you screw your **** up?  You doctors, y'all always tinker with ****!  

Especially *those* kind of doctors...

texaswig

I just got 30 down 5 up installed today. Getting 12 down 5 up. Over wifi standing 5 foot from router the same one you have. It wasn't going very fast at first. The tech then got it to do 26d and 8u.oh and it's greenville cable company. Time warner has 100mbps for same price for the first year of 2.thinking about that. 

travisstrick

travisstrick

Nerds!

johnkitchens

You guys are so lucky. The fastest plan I can get here is u verse at 18mb down. I can only get 13 to 14 down on a good day. My modem is set to channel 5. That gives me the best results. Some days it will not work right, and I will have to try other channels. 

Auto seems to never work.

theyolksonyou

My VCR is set to channel 3

texaswig

We've always had 10. But I've all 3 of us were streaming video it didn't do so well. 

caliking

cazzy said:

So at one point did you screw your **** up?  You doctors, y'all always tinker with ****!  

Careful. I almost choked the last IT guy I had to deal with coz he was being a dipshit.

I think the setting may have been changed a few years ago when I had DSL service. Who knows.

Eggcelsior

texaswig said:

We've always had 10. But I've all 3 of us were streaming video it didn't do so well. 

You need at least 15-20 for that to prevent buffering. Maybe 25.

Begger

My router has a 'maximum speed' feature.   If I was told to expect 30meg and had it set for 15, that's about ALL I'd get, no matter what.
Setting to 10% to 15% ABOVE your listed maximum should get you there.

Also, how ARE you measuring download speed?   CNET is good and a few others are available.    One service allows the choice of WHERE to test speed to/from.    I live in SoCal and as I check further away the 'ping' time rises and download speed begins to suffer.  

Little Steven

caliking said:

cazzy said:

So at one point did you screw your **** up?  You doctors, y'all always tinker with ****!  

Careful. I almost choked the last IT guy I had to deal with coz he was being a dipshit.

I think the setting may have been changed a few years ago when I had DSL service. Who knows.

Easy on the poor guy. He was in Calcutta.

blind99

johnkitchens said:

You guys are so lucky. The fastest plan I can get here is u verse at 18mb down. I can only get 13 to 14 down on a good day. My modem is set to channel 5. That gives me the best results. Some days it will not work right, and I will have to try other channels. 

Auto seems to never work.

I have wow cable. Their selling point was "cheap."  It worked, everyone subscribed, now they don't have the bandwidth for everyone and it's unusable at night. Oh, and they jacked their prices waaaaaay up. 

caliking

Little Steven said:

Easy on the poor guy. He was in Calcutta.

Ha! Nope - he was right in front of me, in my office, trying to feed me some BS