paid for 50mbps, speedtest says 30mbps

[rgnd]

So, I paid for 50 Mbps and then, when I went home to test how many Mbps I got, speedtest.net was saying that I have 30.78 Mbps download and 4.43 Mbps for upload.
I tried:

1. Rebooting the router.
2. Unplugging router and plugging back in.
3. Disconnecting everything from my router (devices, except my pc because how will I test it).
4. Unplugging EVERY cable and plugging back in.
5. Waited 5 days maybe something would happen.

And still nothing. What should I do?

[PlayStation 2]

What ISP do you have?

[FlappyBoobs]

If you are running on ADSL (over the phone lines) then this is normal and there is little you can do because you will be running at the max line speed already. If it is Cable internet then call them up because they should be hitting the speeds advertised. Speedtest is not always reliable with working out this sort of issue because of server load, location etc etc, however I've never really seen it fail to get close to my real speed. 

[rgnd]

My ISP is OTEnet S.A.

[NelizMastr]

FTTH, FTTN and xDSL connections for residential areas are always shared. Chances are you get better speeds at like 2AM at night, simply because less people are using the infrastructure.

 

Also, wireless or ethernet? A direct ethernet connection is always optimal.

[rgnd]

1. How do I check if I am using ADSL?
2. I'm using Ethernet.

[Dedayog]

2 minutes ago, upf9 said:

1. How do I check if I am using ADSL?
2. I'm using Ethernet.

Read the contract again.  You're paying for UP TO.  It's tested at the SOURCE not your house.

 

AT&T DSL in the US had this issue, you paid for 48Mb/sec but that's guaranteed at their end not yours.  

[Skiiwee29]

I work in the ISP Networking field and the most common cause of this is that you are using a DOCSIS 2.0 modem. What is the specific MAKE/Model of the modem you are using?

[rgnd]

Ok, I will just call them someday and I will see.

[Settlerteo]

57 minutes ago, upf9 said:

My ISP is OTEnet S.A.

You live in Greece right? It doesn't matter if it's Cosmote, Vodafone or anyone else. If it is ADSL the sold you UP to 50(so you can't do anything at all, only change your contract if there is a lower Mbps-wise one which could be less expensive) Mbps but i am 99% sure that you bought VDSL so you should totally call them to find a solution. If it's VDSL which is through optical fiber you should have the speed you bought or at least a little less(up to 4-5 Mbps less).

[KingCollins]

1 hour ago, NelizMastr said:

FTTH, FTTN and xDSL connections for residential areas are always shared. Chances are you get better speeds at like 2AM at night, simply because less people are using the infrastructure.

 

Also, wireless or ethernet? A direct ethernet connection is always optimal.

This is always the case here with most ISP's in Ireland also. My parents are paying for a 80mb/s DSL line but only get a maximum of 40ish mb/s at 6pm in the evening. They only hit their maximum line speeds early in the day or the middle of the night when everyone is alseep!

[Alex Atkin UK]

With DSL there are various possibilities.

 

1) Your line to the cabinet is long so you are only connecting at around 35Mbit which would result in around 30Mbit real-world speeds.

2) Contention, in that you ARE connected fast enough for 50Mbit but other users have congested the cabinet/ISP so its slowing down.

3) Your ISP sucks for single-thread speeds or your local speedtest.net servers suck.  In which case testing with sites like dslreports.com/speedtest might show a higher speed than speedtest.net as it will attempt more connections.

 

Number 1 you probably can't do anything about, its a limitation of cramming digital data down a phone line not designed for it.
Number 2 you would typically see improvement during less busy hours.

Number 3 might not actually be a problem at all, as sometimes speedtest.net just doesn't have servers that give a real-world representation of performance.  I'd try some real-world downloads such as Steam to see how they perform.

[rgnd]

EDIT: FOUND REASON:

The reason is: my router doesn't support 50mbps, the cables don't support 50mbps and some other reasons I forgot.
 

[Alex Atkin UK]

I can understand the router not supporting 50Mbit, but the cables doesn't make sense.  Its pretty rare to find a cable that doesn't support Gigabit and if its the ethernet ports they will support either 10, 100 or 1000Mbit.  There is no way the cables would limit you to 30Mbit.

[rgnd]

On 2/8/2019 at 4:54 PM, Alex Atkin UK said:

I can understand the router not supporting 50Mbit, but the cables doesn't make sense.  Its pretty rare to find a cable that doesn't support Gigabit and if its the ethernet ports they will support either 10, 100 or 1000Mbit.  There is no way the cables would limit you to 30Mbit.

My cables support up to 48mbps, also forgot: the line that I have on my house ONLY supports up to 30mbps.

[Dedayog]

2 hours ago, upf9 said:

My cables support up to 48mbps, also forgot: the line that I have on my house ONLY supports up to 30mbps.

How on earth do you know that?  

[intertan]

On 1/7/2019 at 8:07 AM, FlappyBoobs said:

If you are running on ADSL (over the phone lines) then this is normal and there is little you can do because you will be running at the max line speed already. If it is Cable internet then call them up because they should be hitting the speeds advertised. Speedtest is not always reliable with working out this sort of issue because of server load, location etc etc, however I've never really seen it fail to get close to my real speed. 

not exactly, my isp offers 5,10 and 25. Always get the speed or slightly more

 

how are testing the speed? to do a true speed test only 1 device and a hardwired connection

[Alex Atkin UK]

On 2/9/2019 at 4:30 PM, upf9 said:

My cables support up to 48mbps, also forgot: the line that I have on my house ONLY supports up to 30mbps.

What cables?  Ethernet only supports 10,100,1000,or 10000.

As for the line to your house, again how have you figured this out?  If its DSL then yes its possible your line can only support 30Mbit (this is generally due to the length of the line to the telephone network) but if its Cable, that's rather unlikely.  That is usually limited by your modem and local cabinet, but if you were able to order 50Mbit then clearly the cabinet supports it.

[Tsuki]

On 1/7/2019 at 6:05 AM, upf9 said:

So, I paid for 50 Mbps

false.   

 

you paid for "up to" 50Mbps.

if you're getting 30, thats within spec.  especially if it was at peak hours where they normally throttle the connection.

 

if its like that all the time(check at several points throughout the day), then contact your isp directly and let them know

[Clock_Work]

On 2/9/2019 at 11:30 AM, upf9 said:

My cables support up to 48mbps, also forgot: the line that I have on my house ONLY supports up to 30mbps.

I think someone lied to you. Post a picture of your modem and we may be able to help you more. Ethernet only comes in increments of 10, 100, 1000, and 10000. So if you're getting 30mbps you're NOT bottlenecked by your ethernet cable.

I tried to find what kind of internet OTEnet S.A. provides and all I could find was it said "broadband" on Wikipedia. Now that could mean cable but not necessarily.

If you're getting your internet through Coax, there's no physical limit on speed. it's a radio signal and the cable is more of a dumb antenna. That just depends on what kind of modulation they are using. If you have an inadequate cable (like RG59) you could get lower speeds but it would be pretty inconsistent. You'd most likely just experience a lot of drops because RG59 doesn't really carry higher frequencies very well (what the internet runs on). You would want RG6 which is a lot more common nowadays. RG59 is only really good for Analog TV.

What the other poster said about the most common reason for slow speeds is an older modem with DOCSYS 2.0 is correct. DOCSYS 2.0 does not support as many channels as 3.0 nor does it support channel bonding so it's quite a lot slower. Post the type of modem you're using and we may be able to help.