Figuring out my Internet speed bottleneck

[Caphalem]

Hello!

 

So I'm trying to figure out why my internet speed or at least bandwidth is so small. Maybe my internet provider is pulling one over me? Please help me figure out what's Actually going on here ;(

 

My setup:

• My internet is supposedly 600Mb/s (according to the provider)
• The router that I'm using is Netgear Nighthawk R7000
• Router firmware - Tomato v1.28 by shibby
• I'm using a Wi-Fi PCI adapter TP-Link Archer T9E
• My PC - MOBO: Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 CPU: AMD FX-8350 RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) 1866MHz C9 GPU: Asus Strix GTX 970
• Distance between PC and the router ~5 meters (obstacle - concrete wall that has a partially closed wooden door in it)

 

My situation:

 

I wasn't expecting 50MB/s download speed but I did expect to have something similar in the bandwidth. I wanted to be freely watch YouTube 1080p 60fps while downloading something at reasonable speeds.

Right now I'm downloading GTA V

Can't really watch YouTube without buffering every 10 seconds for something like 10 seconds...

 

Task manager says this:

And the router this:

 

 

I'm not using the 5G channels for my PC as it tends to be very noticeably "wavy". As in, for one second you get great speed and the next nearly no speed. That goes on a loop and is very annoying when gaming.

[noisebomb44]

How close are you to your router? How many are on the network? Maybe your ISP is throttling you, to check this go onto speedtest at different times of the day and compare. If the results are drastically different, your ISP is throttling you and you would need a VPN to get full speed. Besides, using a VPN could result in a lot higher speeds even if that's not the case, I doubled my internet speed but got a bit worse ping

 

EDIT:

Try moving your PC next to your router, if you still get those same speeds, it's probably not your wifis fault. Or better yet, plug your PC in with a cable and try the speeds, if they are higher it's your wifi that's causing it

[Jarno.]

Did you check the wifi channel? 

[Oshino Shinobu]

Task manager says this: and Router this: are both blank (at least, for me), so don't really know what speeds you're getting. 

 

Plug directly into your router with an ethernet cable and see what you get. If you get the speeds you're meant to, then WiFi is going to be the issue (no surprise really, WiFi sucks). For that sort of bandwidth, you'd really be wanting to use the 5GHz band. Try updating/clean installing your wireless NIC's drivers. 

[samcool55]

Honestly that seems about right speed wise.

The 5M + obstacle is holding it back a LOT.

 

If you want to be sure, connect a laptop or whatever wired straight into the router and do a speedtest.

[Caphalem]

Ok, I'll try doing some speedtests and will connect a laptop via ethernet and see how the speed holds up tomorrow.

As for the channel, the router is picking one automatically based on what's crowded. It's pick is usually not crowded at all.

There's only 2 devices connected to it right now. My PC and my phone.

[paddy-stone]

It's almost certainly your wifi card, it even says in the pictures that the rate is 81mbps. As others have said you need to check with a cable to do speed tests really, especially if you're assuming ISP is "pulling one". The wifi card you have probably at max is only 150mbps anyway.

 

I quote 

5GHz

11ac: Up to 1300Mbps(dynamic)
11n: Up to 150Mbps(dynamic)
11a: Up to 54Mbps(dynamic)
2.4GHz
11n: Up to 600Mbps(dynamic)
11g: Up to 54Mbps(dynamic)
11b: Up to 11Mbps(dynamic)

So either you're on 2.4Ghz wifi and can get upto 600Mbps, or on 5Ghz and can get upto only 150Mbps, according to the info on your link of the tplink wifi card.

[tt2468]

It's doubtful that you will ever get more than 400Mbps on wifi. If you want to get your speed, wire your computer up.

[Caphalem]

I've done 2 tests today at different times. I used this PC and the laptop that is in the same room as the router (although opposite corners). The laptop itself is an Acer Aspire E15-571G

The first one was at around 14:30 and the second one around 21:30. I made sure that all of the tests use the same server. Both devices are using the 2.4GHz connection.

 

1st

• PC: D - 59.05 Mbps U - 187.76 Mbps
• Laptop(Wi-Fi): D - 63.71 Mbps U - 90.92 Mbps
• Laptop(cable): D - 191.31 Mbps U - 190.48 Mbps

2nd

• PC: D - 64.52 Mbps U - 192.00 Mbps
• Laptop(Wi-Fi): D - 61.67 Mbps U - 87.45 Mbps
• Laptop(cable): D - 191.53 Mbps U - 191.60 Mbps

 

While doing the second test I also decided to bring the laptop over to my PC room and do a Wi-Fi test while sitting next to it. Results were: D - 74.02 Mbps U - 87.92 Mbps.

 

@paddy-stone  The PC is using the 2.4GHz 11n connection. I know this because if you look at the task manager it says Connection type: 802.11n and the SSID: Mist. My 5GHz access point is called Mist 5G which is normally used by my phone.

[paddy-stone]

2 hours ago, Caphalem said:

I've done 2 tests today at different times. I used this PC and the laptop that is in the same room as the router (although opposite corners). The laptop itself is an Acer Aspire E15-571G

The first one was at around 14:30 and the second one around 21:30. I made sure that all of the tests use the same server. Both devices are using the 2.4GHz connection.

 

1st

• PC: D - 59.05 Mbps U - 187.76 Mbps
• Laptop(Wi-Fi): D - 63.71 Mbps U - 90.92 Mbps
• Laptop(cable): D - 191.31 Mbps U - 190.48 Mbps

2nd

• PC: D - 64.52 Mbps U - 192.00 Mbps
• Laptop(Wi-Fi): D - 61.67 Mbps U - 87.45 Mbps
• Laptop(cable): D - 191.53 Mbps U - 191.60 Mbps

 

While doing the second test I also decided to bring the laptop over to my PC room and do a Wi-Fi test while sitting next to it. Results were: D - 74.02 Mbps U - 87.92 Mbps.

 

@paddy-stone  The PC is using the 2.4GHz 11n connection. I know this because if you look at the task manager it says Connection type: 802.11n and the SSID: Mist. My 5GHz access point is called Mist 5G which is normally used by my phone.

You're missing the point entirely... to judge internet speed and if the ISP is providing what it should, you need to test using an ethernet cable.

[Caphalem]

Taking the ethernet cable out of the router and putting it into the Laptop yields the following results: D - 95.07Mbps U - 95.13Mbps On the same server, ofc.

I don't understand anything anymore. Previous cable tests where with a cable coming out of the router and into the laptop which gives me better results than simply having the ethernet cable going straight into the laptop. What?

[paddy-stone]

15 minutes ago, Caphalem said:

Taking the ethernet cable out of the router and putting it into the Laptop yields the following results: D - 95.07Mbps U - 95.13Mbps On the same server, ofc.

I don't understand anything anymore. Previous cable tests where with a cable coming out of the router and into the laptop which gives me better results than simply having the ethernet cable going straight into the laptop. What?

Does your laptop only have a 10/100 ethernet port? When you say "server" are you referring to an OOKLA speedtest server? and you should be testing from the router to whichever device. Then if you still get bad speeds, get in touch with your ISP with the results from those tests. In a lot of cases they can make changes to your router for you if you're not that confident in doing it. Make sure you back up your config of the router just in case they reset it or something.

[paddy-stone]

Oh, never mind, I just re-read your submission above of your previous speeds on the laptop.

[Caphalem]

@paddy-stone

"When you say "server" are you referring to an OOKLA speedtest server?"

Yes, I meant OOKLA speedtest server. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

[kirashi]

On 4/7/2017 at 0:57 PM, Caphalem said:

Hello!

 

So I'm trying to figure out why my internet speed or at least bandwidth is so small. Maybe my internet provider is pulling one over me? Please help me figure out what's Actually going on here ;(

 

I wasn't expecting 50MB/s download speed but I did expect to have something similar in the bandwidth. I wanted to be freely watch YouTube 1080p 60fps while downloading something at reasonable speeds.

Right now I'm downloading GTA V

Can't really watch YouTube without buffering every 10 seconds for something like 10 seconds...

 

I'm not using the 5G channels for my PC as it tends to be very noticeably "wavy". As in, for one second you get great speed and the next nearly no speed. That goes on a loop and is very annoying when gaming.

Steam is reporting you achieved a download speed of 5.4MB/s peak, which is equivalent to around 45Mbit/s. Remember that MB != Mb, and internet speed is measured in Mb, not MB. There's a difference.

 

Now here's the best part: I run the EXACT same firmware (mine's build 130AIO, but otherwise the same) on the EXACT same router and consistently get between 120Mb/s and 140Mb/s during peak hours. Our plan through our ISP is rated for 150Mb down and 15Mb up (because North America doesn't believe in symmetrical speeds for some stupid reason) and we can sometimes even get some overprovisioning, resulting in up to 180Mb download speeds.

 

This is what my 5GHz SSID looks like:

MAC Address	C6:04:15:25:2E:4E
Wireless Mode	Access Point
Wireless Network Mode	Auto
Interface Status	Up (LAN)
Radio	Enabled
SSID	spACe-5G
Broadcast	Enabled
Security	WPA2 Personal (PSK) + AES
Channel	52 - 5.260 GHz
Channel Width	40 MHz
Interference Level	Acceptable
Rate	600 Mbps

 

Who's your ISP, and what's the exact name of the plan you're paying for?

[Caphalem]

2 hours ago, kirashi said:

Steam is reporting you achieved a download speed of 5.4MB/s peak, which is equivalent to around 45Mbit/s. Remember that MB != Mb, and internet speed is measured in Mb, not MB. There's a difference.

 

Now here's the best part: I run the EXACT same firmware (mine's build 130AIO, but otherwise the same) on the EXACT same router and consistently get between 120Mb/s and 140Mb/s during peak hours. Our plan through our ISP is rated for 150Mb down and 15Mb up (because North America doesn't believe in symmetrical speeds for some stupid reason) and we can sometimes even get some overprovisioning, resulting in up to 180Mb download speeds.

 

This is what my 5GHz SSID looks like:

MAC Address	C6:04:15:25:2E:4E
Wireless Mode	Access Point
Wireless Network Mode	Auto
Interface Status	Up (LAN)
Radio	Enabled
SSID	spACe-5G
Broadcast	Enabled
Security	WPA2 Personal (PSK) + AES
Channel	52 - 5.260 GHz
Channel Width	40 MHz
Interference Level	Acceptable
Rate	600 Mbps

 

Who's your ISP, and what's the exact name of the plan you're paying for?

I'm in Lithuania so I doubt that my ISP and the plan would be very helpful to you. I've noticed that through my 5G connection I can get up to 100Mbps(a bit over 12MB/s). I'm currently rather ill but I'm planning on confronting them when I'm better. By the way, do you also get absolutely terrible connection performance when online gaming on the 5G connection?

[LAwLz]

Connect your laptop straight into the LAN port and run a speedtest again, preferably multiple times from different servers nearby.

 

That way you will bypass any issues that might be caused by your router and WiFi.

[Caphalem]

49 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Connect your laptop straight into the LAN port and run a speedtest again, preferably multiple times from different servers nearby.

 

That way you will bypass any issues that might be caused by your router and WiFi.

Ok, here's the results.

 

Download Upload (Mbps)

My ISP server

594.32      622.42

529.46      609.70

555.66      619.29

 

The server I used previously(if translated to English - national telecommunication network)

190.86      164.44

190.08      164.04

190.73      164.37

 

Some random serer

547.70      603.90

478.24      616.64

574.83      614.11

 

Some random server but about 100km away

374.11      285.85

359.10      300.30

295.20      302.20

 

 

Well this is embarrassing. Looks like the server I was running my tests on previously was somehow shit. Still, even running tests on my ISP server from my PC I get similar results as previously.

[paddy-stone]

There you go, wifi was the problem kind of... also the server. Now do a test with wifi again and use those same servers, then you can get an idea of how much your wifi is slowing you down too. You may get better results than before now you know to use several servers just in case some of them are crap.... I assumed  you already knew this, so partly my fault for assuming, but at least you know now.