Much lower internet speeds than my package guarantees...

[Wingle]

So I'm slightly incredulous as to why I may be getting way below the advertised speeds for my particular package. We've been using the M350 362Mbps package in our household for a while now, and have never reached even half the speeds advertised. I realise it's rare for users to see their max speeds, but at the moment we see about 70-90 Mbps download, nowhere near 362Mbps.

I brought this to Virgin's attention today, and through negotiation they recommended we upgrade to M500 at a discounted price, and that this would fix our issue. I'm feeling cynical. Surely increasing our capped speed isn't going to have any effect if we can't even meet the previous max advertised speed?

I'm starting to suspect the culprit to be our outdated hub 3. How can I go about organising an upgrade to our hub? It doesn't seem obvious on the Virgin Media website.

I use a wired connection to a third party TP link router with the Virgin hub in modem mode, just to extend our shoddy wifi connections. I then extend an ethernet cable to my desktop (which makes no difference to the 70-90 Mbps speeds). Feeling slightly at a loss?

Thanks.

[Scottyboy99]

I think your right to be cynical. I cannot see how the new package is going to fix things when you were getting nowhere near your previous max. You are not alone. There are problems aplenty and it seems to often be fobbed off as SNR. What a poor infrastructure that its all so susceptible.

Doubtful but the only thing that might be an issue is your router perhaps. Are the LAN/WAN ports 10/100/1000 rather than 10/100. 70-90 mbits sounds like it's the kind of max you'd hit on 10/100 port. 

[Wingle]

Hello, I'm fairly unused to the jargon involved in this sort of thing. When you refer to the ports and LAN/WAN I get a little confused. How can I go about confirming this setting and or changing it? 

Thanks for replying.

[Scottyboy99]

No problem, what is your router full model name? I'll try and look it up and see if can figure it out. I suspect all the ports will be 10/100/1000 (or gigabit) as all modern routers generally are but you never know. Don't worry too much if hassle but a picture of of the back of the hub and also router so I can see the cables. I'm not super techie but know a little bit.

I actually had problem myself when I first got virgin hub (albeit the version 5), the ethernet cable being used between hub and my router was gigabit but it didn't like it for some reason. Only giving 10/100 link speed. I swapped to another cable and all was then ok. So that could be an issue

Basically a 10/100 link speed maxes at around 70-90 mbits. Whilst 10/100/1000 will be around 700-900 mbits (I think).

[Wingle]

The Model is the TP-Link AC1200 (Archer C50). 

I've got the VM 3.0 Hub downstairs connected to the broadband port. Then a long cat 6 ethernet cable running up the stairs and into my room, where I have the router in modem mode. I've plugged the ethernet cable into the WAN port. 

This is the Quick installation guide or booklet provided with the router: 

https://static.tp-link.com/upload/manual/2023/202302/20230223/7106510102_Archer%20C50(EU)_QIG_V1.pdf

So the ethernet connects via the WAN port, and then I have another ethernet (Cat6) cable running to my desktop. The Router is also the Wifi broadcaster, as I understand it.

[jem101]

And there’s the problem, the Archer C50 only has 10/100 Mb/s ports on it, so they are effectively bottlenecking all of the connections. Nothing you can do other than to replace it with a newer model with gigabit Ethernet ports.

Bet you are pleased you didn’t go for the ‘upgraded speed which is guaranteed to fix it’ aren’t you? All it would have done is to make your wallet slightly lighter each month.

[Client62]

You need to discover if the network connection that has de-graded from 1000Mb/s to 100 Mb/s is the long one from the Hub3 up to the Router WAN port,

Also check if the connection from the Router to the Computer has de-graded from 1000Mb/s to 100 Mb/s 

The are 2 links to investigate, both need to be stable at 1000 Mb/s to enable you the enjoy the full subscription speed.

Scrub all of that. I agree the C50 Router is the root of your speed issues.

[Wingle]

Thanks for your help guys, I honestly get super confused looking at the array of technical specifications on these things' pages on Amazon, so I just went with what I thought would be the reasonably priced one. Time to upgrade once again! 

[carl_pearce]

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@Wingle wrote:

Thanks for your help guys, I honestly get super confused looking at the array of technical specifications on these things' pages on Amazon, so I just went with what I thought would be the reasonably priced one. Time to upgrade once again! 

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If it's this specific model then this is the cause of the slow speeds:

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-c50/#specifications

Just check for '1Gbps', '1000Mbps', or 'gigabit' Ethernet ports and you should be ok.

[jem101]

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@Wingle wrote:

Thanks for your help guys, I honestly get super confused looking at the array of technical specifications on these things' pages on Amazon, so I just went with what I thought would be the reasonably priced one. Time to upgrade once again! 

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No worries.

Think of it as being a chain of connections between the your device and the remote server, say, hosting a website. Imagine that a motorway was built between your house and where you work, then in principle, you could drive to work at a steady 70mph and be there in, what, 15 minutes? In reality, there are ‘slower’ roads in the way and your speed is limited by what these can accommodate. Actually , come to think about it,that’s not a very good analogy but it’ll probably do!

Bottom line, the maximum speed you can ever, ever get, is dependent on the ‘slowest’ link in the chain. In your case the Archer C50 only has network ports (sockets) that can run at a maximum of 100Mb/s and allowing for overheads etc, will top out at a realistic 80-90 Mb/s which what you are seeing. Unless this ‘bottleneck’ is removed then absolutely nothing else will make any difference. What you need to be looking for is a router which offers Ethernet connections which are labelled as 10/100/1000 or sometimes ‘gigabit’ speed.