Not achieving minimum speed (new contract, 350Mb/s)

[higgsboson]

Hi

Just took out new contract, speed raised to 350Mb/s, but speed test only registers 150Mb/s max. Modem is in "modem mode". Network Status attached. Are these figures OK? Downstream frequencies seem quite varied.

Thanks

[higgsboson]

Couldn't edit!
When I said the frequencies seemed varied I was talking about power levels. Sorry, should have been clearer!

[jbrennand · Accepted solution]

What make/model of Router are you using and what wifi equipment?

Are you testing on wifi or an ethernet connection? If wifi do it wired and see what that gets.

Post up The configuration data as well

Stats are a little off. Up powers are high (but in range) but dropping to a lower qam and throwing T3 errors means they are struggling. Down powers are ok - but PostRS errors are not good channel 7 particularly bad - do this first...
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Switch the Hub off and unplug it from the mains supply for five minutes. Whilst it's off, do a quick check that all of your coax cable connections are in nice and "finger" tight - at the Hub and wall box and also at any connectors etc. Ensure there are no “unterminated cable loose ends. Disconnect all the connections and reconnect to be sure. Also check that the internal wiring is ok with no kinking or chaffing, check that all looks good with the outside cabling and wall box (no “staples, etc.,) piercing the cables.. Then switch the Hub back on and leave ~5 minutes to get back up

When all done, check back in the settings and ensure that the RS error counts and T3 errors have all reset to 0. Then check every hour or so to see if they start reappearing - they shouldn't. If they do (particularly the postRS and T3 ones) you have a problem (noise) that only a Tech visit will sort.

[higgsboson]

Hi John

Thanks for the reply. The router is an ASUS RT-N66U, using a wired (ethernet) connection @1Gb/s (File transfer rate over network via ethernet is around 111MB/s to my NAS, so I think the router is OK.

I actually went through some of thee checks you outline yesterday with a member of the support team because I temporarily lost internet, but it's probably worth another go. The config data is attached.

I'll switch the Modem off etc later and check the connections and the errors, if the speed is still low I probably need a tech visit. Thanks for the info, it's appreciated.

[jbrennand]

OK - config file shows the Hub is provisioned for 350 speeds.

Can you do a "pure" speed check like this...
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As you expect >100Mbps then connect a 1GB enabled computer/laptop, with up to date drivers, via a NEW and working Cat5e/6a ethernet cable, directly into the Hub's active port after disconnecting the Asus. This ensures that NO other devices are connected

Test speeds at https://speedtest.samknows.com/ - try on 2 different browsers.

If they are still low – boot your device into Windows safe+networking mode - to disable any potentially interfering software - and try again.

There are many posts on here (I have a list of ~30!) where QoS software, unknown/flaky software, old network card drivers, corrupted browsers, bad cables or other connected devices are limiting speeds on tests.

Report back what that gets.

[higgsboson]

Hi
When I quoted 111MB/s I was quoting bytes per sec, which would equate to IGb/s+ on the ethernet port. I'll try the direct connection with a new cable later.

[higgsboson]

Hi John

Problem sorted!

I swapped to router mode and made a direct connection from computer to modem with a CAT 6 cable (which was not without it's own issues as VM were having problems anyway!), and eventually managed to get connected and carry out a speed test. Results were excellent, 360+ Mb/s D/S and 37Mb/s U/S Then reconnected in Modem mode , keeping the existing CAT6 cable between computer and router, and using a new CAT 6 cable between my ASUS router and the modem, and bingo, all good, 378Mb/s D/S and 37Mb/s U/S.

So the problem was the cables, not sure which, don't care much, old ones binned!

Thanks again for your help and suggestions

[Andrew-G]

Your hub stats showed a couple of things that would have nothing to do with your router, or the ethernet cable, in that there's a hint of upstream noise with one channel dropping modulation to 32 QAM (not too serious, might not be a problem at all, but a few T3 timeouts cropping up as well), and indications of noise ingress on several downstream channels in the form of post-RS error counts, particularly on 187 MHz.  You might sort that out by undoing and remaking all coax cable connections.  A reboot will zero the error counters, but if the post-RS count is creeping up by more than a tiny handful each day then there's a problem that'll persist possibly as erratic speeds or an unreliable connection. 

[higgsboson]

Hi Andrew-G, thanks for your observations, I'll keep an eye on the stats for a while, all good ATM so I'm a happy bunny!