1GB Internet Very Inconsistent

[Durvelle27]

Ok so i just upgraded yesterday to Comcast 1GB internet up from my 300Mbps plan i had with them. So far i'm not impressed as i've only gotten a little close to the actual speeds. It seems my speeds are very inconsistent and most of the time barely higher than 350Mbps. over wired i was able to reach 917Mbps once and over wifi 538Mbps once.


These are my results via ethernet Cat5e

These are over Wifi

Is this normal

 

[TheLostSwede]

I think you mean 1Gbit to start with.

Secondly, you'll NEVER get those kind of speeds using Wi-Fi, unless you have an 802.11ax router and a 3x3 802.11ax client to go with it and possibly not even then.
500Mbps+ over Wi-Fi is really fast.

The wired connection is about right. Keep in mind that you're most likely sharing a huge chunk of that bandwidth with other people in the building/area, as this is over the cable TV network and that is always shared with others at some point or another. Try testing late at night or early morning, when not so many others are using the internet and see how it performs then.

Your upload speed is kind of crap for that kind of download speed though, but I guess that's what your provider offers.

 

[Solaris17]

hm yes and no. So depending on how the ISP is distributing the bandwidth you might be on a shared node. If that is the case you can get "up to" the speed you are paying for but it is not "guaranteed".

Another issue is wifi itself. Wifi by nature isn't as fast or as consistent as wired internet. While their are alot of technical reasons for this and work arounds like channel grooming at the heart of that wifi is half duplex. Thats just a little factoid since speed tests are done 1 at a time up then down and not at the same time.

Lastly is the router itself, while the unit may be able to push gig speeds it may not be able to do it for an extended amount of time. For various reasons. However in even being able to do it the ISP will qualify it as "compatible".

Lest we forget the speedtest server in which you are testing from.

Now to the heart of the issue, seeing as you dont have synchronous up and down I am going to guess you are on Cable. Honestly, this is probably a shared node for your neighborhood. Your performance will be all over the place depending on the usage of the node itself. If thats the case and its probably the most likely their is nothing you can do. You might be able to call and ask and they might move you to a tap that is connected to a different uplink and the speeds may level out a bit, but the reality is you will always be competing for bandwidth with anyone else on the node.

For shits and giggledsyou could try wired, but I doubt the experience will be much different.

 

[Durvelle27]

hm yes and no. So depending on how the ISP is distributing the bandwidth you might be on a shared node. If that is the case you are can get "up to" the speed you are paying for but it is not "guaranteed".

Another issue is wifi itself. Wifi by nature isn't as fast or as consistent as wired internet. While their are alot of technical reasons for this and work arounds like channel grooming at the heart of that wifi is half duplex. Thats just a little factoid since speed tests are done 1 at a time up then down and not at the same time.

Lastly is the router itself, while the unit may be able to push gig speeds it may not be able to do it for an extended amount of time. For various reasons. However in even being able to do it the ISP will qualify it as "compatible".

Lest we forget the speedtest server in which you are testing from.

Now to the heart of the issue, seeing as you dont have synchronous up and down I am going to guess you are on Cable. Honestly, this is probably a shared node for your neighborhood. Your performance will be all over the place depending on the usage of the node itself. If thats the case and its probably the most likely their is nothing you can do. You might be able to call and ask and they might move you to a tab that is connected to a different uplink and the speeds may level out a bit, but the reality is you will always be competing for bandwidth with anyone else on the node.

For shits and giggled you could try wired, but I doubt the experience will be much different.

I posted wired speeds

 

[shovenose]

A lot of speedtest servers aren't that great.

500Mbps on WiFi is pretty damn good. Stick to wired Gigabit LAN for machines where you actually want the best performance.

Try to torrent Ubuntu server (torrent link is on the download Ubuntu page) using a good torrent client like Tixati and see how fast it is.

 

[Solaris17]

I posted wired speeds

I explained the limitations of wifi.

 

[Shou Miko]

What internet do you have any find over COAX or is this fiber?

In my country promise 1Gbit down with lowest of 900Mbit over COAX in reality it looks like your test results and worse I tried 1000/60Mbit and my connect was all over the place even new routers and bridging the isp's router did jack to say it mildly and I had to tell the isp what steps to troubleshoot because they didn't know anything about COAX.

I am not a internet tech from any company but I do have some knowledge for the backend COAX in my country what to do when troubleshooting and in the end the Sagemcom routers wasn't up to the job a year ago now my dad ordered 1000/100Mbit which the company called Fastspeed and that's the same connection the owner of the COAX cables provide so lets see how that goes because the 1000/60Mbit he got today doesn't work because all the cheaper companies use the same Sagemcom router but software is a bit difference.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Read your agreement. I bet it says it says "up to" 1Gbps.

Did you reboot your modem after they upgraded your service? Sometimes to get the actual increase, the gateway device (typically the modem) needs its firmware updated and that typically can only happen during a reboot (full power cycle) of the device.

 

[silentbogo]

If you have friends with gigabit connection, then I'd talk to them and re-test via iperf, or at least manually re-test on different speedtest servers with multi-gig connection.
Had to deal with this issue on one of our servers. Our customer asked to post some average speedtest results before we start measurements, so I ran Speedtest CLI a good dozen times with pathetic results and soon found out that in Ukraine there are only 3 or so public servers that can consistently measure speeds above 1Gbit/s. Plus, one of our servers is routed in such a way that the fastest speedtest server for one of our machines is the slowest for the other one (two different datacenters, but both in Kiev only about 20km apart).

 

[Wavetrex]

speedtest.net means nothing, the servers themselves might be overloaded or simply too far.

To test your actual connection speed... there is one way:
Torrents.

If you want to stay in the legal bounds get the biggest linux distro you can find and let it rip with something like qBitTorrent (which can handle 1gbps just fine).
Or you can try some large bluray rip from some shady website and then delete if after testing done. No harm done if you're not actually watch it

 

[Shou Miko]

If you have friends with gigabit connection, then I'd talk to them and re-test via iperf, or at least manually re-test on different speedtest servers with multi-gig connection.
Had to deal with this issue on one of our servers. Our customer asked to post some average speedtest results before we start measurements, so I ran Speedtest CLI a good dozen times with pathetic results and soon found out that in Ukraine there are only 3 or so public servers that can consistently measure speeds above 1Gbit/s. Plus, one of our servers is routed in such a way that the fastest speedtest server for one of our machines is the slowest for the other one (two different datacenters, but both in Kiev only about 20km apart).

iperf is a great way of testing but even when you don't reach the speeds there is something that's not stable could be the isp router.

I had this problem in the past and my dad got it at the moment and the isp refuses to do more about it even it's the router if the tech person that comes out and test at the COAX connector at the wall with no cap on it does 1500Mbit stable with not issues and about 1000 up.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Another thing, you got quite high pings, 34-40ms is actually quite terrible.
I have nowhere near your speed, but I have 10ms ping with a similar distance to the server.

Also, note that even Gigabit Ethernet on a PC peaks at around 980Mbps under the best of conditions, so you won't see speeds higher than that on a wired Gigabit connection.

 

[Solaris17]

Another thing, you got quite high pings, 34-40ms is actually quite terrible.
I have nowhere near your speed, but I have 10ms ping with a similar distance to the server.

off topic, but thats considered normal for US infra. The only people that generally have lower are FTTP. Mine currently at about 100miles (via FTTP)

 

[silentbogo]

To test your actual connection speed... there is one way:
Torrents.

Not super-accurate, but at least you can get the ballpark of your speed. Downloading games on Steam is probably a better measure (I'm getting around 98Mbit/s on 100Mbit/s connection).

 

[Durvelle27]

ISP is Comcast

Connection is Cable/Coax

I’ve tried both Ethernet and Wired

 

[EarthDog]

ISP is Comcast

Connection is Cable/Coax

I’ve tried both Ethernet and Wired

Are you using your own modem and router or renting theirs?

off topic, but thats considered normal for US infra. The only people that generally have lower are FTTP. Mine currently at about 100miles (via FTTP)

I dont have FTTP but my latency is typically a lot lower than 30-40.

Here is a shot from my phone...wireless obviously.

 

[R-T-B]

I have the 1gbps service... got it for free for complaining enough, lol.

Will post my results shortly. Wired direct from router system...

Here:

 

[Frick]

Another thing, you got quite high pings, 34-40ms is actually quite terrible.
I have nowhere near your speed, but I have 10ms ping with a similar distance to the server.

This is very dependant on location, not just distance. Where I live I've never had anything outside the town ever measure below ~30ms. My parents have about ~50ms to anything. Nothing wrong anywhere, just the way it is with router hopping.

 

[R-T-B]

This is very dependant on location, not just distance. Where I live I've never had anything outside the town ever measure below ~30ms. My parents have about ~50ms to anything. Nothing wrong anywhere, just the way it is with router hopping.

Indeed. I am completely copper coax but live near a substation despite being rural, so 12ms ping.

 

[Durvelle27]

Are you using your own modem and router or renting theirs?


I dont have FTTP but my latency is typically a lot lower than 30-40.

Here is a shot from my phone...wireless obviously.

View attachment 126771

I use their modem with my router

 

[Athlonite]

Gee you guys have some whack upload speeds any reason comcrap aren't offering 1000/500Mbps

 

[Jetster]

Gee you guys have some whack upload speeds any reason comcrap aren't offering 1000/500Mbps

For a commercial price they will. EDIT I just looked it up wow the 1000/100 is now 1000/35 for $500 a month

 

[advanced3]

 

[arbiter]

Gee you guys have some whack upload speeds any reason comcrap aren't offering 1000/500Mbps

Most residential area's still use 4 channel upload docsis3 and can't offer more then that. As for business side getting more that would be fiber to the door.

 

[johnspack]

Man, why are our ping rates so high here... I get lowest pinging a server in the next province over: