Should be connected at 1 GB... but I'm not

usafjay1976 · May 2020

Hi all, first post....
I recently switched over to Spectrum's 1 GB internet. When the technician tested the line, it shows 950 MB download... that's great! But speedtest results are all over the place. This morning, OOKLA speedtest showed 270 MB... Every now and then I seem to hit 4 or even 500 MB on a speed test, but it usually hovers around 250-350 MB... I have CAT 6 cables, and all normal tests on my computer show good (I have an Intel 1 GB NIC). I can't figure out I'm not connected at 1 GB or what could be slowing down my computer. FING shows everything normal (at least from a quick glance). The technician out here yesterday assumes it's something with my computer but he couldn't test it which I understand. I'm running Win 10 Home with a 64 bit operating system. I have an Intel Core i5 8400 CPU at 2.80 GHz with 16.0 GB of RAM. My computer is hardwired with CAT 6 to the modem and router.

I really don't use my computer for much as I had it running of WiFi in the past. I only use it for Microsoft Teams and to play some Steam games. I don't visit malicious sites. I had Norton AV and Malware Bytes on here and they never detected any issues. I uninstalled them and turned on Windows Defender... still no issues but I didn't put Norton or Malware Bytes back on... no changes.

If anybody has any suggestions as to what could possibly be slowing my connection down so much, I'd appreciate it!

Robin · May 2020

@usafjay1976
Thanks for the post. Any guidance @kltaylor @Marc @rooted

usafjay1976 · May 2020

A little more info, when I'm standing right next to my router and modem, my WiFi speed according to speedtest is 410 MB which is really good... the computer on the otherhand, which is connected and hardwired with a CAT 6 cable is at 270... but again, it fluctuates... sometimes up to approximately 300, 400, even 500. I've seen 9 00 a few times too, but rarely. Buy my my WiFi is pretty consistent on the phone. Thanks for any help you can offer!

rooted · May 2020

Unfortunately this is the trials and tribulations of DOCSIS 3.1 cable internet, don't drive yourself crazy it's perfectly normal. I have Cox gigabit service and it's the exact same way.

See this story:

https://medium.com/@Dornquast/spectrum-internet-1gbps-service-is-13x-slower-than-400mbps-service-fc6fa57e55c

kltaylor · May 2020

The aggravating thing about consumer internet packages, is that they 'guarantee' "up to" the speeds that they advertise. As long as your internet 'comes close' to what they advertise, they are meeting the contractual obligation that they have with you.

First rule, speedtest.net is biased. Comcast owns them, and likes to refer to that site for their proof. I like to use https://testmy.net instead. It doesn't use Flash to calculate speeds, it's HTML 5 and actually places a load on the test (random data calculating to specific data sizes) to test the accuracy.

Use that, set it up so that it will issue a continuous test so that if there is an issue with speeds, you can present that data to Spectrum.

Also, ensure that the model of modem and router (same unit?) can handle speeds up to and beyond 1Gig. Check your Ethernet cables as well, Cat8 cables are out now (updated my gaming rig with one) so ensure that the bottle neck isn't you.

rooted · May 2020

No DOCSIS 3.1 modem can handle more than 1 Gbps on a single LAN cable that I know of, some including the one I have can do bonding using the second LAN port but that's not needed currently.

Some people do consistently get over 900 Mbps downstream but it's a rarity and it's usually those living in a place with fiber as an option so the nodes aren't oversaturated.

The reality is if you can get 500 consistently you are doing okay, if you can't there likely isn't anything that can be done.

kltaylor · May 2020

Amazon seems to have one, but I have no experience with it so unable to say whether or not it maintains speeds for Gigabit connections. What's weird is that if he's 'leasing' the equipment from the ISP, they should have a compatible modem to support the speed that they claim to sell.

Although I'd still want to own my own equipment in either situation, the less amount of money that I have to provide to big-box ISP's, the better.

rooted · May 2020

Yeah I was using Cox's "Panoramic WiFi" gateway for a while which has excellent wireless but couldn't disable IPv6 or set my own DNS servers which I needed to do. So I purchased an Arris CM8200 modem which goes to a MikroTik hAP ac2 router and a Linksys ea7500 acting as my WAP, it's a nice setup and I can get around 600 Mbps over wireless and 800 Mbps wired on good days.

I do want to try bonding since my router, modem, and ISP support it but I've not gotten around to trying it yet.

I do get better speeds with the CM8200 vs the CGM4141 provided by Cox, although the wireless was a bit better with the CGM4141.

kltaylor · May 2020

<nod> there is an attraction to bonding for sure, I would like to try it as well. Will have to see if my setup will allow that and if so, start working towards it.

usafjay1976 · May 2020

I appreciate the response guys. Still no resolution here. Apparently, Spectrum has this up to their engineering department to further troubleshoot as everything they show, shows I should be connected at 1 GB. I had a friend over earlier and he brought his laptop. He was receiving the same results, hardwired via cat 5 to my modem/router. It's all over... 250 mb, 400, 500, even up to 600... but it usually hovers around 250-350 mb. We connected our cells through the wireless and ran several speed tests and they showed about 480 mb consistently.... go figure, wireless is faster then the Ethernet! The tech assumes there is something on my computer slowing it down, but like I said earlier, my friend got the same results so I told the tech to come by my house and hook up their laptop to see what kind of results they get.

kltaylor · May 2020

Few things that you can do in the interim:

Purchase either Cat7 or the newest Cat8 Ethernet and try your test again. As long as you have a 'modern'-ish computer and Ethernet adapter, it should already be a Gigabit one. You can check that easily enough in your System Settings under Network. What modem and router brand and model are you using during this test?

Should be connected at 1 GB... but I'm not

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