Router slowing broadband speed ?

[spaarky]

I've had 2mbps broadband speed for a long time, using a 2500V router on ethernet cable, no USB or wireless. neighbours getting 6mbps+, so have recently upgraded broadband line speed to max 8.2mbps, yet all online speedtests tell me I'm still actually getting 1.9mbps max on the pc.

thought problem was with isp, but have looked at 2500V config & it says I have 6.2mbps download speed. yet all online speed tests (via IE8) say 1.9mbps max actually being delivered.

so, if I'm getting 6.2mbps at the router, but actual speed on IE is 1.9mbps, where could the bottleneck/slowdown be ? I know that the 2500V should be good for 8.2mbps; it has a 3 metre cat5 ethernet cable going straight to the pc's network port & all new filters & wiring.

how does 6mbps at the router become 1.9mbps when using internet explorer ?

[puzbie]

I've done some investigations and I get similar results to you.

I tried three different router brands and got the same figures.

However, I only get them on one of the ISPs I use. If I connect the same computer to a router using the other line (BE in this instance) I get faster speeds.

The only conclusion I can draw is that BT (the slow line) is artificially throttling my line.

I need to investigate this further, but I can offer up the following. It definately is not router related. I tried this on three different brands of router and got the same results.

Incidently, I ran my tests under two scenarios. The first was at the end of a long extension. Here, the router-reported speed was under 2mb, and indeed, the browser reported speed was under 2mb. I then connected the router to the main phone socket. Here the router-reported speed was nearer 4mb, but the browser reported speed was still under 2mb.

[spaarky]

cheers, puzbie - I thought that it couldn't just be my setup, since all is new & all leads (DSL & Cat5) are less than 6m to bt master socket. & I got my router from you, so I was hoping that wasn't the problem !

still struggling to understand how my router can synch with the exchange at 8mbps, yet the actual useable bandwidth is between 3 & 4 mbps on a good day. all new house phone wiring, sockets, filters etc, new bt line from telegraph pole into house, router using cat5 network cable, not wireless. exchange is about 640metres away, with less than 1650 phone users, so really not a busy exchange at all, yet my ISP reckon line contention must be the only answer, even with v low user numbers & sod all users when I've been testing in the midle of the night.

either way, ISP won't do any more, so have been testing like yourself, using main bt test master socket as it comes into the house (all phone lines disconnected) & I see about 1mbps faster speed at the router, & actually useable per web speedtesters, than if all phone lines connected. hence, am assuming phone system is creating some noise/interference which is slowing down an already rubbish connection. looking at how to rewire my phone system to at least remove that interference, which will just leave me with a rubbish connection that bt or my isp don't want to do anything about. grrr . . . frustrating . . .

[puzbie]

Who is your ISP?

Also, do you have the router or modem they originally supplied you with? If you are going to be talking to them it would be best if you did your experiments with the original kit. That way they can't just blame your kit. I used to have talktalk and every time I logged a fault I had to go and plug in their router. Pain in the arse but it sped up the complaining process.

[spaarky]

Sadly, I got a modem when I signed up with the ISP a few years ago, which became useless when I upgraded my pc since it wasn't compatible with Vista, so I got a Voyager 2500V from yourself which has worked fine since, albeit below 2mbps which was my line speed.

When I upgraded to up to 8mbps line speed, the useable speed was only about 3mbps. I don't think the router is a problem, but am trying to optimize everything around it i.e.by using a network cable rather than wireless & looking at house wiring to see if interference etc is slowing down the line speed. The cat5 network cable & the DSL cable that came with the router are in use at the minute - are there any quicker versions of these cables that might help ? e.g. I've seen cat6 network cables on sale - would this help improve speed ? & are there faster dsl cables that might help ?

As for the ISP, it's Tiscali/Freedom2Surf & they can see that my router is synching with the exchange at approx 5.5mbps, so they reckon that it can only be contention on the line that is slowing my speed, even though there are few local broadband users on my local exchange, which is quite close. I've done huge amounts of testing, at different times of the day and night, & even though the max speed I've had is still only about 5mbps, this is only when I've had the router plugged direct into the bt master test socket where the bt line comes into the house. If I reconnect the phone lines, the broadband speed drops by about 1mbps, so the wiring noise looks like one of the areas I need to look at, although I'm sure there must be other ways I can improve speed which don't involve moving to bt as my isp

[puzbie]

Ha! Moving to BT is definately not the solution. Our naff line is BT. Our decent line is actually with BE. In an ideal world we would be zooming along at 24mbs, however it chuggs (because of our location) at about 5mbps. However, it is a consistent 5mbps at least. Compared to BT, it is luvly.

[spaarky]

if you're still in the same place as when I got the router, frimley should now be fully wired for cable, which might be worth a try for you. my old man is less than a mile from you & with NTL/Virgin gets a cheap 20mbps line because of the fibre optic infrastructure, which I don't have here. am in the country, no cable available. got him to test the line speed a few weeks ago, and he had a useable 16mbps at peak time & on a shitty old machine with a shitty ntl/virgin modem. hardly fair.

& you're right, bt is firmly on my oops list for any products, due to rubbish prices, rubbish performance, rubbish customer service etc etc - & these are the monkeys that got the whole country's infrastructure handed to them on a plate, yet still refuse to run it properly or allow full access to those who can. don't even start me on the royal mail . . . consignia . . . royal mail etc

[puzbie]

I have now gone to a Virgin 50mbps connection and it is certainly the mutt's nuts. Now the bottleneck is wireless speed, not broadband connection!

[spaarky]

I can imagine - sadly, am still waiting for BT to upgrade the exchange to the 21st century & for cable companies to think about extending their network out to rural customers . . .