Fibre - changed router (Asus RT-AC68U) and my speed nose-dived

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Fibre - changed router (Asus RT-AC68U) and my speed nose-dived

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#195858 8-May-2016 21:05

Got Spark fibre hooked up during the week on a 100/20 plan.

Everything appeared to be fine (speedtest.net indicated I was getting exactly what the plan suggested) but today I decided to swap the free Huawei router for an Asus RT-AC68U to give me better wifi coverage near the ONT.

After a bit of messing about with the VLAN tagging I was eventually up and running. Unfortunately speedtest.net (and Spark's testyourspeed page) both indicate I'm getting ~15-18 Mbps down (while still getting 20 Mbps up).

Are there any obvious settings I need to check to help diagnose this sudden drop off in download speed?

Thanks in advance.

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#1548394 8-May-2016 21:05

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

you have reset your modem and router
your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing - you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap
your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing
you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

Your ISP and plan
Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)
Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)
Your general location (or street)
If you are rural or urban
If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin
If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service
If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

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michaelmurfy

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#1548406 8-May-2016 21:12

Ensure you're not testing over WiFi and test over Ethernet instead. WiFi is not guaranteed for speed.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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TopShelfCookieJar

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#1548410 8-May-2016 21:25

michaelmurfy:
Ensure you're not testing over WiFi and test over Ethernet instead. WiFi is not guaranteed for speed.

Sorry, should have specified that I'm testing over ethernet (PC connected directly into the Asus router).

michaelmurfy

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#1548413 8-May-2016 21:42

With this router you can set QoS rate limiting also, ensure that QoS is disabled and try again.

TopShelfCookieJar

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#1548416 8-May-2016 21:50

michaelmurfy:
With this router you can set QoS rate limiting also, ensure that QoS is disabled and try again.

Yep, QoS is disabled.

btw, appreciate you taking the time to help out!

TopShelfCookieJar

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#1548417 8-May-2016 21:56

Here are my WAN settings in case anything is obviously wrong:

New World

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TopShelfCookieJar

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#1548419 8-May-2016 22:09

Okay, possibly a false alarm. Without doing anything at my end my download speed has increased as follows:

~7:45pm (router first hooked up) through till 9:50pm - consistently in the 15-18 Mbps range.

9:50pm - low 20s

9:56pm - 54 Mbps

10:00pm - 78 Mbps

10:05pm - 92 Mbps

10:10pm - 96 Mbps

I'm guessing that means peak hour usage has a pretty significant impact on speeds. I figured it might have some but nothing like this (youtube over ADSL always seemed a bit sluggish during the evening, though I don't recall speedtest results changing much if at all).

On the Spark-supplied router I only checked the speed a few times on the day it was installed but those tests were probably done during the late afternoon when people were at work or commuting.

Thanks michaelmurfy for your input and advice. Your suggestions kept me looking at the issue rather than heading off to bed in a bad mood! :)