Are Fibre speeds throttled by Spark?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Are Fibre speeds throttled by Spark?

gzjdoe

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#303360 4-Feb-2023 12:23

Hi team,

I am on the Spark Fibre Max plan (https://www.spark.co.nz/shop/internet/plans/fibre) which has advertised speed rates of 881 Mbps/497 Mbps (Down/Up).

But after running speedtest.net different times per day I consistently get 70ish Mbps/100ish Mbps (Down/Up) speeds. Which is a lot slower than their advertised rate.

Are they actively throttling Fibre users? I am in Wellington (Island Bay), so I am hoping distance is not a factor (is this still a factor with fibre?). Could someone please suggest some way to mitigate that? Or how to speak to their support team in order to get a better outcome?

Thanks!

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#3031716 4-Feb-2023 12:31

@gzjdoe No speeds are not throttled and the speeds are advertised ' Up to ' Please provide more detail on how you are testing over Wi-Fi or Ethernet and where you are testing to?

Distance is not a factor when it comes to fibre

RunningMan

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#3031717 4-Feb-2023 12:32

No.

Perhaps provide some information on your network and test methodology.

Mehrts

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#3031720 4-Feb-2023 12:37

Without any detail on how you were testing, those numbers are on par with a 2.4GHz wifi connection.

coffeebaron

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#3031724 4-Feb-2023 13:15

If Ethernet, check you don't have a bad cable between ONT and router. This can cause connection to be restricted to sub 100Mbps.

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cddt

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#3031728 4-Feb-2023 13:23

As everyone has already said, how are you testing? What kind of physical network connection do you have to the router? Can your router handle gigabit speeds? Can your PC handle gigabit speeds? So many questions.

michaelmurfy

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#3031739 4-Feb-2023 14:01

Also, what router are you using?

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gzjdoe

37 posts

Geek

#3031740 4-Feb-2023 14:02

Thanks for all the answers team.

My setup:

Home is wired with CAT5e
Computer is connected to Ethernet only (Wi-Fi switched off)
I have a Unifi USG-3P router (connected to the ONT) + Unifi Switch (US-8-60W), which is what I connect to the computer
The Unifi console informs me that my wired experience is GbE.

Is there anything else I could have done to improve my home network situation?

Interesting comment from @Linux about the advertised rates being "up to". Yeah, I expected the speeds to be lower than advertised, but I am curious here on what are the factors that determine the speeds. Could someone clarify?

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#3031742 4-Feb-2023 14:08

Are you testing using the Windows speedtest app?

gzjdoe

37 posts

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#3031744 4-Feb-2023 14:13

I am using the speedtest.net test via my browser (Firefox on macOS). Does the desktop app make a massive difference?

I have also used the Chorus speed test (https://www.chorus.co.nz/speed-test) also via my browser.

michaelmurfy

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#3031745 4-Feb-2023 14:16

Since you're on MacOS you're fine.

But 100% sounds like you've got an Ethernet cable negotiating at 100Mbit somewhere or you're using a feature on the USG that is unsupported for offloading like Smart Queues.

cddt

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#3031749 4-Feb-2023 14:24

Just to reduce the possible bottlenecks, can you try testing from a different computer? E.g. windows or linux PC.

gzjdoe

37 posts

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#3031752 4-Feb-2023 14:37

Thanks, I’ll try a new Ethernet cable and I’ll also try to bypass the UniFi setup (I’ll plug the ISP router again) to see if it could be either of them affecting my speeds. I’ll report back later.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Talkiet

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#3031773 4-Feb-2023 15:33

Heh - Came here to link the answer but Runningman already has :-)

If it was 93/93 I'd suspect a 100mbps link somewhere. Glad to hear you're going to try subbing in the supported router, that's the best test you can do.

Cheers - N

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loceff13

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#3032013 5-Feb-2023 01:05

Are you on a laptop via ethernet or a desktop?

Some companies(ie Dell) are still putting 100mbit ethernet on recent cheaper laptop SKU's for no good reason so there could be a physical reason why if thats the case.

Azzura

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#3032022 5-Feb-2023 08:28

Unifi USG-3P - have you enabled hardware offloading?

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