Are Fibre speeds throttled by Spark?

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

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cddt

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#3032402 6-Feb-2023 09:19

loceff13:

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.

I was pretty mindblown (and annoyed with myself for not checking) when I bought a laptop in 2012 and it only came with 10/100 ethernet. Amazed it still happens today, but wouldn't surprise me if a manufacturer was trying to save 50 cents per unit or whatever the cost differential is.

Linux

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#3032406 6-Feb-2023 09:37

@gzjdoe Have you got an update for us?

gzjdoe

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#3032415 6-Feb-2023 10:16

Hi team,

I am very thankful for all the answers and tips provided so far. It's been super helpful.

I am waiting for a large upload to complete for a week now (which was the trigger for this post) before changing my network settings (afraid of causing my router to restart and lose my progress).

But to answer a few questions:

TIL that when Unifi has DPI enabled the hardware offloading is disabled. So I'll disable DPI and re-enable hardware offloading and test again
I am testing from a desktop (iMac), and it supports Gigabit Ethernet. Waiting for the upload to complete so I can move it to closer to the ONT and bypass the Unifi network (I now suspect that the hardware offloading is the key here)

I am posting an update, but from the progress of the upload it might be in 2-3 days.

coffeebaron

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#3032416 6-Feb-2023 10:18

gzjdoe:

TIL that when Unifi has DPI enabled the hardware offloading is disabled. So I'll disable DPI and re-enable hardware offloading and test again

I believe this device is limited to approx. 80Mbps when DPI is enabled.

EDIT: https://community.ui.com/questions/IPS-IDS-USG-Performance/710e4ea9-9ce8-4960-bc6f-05d4cb1d84e3

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RunningMan

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#3032417 6-Feb-2023 10:19

If you are saturating the upload link then that will impact download speedtesting too.

tim0001

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#3032428 6-Feb-2023 10:42

Re the advertised speeds, last year there was a crack down on advertising “up to” speeds. NPTAS (National Peak Time Average Speeds)* is what is generally required of Spark. These speeds are averages derived from MBNZ/Samknows measurements.

Full details in the “Code for the Marketing of Broadband Services”

*NPTAS means the average download speed and average upload speed during the peak hours of 7pm – 11pm, Monday – Friday seen by Customers using a similar service at different locations across the country, such speeds averaged to give a national number.

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Mehrts

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#3032448 6-Feb-2023 12:52

DPI isn't the speed killer on the USG, but IPS/IDS (aka threat management) is.

I have a USG-3P and it routes at gigabit speeds with DPI enabled. If IPS or IDS is enabled however, then speeds tank to the expected ~100Mbps as the CPU just hasn't got the grunt to process everything at line-rate and hence the bottleneck.

Oriphix

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#3032462 6-Feb-2023 13:06

gzjdoe

Out of curiosity have you tested the speedtest via CLI on the speedtest.net website? Link below:
https://install.speedtest.net/app/cli/ookla-speedtest-1.2.0-win64.zip

The reason I ask is I have a similar issue where I test via browser and the speeds are horrible (skinny fibre max/max) but when I test via the CLI I get the speeds I should be getting.

Example this is my tests:

Before you start replacing things just check and see if you get same speeds with CLI or different.

I went through the whole process of getting new cables, re-installing windows etc and I still have the same problem.

Also, if you have another computer or your mobile try speed test on that. Strangely my issue is only with my desktop. If I plug my laptop via ethernet on the browser I get max speeds.

michaelmurfy

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#3032481 6-Feb-2023 14:01

@Oriphix It is 100% caused by a router configuration (stated by the OP above) :)

Also called it!

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gzjdoe

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#3032544 6-Feb-2023 18:29

As soon as I was able to disable DPI and enable hardware offload the speed came back to normal. Thanks team.

toejam316

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#3032550 6-Feb-2023 18:48

Glad to see you've caught your gremlin, just figured I'd chip in to reiterate though, I've got some pretty good insight into the network in my role and I haven't seen anything that would suggest Spark does anything to throttle Copper or Fibre connections, though I believe there are provisions for Fixed Wireless and Mobile plans.

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loceff13

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#3032727 6-Feb-2023 21:27

cddt:

loceff13:

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.

I was pretty mindblown (and annoyed with myself for not checking) when I bought a laptop in 2012 and it only came with 10/100 ethernet. Amazed it still happens today, but wouldn't surprise me if a manufacturer was trying to save 50 cents per unit or whatever the cost differential is.

Yeah, also seen similar with dell offering 1x1 WiFi back then when it was <$10 cost difference to include 2x2

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