PC Hardware limiting Fibre Speed??

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2078 posts

Uber Geek

#1944053 20-Jan-2018 16:26

Hopefully the laptop OP intends on using to test doesn't have an even worse NIC...

An additional parameter to have a play around with in the Advanced properties of the Atheros NIC would be to disable 'Flow Control' and see if that makes a difference.

I'm assuming this is the first time OP has had a 100/20 UFB connection. Are you in a main centre or smaller town? I understand if an ISP has 1 Gb/s instead of 10 Gb/s handover it can make it harder for speed test to look good. You might need to test by running a well resourced P2P torrent or similar. Who is Stuff Fibre's wholesaler these days?

richms

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#1944056 20-Jan-2018 16:30

Also try grabbing the drivers from here http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=7&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false rather than the windows default ones if you have not already. The diagnostics tool can also set up vlans if you dont have the options in the windows driver.

Richard rich.ms

yitz

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#1944058 20-Jan-2018 16:32

OP has a Atheros (ASUS Intel 4 series motherboard), driver package shows "Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCI-E Ethernet Controller (NDIS6.20)". Sorry for any confusion I just wanted to show what the Advanced properties window looks like.

sbiddle

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#1944065 20-Jan-2018 16:44

yitz: Who is Stuff Fibre's wholesaler these days?

Stuff fibre don't really have a network as such - they rely on Vibe for everything (who do have a pretty good network).

RunningMan

8955 posts

Uber Geek

#1944081 20-Jan-2018 17:18

Even if the OP has an old computer with a slow ethernet card, it doesn't explain why all the devices on the network can upload at more than double what they should be able to.

yitz

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#1944096 20-Jan-2018 17:31

I guess the OP would have to raise that with the ISP as to possibly of provisioning error.

Or if they are able to confirm the fibre company as Chorus if there is the possibility Chorus rep would be able to directly look into something of this nature.

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#1944667 22-Jan-2018 10:53

Old PC Im using (lower spec than yours)
Pentium dual core E5300 (old) , XP, realtek 10/100 NIC

Speedtest : 85Mbs download

your hardware is not ~too old~
cough cough BS :-)

Sharesies kids

Free kids accounts - trade shares and funds (NZ, US) with Sharesies (affiliate link).

RB55

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1944742 22-Jan-2018 13:21

Thanks to all that have contributed to helping me with this issue.

I believe I have the source of my problems.

From Stuff Fibre: "We believe its because you are being impacted by a known Chorus provisioning issue that sometimes limits a second port connection to just 50Mbs on the download. We logged a fault with them on Friday and just need them to fix it. If the primary port gets cancelled this will fix the issue as well."

"Hi Richard. I have read the emails between yourself and Reily (Stuff Fibre support staff). In it we state that we believe your PC may be contributing to the speed issue, but it was not an assurance. We have also begun investigations with Chorus and we believe the fact that you are on a second port is also limiting your speed. You are not the only one to have seen this issue, and they have admitted to us in the past that they have a network fault that occasionally limits a second port service to a 50/50 profile incorrectly.We have asked them to fix this.

There is also a previous connection with another provider on port 1. if this is not yours then it may belong to a previous tenant and from what you told me it sounds like it is a Vodafone connection. We can ask them to forcibly remove the connection, although this will take a few days whilst they check with Vodafone that they are ok with that."

So, those that were suggesting a provisioning problem - SPOT ON! Checked also with a relatively current model laptop both ethernet and wireless. Both still around the 50's for download, pointing more towards a provisioning issue.

Is it reasonable to expect that part of an ISP connection contract is to check that the customer CAN actually receive the service that they are selling?

If Stuff Fibre can manage to get this sorted between themselves, Chorus and Vodafone, I look forwards to BEGINNING to pay for the contracted service (100Mbs/20Mbs) when it is SUPPLIED.

Thanks again to those that have offered their 2c worth. Appreciated :)

RunningMan

8955 posts

Uber Geek

#1944750 22-Jan-2018 13:36

Good to hear!

The tell tale that it was a provisioning error, and not a local issue was that all your devices were getting the same throughput (close to 50/50) and the upload was far in excess of what it should have been.

RB55

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1944762 22-Jan-2018 13:41

Thanks Running Man - yeah, just pisses me off the run around that I've been getting from Stuff for coming up two weeks now for an issue that they have admitted they are aware of, but never bothered to check. I'm just doing a bit of appropriate advertising for their services and support. If they come up with a satisfactory response/actions I'm happy to advertise that as well.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1944765 22-Jan-2018 13:42

Chorus provisioning errors in fibre are often very hard to resolve requiring alot of testing.

Reason this is, is chorus doesn't check the line itself in the tools but return what is "provisioned"
Very annoying when it happens. Often rare though...

One of those things one would think chorus audit but actually don't at any immediate rate (i cant confirm if there is ever an overlaying audit. I expect there is at some point)

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allio

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Ultimate Geek

#1944766 22-Jan-2018 13:43

If it were me I think I would have stuck with the 50/50!

RunningMan

8955 posts

Uber Geek

#1944771 22-Jan-2018 13:54

hio77: [snip] Chorus provisioning errors in fibre are often very hard to resolve requiring alot of testing.

Yeah, this is pretty relevant, particularly when compared to xDSL connections. People (helpdesks etc) rightly or wrongly seem to work from a starting point of there's not much to go wrong with fibre, so it must be a CPE problem. Frequently, there will be a CPE problem, but a brief objective look at the symptoms described is still needed each time. In the OP's case, with the upload being so far above what it should be constrained to (and unlikely to a local caching issue given different OS/platforms), it was almost certainly something outside the OP's network, and it's good to see that Stuff followed that up.

RunningMan

8955 posts

Uber Geek

#1944774 22-Jan-2018 14:01

RB55:[snip]

Is it reasonable to expect that part of an ISP connection contract is to check that the customer CAN actually receive the service that they are selling?

I missed this question, but would suggest that checking each and every connection for correct throughput once provisioned isn't required. There are many many connections provisioned each day by Chorus and other LFCs, and the majority have no issue. It is however reasonable to expect an ISP to follow up on a fault report in a timely fashion once they are notified. What constitutes a timely fashion will vary though, depending on the type of service level you are paying for. A cheap residential service with no SLA can expect to wait longer for resolution than a commercial connection with a detailed SLA.

EDIT: And the nature of the failure should be taken into account as well - in your case, it's not a catastrophic failure, in that the connection is still serviceable, just not at the full downstream rate requested. A total failure to connect would hopefully generate a more urgent response.

yitz

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#1944798 22-Jan-2018 14:57

I suppose if you were the first to get fibre the installation technician may stick around to run a speed test. I'm not sure whether this is still done anymore or what they would do in an environment with no wired devices.

This is also probably one reason why some ISPs insisted on doing a second ONT installation for a 'secondary' connection.

Some ISP RGWs e.g. 2degrees' Fritzboxes also have a speed test daemon built in for diagnostic support purposes.

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