Here's some nperf tests, results seem to be consistent between browsers for me.

c0ld:

 

@SamF If it makes you feel any better your poor speeds are still better than mine :p Even when testing to 2degrees Auckland I very rarely get over 300Mbps on the upload, and I've never ever got the 506Mbps you're seeing there.

 

I think you could classify that as c0ld comfort :P

What is your router / network setup?

SamF:

c0ld:

@SamF If it makes you feel any better your poor speeds are still better than mine :p Even when testing to 2degrees Auckland I very rarely get over 300Mbps on the upload, and I've never ever got the 506Mbps you're seeing there.

I think you could classify that as c0ld comfort :P

What is your router / network setup?

c0ld:

Nicely done ;)

Fritz 7490, gigabit ethernet over cat6. PC I'm testing on is Windows 10, i7-6600U, 16GB RAM with various SSD drives (240GB purely for OS). I've plugged in my laptop over Ethernet and get similar results so pretty sure it's not hardware limitations.

:D

I haven't run a Fritz for a while, so a bit out of touch there, but the 7490 is getting on a bit now I think?  You could potentially eliminate it as a cause by connecting the fibre directly from the ONT to your laptop.  You'd have to setup a PPPoE dialer on it, but I believe it can be done.  the tricky bit would be setting the VLAN tag; this has to be done on the Laptop NIC and this ability is dependent on the drivers.  Updating them with the vendor's drivers may give you functionality like this which the native Windows drivers may not.

c0ld: The 7490 is the router 2degrees currently supplies to its gigabit customers so I've no concerns tbh. I've tried another one too and same results. Downstream is fine, just upload so again I'd be surprised if hardware capability. And honestly, 300 on the upload is fine, it's more the international stuff sitting below 50mbps that actually affects me when using the connection.

Fair enough, still, a bit odd that I can get 200mbits more than you can.

Mine is feeding directly into a fairly high-end firewall so that could be the difference.

So I got a 2degrees testing device and found I could get almost max line speed anywhere in NZ (around 930Mbit down, 510Mbit up). It is a simple small form factor PC running Ubuntu Linux.

This then got me thinking "why the hell can't I achieve this on my 16 core Xeon machine?".

1) I updated the network drivers.
2) I played around with Windows QoS settings.

And now, I can get around 800Mbit to Auckland (from ~300Mbit). This still isn't perfect and there is still the international stuff going on but honestly to everyone here if you're getting problems domestically then please try booting from an Ubuntu Live image and test from there. It appears that Microsoft have really messed up the QoS stuff with the latest update.

Coincidentally - I switched FROM Linux to Windows. I didn't tie the 2 together as the speed issues happened around the same time for me. I would have never thought that my PC (being as powerful as it is) would have ever had speed issues even on Windows.

michaelmurfy:

 

please try booting from an Ubuntu Live image and test from there.

 

Good suggestion - I'll try this over the weekend.

TCP Optimizer is your friend for network speed improvements also.

There are a huge number of parameters you can tweak, but I find dragging the speed slider all the way to the right and selecting the 'Optimal' option gives really good results.

Looks like I could have a busy weekend ahead of me :D Almost hoping for some rain so I've got a reason to say indoors...

Ok so some really interesting stuff, and a big thanks for your suggestions @SamF and @michaelmurfy

So did a few tests on AKL 2degrees speedtest servers - consistently coming in at 920 down (awesome) / 250 ish up (not so awesome). I did find a driver update for my NIC but speeds stayed around the same after install.

Ran the TCP Optimiser tool SamF posted above and straight away my 2D AKL tests wee hitting on average around 350 on upload with DL still around 920. I'm simply amazed that it made a difference and 100% confirms what you both put about the Windows QoS settings being pretty screwy as default. 

Next I ran the Ubuntu live usb and low and behold... DL 920 ish, UL consistently hitting 500! That was on the default FF browser, installed Chrome and same thing.

So I'm really pleased with this outcome as a) it means my fibre is a-ok domestically (thanks 2degrees!) and b) there's a chance with further playing that I can improve my Windows upload speeds.

As I mentioned before the UL I was getting originally (250ish) is more than sufficient for what I needed but it's always nice to know you're getting what you pay for (which I am, it's just something within my windows environment causing the issues).

I did test international whilst i was booted into Ubuntu and that didn't improve so guessing that is still more of an actual broadband issue.

Not wanting to hijack the post but if anyone has any other tips on stuff they've done to improve their speeds on Windows feel free to share :) 

Any update as yet on this issue @NickMack ?

tcp/ip stack tuning has always been a massive thing. for higher latency connections - eg international..

There are some extreme tweaks you can do to seriously boost performance. at the same time, if not done carefully it can have a negative effect on local speeds.

for local speeds, the low latency allows for this to 'sawtooth' back up to speed.

back when i had my hand in a server farm in EU, we put an insane amount of time into the little changes to make throughput better for end users.

NZ was surprisingly easy (atleast on the RSP i was testing on at the time ;) ) AU, not so much.. The balance was in keeping local still in pristine condition.