90 Mbps on 150 Mbps Internet (Wired)

[Duncan1994]

Hello,

As the title states I have a 150 Mbps internet connection (with Virgin Media, I live in the UK) yet only receive ~90 Mbps on a wired connection (20m CAT5e RJ45 Ethernet from Virgin Media Super Hub 2). Even when I was on 100 Mbps internet I could only get ~90 Mbps. It is strange because my upload speed has went from 6 Mbps to 10 Mbps which indicates that my internet has definitely been upgraded. I am on Windows 7 (64-bit).

I have tried using a different CAT5 cable which didn't make a different and have plugged the cable into a laptop which only receives ~90 Mbps the same as my computer.

When I look at Control Panel>Network and Internet>Network and Sharing Center>Connections: Local Arena Connection the speed says 100.0 Mbps. I have tried to change this to 1.0 Gbps Full Duplex by going to Properties>Configure>Advanced>Speed & Duplex. Once I press OK it still says Speed: 100 Mbps. Is this the problem? If so, why can't I change it.

I've updated drivers and the hardware in my PC should be able to receive more than 90 Mbps so I'm am now seeking assistance here.

Updating my BIOS was suggested to me however I'm not entirely confident doing this and am unsure if this would really help.

Specifications

Network Controller: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Motherboard: ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
(Both have the most up-to-date drivers)

CPU: Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
RAM: 16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)
GPU: 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Hard Disk: 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

Updates:

I have opened Command Prompt and ran 'wmic NIC where NetEnabled=true get Name, Speed'. The result is 'Name: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller, Speed: 100000000'.

I'm starting to think that it's because I'm running a CAT5e cable (even though CAT5e apparently supports Gigabit Ethernet). Just seen a thread on a different website where someone had pretty much the same problem. They changed their cable from CAT5 to CAT6a and they were able to connect at 1.0 Gbps.

Also starting to think that even thought the cables I bought from Amazon are sold as CAT5e, maybe they're not?

Solution

Ok. I think I've figured it out. The CAT5e that I've bought isn't actually CAT5e. It's just CAT5. Moral of the story is don't buy this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000IAJHQ0?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

 

[getochkn]

Yes that is certainly the problem. With only a 100mb connection, and then overhead, 90mb is about what you'd get. Now why your card is locking you to 100mb, that's the mystery. Can you move your PC closer to the router and try a different cable just to see if you can get a 1000mb connection? It's either something with the card, or the cable, so you need to eliminate one and try again.

 

[Duncan1994]

Yes that is certainly the problem. With only a 100mb connection, and then overhead, 90mb is about what you'd get. Now why your card is locking you to 100mb, that's the mystery. Can you move your PC closer to the router and try a different cable just to see if you can get a 1000mb connection? It's either something with the card, or the cable, so you need to eliminate one and try again.

I can't move my PC any closer to the router as I'm upstairs, and I have tried a different CAT5 cable (I've added some extra points to my original post), the result was the same.