[SOLVED] Inconsistent Speed Test results - Connectivity Issues - Hardware/Software/ISP?

[mynameiismud]

About a week ago, I noticed websites and videos taking a tremendous amount of time to load on my WIRED desktop, through the ISP provided router (gigabit service). Upon running speedtests -- speedtest.net: PAGE ERROR every time , Sonic.net/speedtest (also uses Ookla servers):700 Down, >20mb Up -- speedof.me: 300down/300up so needless to say inconsistent and strange results. Connecting directly to the fiber line yields the same results, so I assume its not the router.

The mystery -- actual upload actions remain fine (I upload large gigabyte size files for work, and its still fast, speeds indicating the upload speed is well above the 20mb im getting from the "sonic " speedtest) -- I can also play online games with no issues. Where it gets strange -- my laptop/secondary device can connect directly to the fiber, same cat5, and get the desired results 900mb up/900 down through all speedtests and connect to webservers just fine .

Contacted my ISP support over the phone. Went through litany of tests, bypassing routers, checking light levels and pinging etc. they determined there was no issue on their end -- onsite tech support had the same findings. At this point I was comfortable with the idea it might be my machine/hardware/mobo -- I replaced the onboard network card with two different gigabit Ethernet cards, issue remains with both. Cant load websites or videos in a timely manner, speedtests are still strange results. Tech support claims they cant help me further, and generally are confused as well. Im not convinced the low level support team knows all that much beyond what they are taught to check for though in a line item list thats in front of them -- but I am addmittedly not well versed in networking issues either.

I cant think of anything else other than possible software conflicts/bugs -- Ive monitored my network activity and no processes are using bandwidth. Ive tried multiple browsers. Ive tried disabling various software on my machine such as cloud services, adobe cc, avast security etc. I cant fix the issue, im super confused and ISP unable to help me it seems. Im reaching out hoping someone has had a similar experience or some experience with hardware/software beyong my capabilities. Ive been using the service for about 6 months with no issues so far. Anyone can help?
Joe

 

[bill001g]

Not sure it has to be something with the machines but hard to say what.

Since you have 2 machines you can test basic network connectivity with a old line mode program called IPERF. You want to plug both your machines into gigabit ports on your router or a switch. When things are working well you should see 900mbps+ transferring in either direction.

This program is very simplistic. It only really tests the network card and the drivers. It is not affected by cpu,memory,disk or things like browser versions etc. Pretty much the goal is to show it is a network issue or eliminate the network and look for some application level issue.

You could then move to something like microsoft shares and copy files between the machines watching the resource monitor network tab for the speeds. This is a bit above the iperf tests but still pretty simple in that it is using OS function and not programs like browsers