[SOLVED] My network is limiting my download speed

[ImOnSpeed]

Hello, new here and been researching a problem I have encountered. My computer which is fairly old but not completely outdated is having problems downloading things at my internets full potential.
My Google speed test revealed a "Good" connection with 28 MBit/s download and 9 MBit/s upload with a 42 ping. I know the difference between Megabits and Megabytes and I know I should be downloading games at between 2.5-3.5 Megabytes/s but im getting around 600-700 KB/s instead with the only thing on the network running being the download. I've checked the system's network drivers and they're all up-to-date and good but I did find a suspicious number..
In Task Manager/Performance/Ethernet
this is my sending and receiving and its capping at 6.0 MBps
Idk if this has anything to do with it or not but it just was weird. I've already went to Admin CMD and changed Windows Auto-tuning to disabled and am running out of options, please any advice or tips would help! Thanks

 

[DSzymborski]

It would be useful to actually know what your hardware is, especially your networking hardware. And download speeds are a two-way street, they're not purely a function of your download speed, but you also didn't give any information as to whether this is a single site or multiple sites or any information about what these sites actually are.

 

[ImOnSpeed]

It would be useful to actually know what your hardware is, especially your networking hardware. And download speeds are a two-way street, they're not purely a function of your download speed, but you also didn't give any information as to whether this is a single site or multiple sites or any information about what these sites actually are.

● Intel Core i7 6700K 4.00 GHz Unlocked Quad Core
● Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz
● Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1080 AORUS Xtreme 8G Video Graphics Card
● Corsair RMx Series, RM850x, 850W, Fully Modular Power Supply, 80+ Gold Certified
● VIVO ATX Mid Tower Computer Gaming Black PC Case w/ Tempered Glass Side Panel
● MSI Pro Series Intel X299 LGA 2066 DDR4 USB 3.1 SLI ATX Motherboard
● CRYORIG H7 Tower Cooler For AMD/Intel CPU's

I'm talking about game library/marketplaces platforms like Steam, Uplay, Epic, Xbox for Windows, etc... I'm not sure what you mean by networking hardware but my router is a Netgear NightHawk R7000 or something like that....

 

[bill001g]

This almost has to be some issue with software. Speedtest is actually a file transfer just not saved so it "should" be the same as any other download.

Try to download something large from microsoft like a win10 image. Watch the resource monitor network tab and see the rates. Be careful something on this screen are in mbytes and other in mbits.

If you have a second device in your house try some simple file copies between shares again watching the speeds in the resource monitor.

Game clients are really strange in how they download and I have seen huge difference even between games. I think it is partially if the download is 1 big file or a bunch of little ones. Not sure I have found steam extremely inconsistent.

You want the auto tune option set to normal in most cases. In theory at least this should have no effect on game loaders since this options is for http if I remember correctly. Lots of people having issues though seem microsoft broke something related to this in a somewhat recent patch.

I would be looking for some setting in the game downloaders. If you have any form of "gamer" networks software make sure that is uninstalled. If you have a killer ethernet nic it is a little more complex to get rid of it.

 

[ImOnSpeed]

Ok, so I tested my network on my IBUYPOWER laptop and it did the same thing, the Task Manager/Performance/Ethernet capped at 6.0 mbps. That leads me to believe that it's my ISP or router capping me or something, two completely different systems and the same thing happens. I just want my download speed to be what it should be. I don't understand I got what I should for like a week and it started fading away, do you believe it's a ISP or router problem or something else? Also thanks for the information and the reply!

 

[bill001g]

Makes no sense unless they are going to the trouble of making speedtest run different. If it was some generic speed limit everything would be affected.

 

[ImOnSpeed]

Makes no sense unless they are going to the trouble of making speedtest run different. If it was some generic speed limit everything would be affected.

Why would my speedtest read what I should be getting but my downloads be throttled so badly?

 

[bill001g]

See that is the key question. The ISP does not really care if you download from steam or speedtest. I suppose you could try some different cities in speedtest or use a completely different speedtest site. Is it only game sites or is a download from microsoft slow.

It normally is the pc doing it but you have multiple PC. A router is generally too stupid to be able to know the difference. You could factory reset the router and set only the wifi and admin passwords.

 

[kanewolf]

To eliminate a software issue, boot a Linux image from a USB and retest.

 

[ImOnSpeed]

See that is the key question. The ISP does not really care if you download from steam or speedtest. I suppose you could try some different cities in speedtest or use a completely different speedtest site. Is it only game sites or is a download from microsoft slow.

It normally is the pc doing it but you have multiple PC. A router is generally too stupid to be able to know the difference. You could factory reset the router and set only the wifi and admin passwords.

Ok, here we go...

Surprisingly (NOT) after the factory reset of the router nothing happened, still getting the 6.0 MBps on Task manager and the 700 KB/s on Steam and Epic when testing. Although I did discover something, when trying to download something from Intel, my task manager's receiving output spiked to around 18.5MBits which equated to around 2MB/s downloading on Google. So that leads me to believe there is something on my system that could be throttling other programs I guess? I'm not sure what that means, because the game marketplaces wouldn't be hitting everyone with a 700KB/s download cap lol. Then when testing the speed test I get the same thing but watch my network in task manager go to the 28-30Mbit/s and get what i'm supposed to receiving... I don't understand what could be causing it to max at 6Mbit/s when downloading games :/

Again. thank you for the help!

 

[ImOnSpeed]

To eliminate a software issue, boot a Linux image from a USB and retest.

How do I get a Linux image and boot it from a USB? Im sorry, i'm not entirely sure what you mean by a Linux image and im assuming boot the computer and run the USB? Thank you!

 

[bill001g]

There are a number of linux bootable images. Many are very powerful and use to fix broken installs. Not sure which is best they all will work. I have not built one in years I have one laying around when I need it.

Follow the instructions to make a bootable USB. It needs to be blank or at least you need to let it erase it. You would then go into the bios of your machine and tell it to boot the USB much the same way as you do a initial windows install. These images run 100% from the USB so they do not damage the software installed on your machine.

Still if it works fine on linux you then have the issue of finding what crap is causing the problems in windows. You may end up re installing windows in worst case if you can't find it.

 

[kanewolf]

How do I get a Linux image and boot it from a USB? Im sorry, i'm not entirely sure what you mean by a Linux image and im assuming boot the computer and run the USB? Thank you!

Here are some options for the OS -- https://www.fossmint.com/best-linux-distros-to-install-on-usb/
Here is an example of using Knoppix -- https://itstillworks.com/boot-knoppix-usb-6904288.html

 

[ImOnSpeed]

There are a number of linux bootable images. Many are very powerful and use to fix broken installs. Not sure which is best they all will work. I have not built one in years I have one laying around when I need it.

Follow the instructions to make a bootable USB. It needs to be blank or at least you need to let it erase it. You would then go into the bios of your machine and tell it to boot the USB much the same way as you do a initial windows install. These images run 100% from the USB so they do not damage the software installed on your machine.

Still if it works fine on linux you then have the issue of finding what crap is causing the problems in windows. You may end up re installing windows in worst case if you can't find it.

I did the Knoppix load thingy and on Chrome I was getting 3MBps download... Must be something on Windows huh?

 

[ImOnSpeed]

There are a number of linux bootable images. Many are very powerful and use to fix broken installs. Not sure which is best they all will work. I have not built one in years I have one laying around when I need it.

Follow the instructions to make a bootable USB. It needs to be blank or at least you need to let it erase it. You would then go into the bios of your machine and tell it to boot the USB much the same way as you do a initial windows install. These images run 100% from the USB so they do not damage the software installed on your machine.

Still if it works fine on linux you then have the issue of finding what crap is causing the problems in windows. You may end up re installing windows in worst case if you can't find it.

So I reinstalled Windows and the same thing is happening... I don't know what else to do. Now i'm stuck downloading all this and my internet is still slow.

 

[kanewolf]

Check the Windows Autotune setting -- https://www.ghacks.net/2016/08/05/windows-10-limiting-internet-speed/

 

[ImOnSpeed]

Check the Windows Autotune setting -- https://www.ghacks.net/2016/08/05/windows-10-limiting-internet-speed/

We already tried that, but it doesn't make any sense on everything else I get sucky download speed but then when installing the Window's updates just now I was getting 3.5Mbytes/s download but on everything else I get 700KB/s

 

[Corwin65]

Contact your ISP and have them check things from their end.

 

[ImOnSpeed]

Contact your ISP and have them check things from their end.

Contacted the ISP and said really I'm getting a better connection than what we're paying for. I'm about out of options. Why would multi-billion$ corporations throttle such a small download speed? It doesn't make any sense to me, maybe if it was just one company but its all of them.

 

[bill001g]

Just to test try a VPN company. I would just buy 1 month but many you can cancel and get your money back if you do it in the first couple days.

This will prevent the ISP from seeing anything you are doing so how could they limit it. Your connection is small enough that you don't have to worry about the vpn company slowing you down. Most can go well over 300-400mbps.

What is strange is a vpn also fixes this type of issue for some people. Whatever software is limiting it is also being prevented from seeing the traffic.

 

[Ralston18]

Going back a few posts per @DSzymborski ….

Hardware:

Have you tried swapping in known working "at speed" ethernet cables?

What modem is installed?

 

[ImOnSpeed]

Just to test try a VPN company. I would just buy 1 month but many you can cancel and get your money back if you do it in the first couple days.

This will prevent the ISP from seeing anything you are doing so how could they limit it. Your connection is small enough that you don't have to worry about the vpn company slowing you down. Most can go well over 300-400mbps.

What is strange is a vpn also fixes this type of issue for some people. Whatever software is limiting it is also being prevented from seeing the traffic.

Alright to begin with, I got so frustrated and eliminated as many options as I could. I took my computer down to my router (downstairs) which isn't a problem I have a high end cat 6 cord coming upstairs. Then I plugged in the cord from the wall (not the router) straight into my PC and BOOM got my true download speed yayayayayay so then we ordered a new router thinking that if I got my speed that way it's the router. Nope... It came in today and I get the same exact speeds. Now I'm really out of options lol....

 

[ImOnSpeed]

Going back a few posts per @DSzymborski ….

Hardware:

Have you tried swapping in known working "at speed" ethernet cables?

What modem is installed?

I don't believe we have a modem? We had a NightHawk R7000 but just upgraded to a NightHawk AC1750 or R6700. I just plug in the cord coming from our tower to our house to the WAN spot on the router then my ethernet cord into the router and run it to my pc. We have a high end Cat 6 cord running from the router to my pc.

 

[Ralston18]

Tower? More information needed there....

What is that device? Any make and model information on it?

Normally the connections are:

ISP ----cable----> modem -----ethernet cable ----->[WAN] Router [LAN ports]-----> ethernet cables to wired devices and ~~~~ wireless ~~~~> wireless devices.

 

[ImOnSpeed]

Tower? More information needed there....

What is that device? Any make and model information on it?

Normally the connections are:

ISP ----cable----> modem -----ethernet cable ----->[WAN] Router [LAN ports]-----> ethernet cables to wired devices and ~~~~ wireless ~~~~> wireless devices.

Yaaaaaa I found the fix to my problem! You're not going to believe it lol... On my routers settings the IP was done automatically and not statically. That was the problem, the automatic IP messed up the last two numbers of the address and I had to switch to static and BOOM my internet is fixed. Such a rookie mistake on my part, just thought I would know if the IP was wrong because I wouldn't get internet. Didn't know that if it was different you'd still get a connection. Thank you to everyone that helped me on this journey, I really do appreciate it.