Question New 1 Gigabit Plan Drops To Old 100mbps

[Vellaura]

Hey all!

About a month ago I upgraded my NBN FTP internet plan to the faster 1 Gigabit plan.

Once all was said and done, that very same night I upgraded I was seeing super fast speeds when I ran internet speed tests. Was getting around 800mbps. Didn't do any fiddling or configuring with the modem or anything. Just hopped on my computer and was already experiencing the new plan.

My modem was already 1gb compatible (TP Link AC1200) so I didn't think much of it. Thought they just ticked a box for me to get faster speeds or something.

Then maybe about a week later while I was updating a game on steam I noticed the speeds where that of my previous plan, double checked on internet speed test and it was infact my old plan speeds.

So I called up my ISP (TPG), after some talking the technician did a reset or something from there end while everything was hooked up, I'm not sure what they can do or are capable of from there end but immediately after they did what they did I was getting my new speeds again. ezpz

For about a week each day I was monitoring it to make sure it was in fact fixed and for about a week or even 2 it was fine. Until I noticed on a update again it had reverted to my older speeds.

I checked there website for any outages and network status and it so happens they have been having issues and more specifically reports of issues in my exact suburb.

My question today is whether this is relevant to what I'm experiencing, or if there is any correlation with outages reverting internet speeds.

Ultimately is this a ISP problem (the one I'm with doesn't have a particularly great reputation) or could it be a me technical problem with regards to my modem, cables etc. I just wanted to check before I started yanking things apart.

Thank you :]

 

[kanewolf]

Hey all!

About a month ago I upgraded my NBN FTP internet plan to the faster 1 Gigabit plan.

Once all was said and done, that very same night I upgraded I was seeing super fast speeds when I ran internet speed tests. Was getting around 800mbps. Didn't do any fiddling or configuring with the modem or anything. Just hopped on my computer and was already experiencing the new plan.

My modem was already 1gb compatible (TP Link AC1200) so I didn't think much of it. Thought they just ticked a box for me to get faster speeds or something.

Then maybe about a week later while I was updating a game on steam I noticed the speeds where that of my previous plan, double checked on internet speed test and it was infact my old plan speeds.

So I called up my ISP (TPG), after some talking the technician did a reset or something from there end while everything was hooked up, I'm not sure what they can do or are capable of from there end but immediately after they did what they did I was getting my new speeds again. ezpz

For about a week each day I was monitoring it to make sure it was in fact fixed and for about a week or even 2 it was fine. Until I noticed on a update again it had reverted to my older speeds.

I checked there website for any outages and network status and it so happens they have been having issues and more specifically reports of issues in my exact suburb.

My question today is whether this is relevant to what I'm experiencing, or if there is any correlation with outages reverting internet speeds.

Ultimately is this a ISP problem (the one I'm with doesn't have a particularly great reputation) or could it be a me technical problem with regards to my modem, cables etc. I just wanted to check before I started yanking things apart.

Thank you :]

Generally when you have a problem like this, it is a bad cable. You should replace the cable from the modem to the router with a brand new, 100% copper, round, 24GA commercial cable.

 

[Vellaura]

Generally when you have a problem like this, it is a bad cable. You should replace the cable from the modem to the router with a brand new, 100% copper, round, 24GA commercial cable.

Hey mate thanks for the reply. I only have a router connected to my PC coming out from the wall and a NBN box installed in my garage.

 

[bill001g]

I guess it could be the ISP being stupid but when you see this it is almost always a cable issue. Although there are some other things like broken ports in equipment I would still say 99% of the time it is a bad cable.

Be nice if ethernet cables just completely failed. What you find though is they can work intermittently or they can work on some devices and not others. The largest issue is there are massive amounts of fake cable sold because of the cost of copper metal. Those flat cables tend to the most common. They have wire that is much too thin to meet the standards. Since they do not follow the standards it is hard to say if they will work with all equipment. Again this is kinda random because some equipment tolerates out of spec cable better than others.

It appears you have a number of ethernet cables in the path. PC---eth1---router--eth2--wall(this is ethernet also)--wall---eth3--NBN

Does your router show you the speed the ports are running at. Many have menus and/or you might be able to tell by the lights. This will give you idea which cable to check first.

If it is in the section going from the router to the NBN box you might just buy a couple new cables and swap out the short patch cables. Maybe take the router and plug it directly into the NBN box with a short cable just to test. You could also plug your PC into the NBN box. Mostly you would do this test to be sure the ISP did not do something stupid and drop your plan to 100mbps.

If it is the in wall cable things become more complex. Luckily it is very rare for the wire itself to fail it is almost always the ends. If you have keystone jacks on the ends you might just remove the wire and cut a bit off and repunch it into the wall jack. If it has RJ45 plugs crimped on the end it is a bit more of a challenge. You could of course just attempt to put new end on the cable but it likely would be simpler to buy some keystone jacks. Keystone jacks are much easier for beginners since you just match the wire colors up and you can do 1 wire at a time. RJ45 you must know the correct pattern of colors and manage to get them all aligned and have them not move when you crimp the end on. It takes a bit of practice to put rj45 ends on.

 

[Vellaura]

Update: I just plugged the ethernet cable to the ethernet port beside it for craps and giggles and low and behold I'm getting the speeds im paying for. Got 876mpbs on a speed test which is what it should look like.

What does this mean though?

I've been using the previous ethernet port for YEARS. Is it possible the port has an issue from wear and tear? Even though it literally just stays plugged in since I've had the router.

I'll continue monitoring to see how things go.

 

[bill001g]

So many tiny things can cause this. I have one that you can push very slightly in on the cable and it works fine but it does not work a tiny fraction of a inch where it clips in. It does this on multiple cables. I can only assume in that case that there is some kind of minor damage in the port. Others I have had that the cable end can move side to side a very small amount in the jack and that will cause it to not be connected.

Then you have all the strange cases where it work fine for a while and then has issue, likely because some metal expanded or something as the parts get warm.

But in most cases it is a bad cable. All it takes is for the wires to pull just slightly lose inside one of the ends and you get more resistance.

 

[kanewolf]

Update: I just plugged the ethernet cable to the ethernet port beside it for craps and giggles and low and behold I'm getting the speeds im paying for. Got 876mpbs on a speed test which is what it should look like.

What does this mean though?

I've been using the previous ethernet port for YEARS. Is it possible the port has an issue from wear and tear? Even though it literally just stays plugged in since I've had the router.

I'll continue monitoring to see how things go.

You moved a cable. That can change any of the 8 wires that may have a break into temporarily making contact. It is likely to fail again. Replace that cable with a new, commercial, 100% copper, 24GA cable.

 

[ajohnson30]

What I dont think anyone has said (but I think it worth explaining/expanding upon) - there's an older internet/ethernet standard than 1gbps (which requires all 8 wires) that was 100mbps, and that only required 4 wires. (specific ones, but only 4 wires, or 2 pairs). So if a cable or connection is bad, you may only get those 4 or a slower connection, for that reason. That's why the first answer is "try a new, proper cable"

 

[Vellaura]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll see how it goes and if it reverts back to the previous speeds ill change the cable and update.

In my experience of troubleshooting it always seems to be something so simply stupid that solves the issue.

What I don't understand is how a "reset" from support fixed it for a long while. Ive never touched or adjusted the cable previously.

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll see how it goes and if it reverts back to the previous speeds ill change the cable and update.

In my experience of troubleshooting it always seems to be something so simply stupid that solves the issue.

What I don't understand is how a "reset" from support fixed it for a long while. Ive never touched or adjusted the cable previously.

A port can tolerate out of spec for a while. Then it says "too many errors, slow it down". Resetting the box resets the error counts.
The cable is marginal. Sometimes the noise or crosstalk is within limits. As @bill001g said, changing the resistance can be enough. I have seen temperature extremes here in TX (120F + in an attic) cause a link to fail gigabit and fall back. Rest of the year? Fine with gigabit. It doesn't take much.