[SOLVED] Paid for 1gig internet with Xfinity

[delcontesolomon]

So I just moved, the only available internet provider with decent speeds was Xfinity, so I went with their 1gig internet package. Got everything hooked up, and now I'm having some issues.

I have two computers that are getting vastly different speeds. One of them is a 2021 Lenovo laptop and the other is a desktop I built back in 2017.

The lenovo laptop is on wifi and is getting around 500mbps when I do a download speed test. However, when I go to download a file, I'm getting around 12mbps.

The desktop computer I've tried both ethernet and wifi, and can't get the download speed test to get over 30mbps. Tried downloading a game on steam and it's around 10mbps on average, sometimes under 1mbps.

Is there anything I can do/buy so that I don't deal with this anymore? I miss having fiber because this was never an issue.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[ex_bubblehead]

The very first thing here is that while you may be paying for 1Gb/sec (125MB/sec) note that providers use bits/sec not Bytes/sec and your browsers and such report in Bytes/sec (a factor of 8 difference) you will not necessarily get that speed from all sites as it depends entirely on how the OTHER end is configured. This is something you have absolutely no control over.

 

[bill001g]

A fiber connection really isn't going to be any different that a 1gbit cable connection. Maybe a few ms faster in the first hop but it will run the same.

What do you show with a ethernet connected computer on speedtest. Make sure you test to the ISP speedtest server if you can just so you get the very highest number.

Key here is speedtest is actually a file download. It also like steam attempt to multi thread the download so it should be a very good indicator or your speed. The key thing you need to watch out for is as ex-bubblehead mentioned the Bytes vs Bits issue.

I would next go to microsoft and download something really big like a windows image. Microsoft has massive bandwidth so it tends to not bottleneck you. You will likely have to watch the download rates in the network tab of the resource manager. Again be careful some values on that screen are in mbit and other in mbytes.
This is mostly to test if it is something just with steam. Steam can be very strange at times....especially if this is very recent, lost arc is killing their bandwidth.

If you have a account on epic maybe try to download one of the free games from their.

It tends to be much easier to find problem if everything works slowly but when speedtest works fine it get kinda hard to find it.

 

[delcontesolomon]

The very first thing here is that while you may be paying for 1Gb/sec (125MB/sec) note that providers use bits/sec not Bytes/sec and your browsers and such report in Bytes/sec (a factor of 8 difference) you will not necessarily get that speed from all sites as it depends entirely on how the OTHER end is configured. This is something you have absolutely no control over.

Makes sense, still though I feel that for $80/m, it should be downloading faster than 10mbps. Am I off base there?

 

[delcontesolomon]

A fiber connection really isn't going to be any different that a 1gbit cable connection. Maybe a few ms faster in the first hop but it will run the same.

What do you show with a ethernet connected computer on speedtest. Make sure you test to the ISP speedtest server if you can just so you get the very highest number.

Key here is speedtest is actually a file download. It also like steam attempt to multi thread the download so it should be a very good indicator or your speed. The key thing you need to watch out for is as ex-bubblehead mentioned the Bytes vs Bits issue.

I would next go to microsoft and download something really big like a windows image. Microsoft has massive bandwidth so it tends to not bottleneck you. You will likely have to watch the download rates in the network tab of the resource manager. Again be careful some values on that screen are in mbit and other in mbytes.
This is mostly to test if it is something just with steam. Steam can be very strange at times....especially if this is very recent, lost arc is killing their bandwidth.

If you have a account on epic maybe try to download one of the free games from their.

It tends to be much easier to find problem if everything works slowly but when speedtest works fine it get kinda hard to find it.

So, with my laptop, I can't connect it via ethernet. It doesn't have an ethernet port. I just downloaded a windows disk image and it capped around 50mbps (acceptable I suppose, though I would still like to increase that speed somehow)

With my desktop, I have it connected right into the modem, and I'm consistently seeing around 30mbps on all speed tests I've done, and I've done all the big ones (google, comcast, etc). I tried downloading a windows disk image from Microsoft and got a cap of 3mbps. I've updated all the drivers using drivereasy.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[King_V]

1. Are all your physical cables either cat5e or cat 6, and are they in good condition?
2. What router do you have? Does it have modern wi-fi standards and do its physical ports support gigabit ethernet?
3. What cablemodem do you have? Does it support the speeds you've signed up for?

speedtest.net is a good site to use for speed testing.

 

[gggplaya]

You can buy an adapter if you want gigabit ethernet on your laptop, something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J6583NK It'll speed up your steam game updates alot, but only for games that have the bandwidth to feed it.

Your desktop is a different matter, you could also try this adapter on your desktop as well.

 

[delcontesolomon]

1. Are all your physical cables either cat5e or cat 6, and are they in good condition?
2. What router do you have? Does it have modern wi-fi standards and do its physical ports support gigabit ethernet?
3. What cablemodem do you have? Does it support the speeds you've signed up for?

speedtest.net is a good site to use for speed testing.

1. Yes, I even tested my desktop with the cable the Xfinity guy had when they came out earlier
2. The router is the one that Xfinity gave me, it's this: https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/6/2...router-gateway-xfi-advanced-security-ces-2020
3. I think the thing they gave me is both a router and a modem, but I could be misunderstanding your question.

 

[delcontesolomon]

You can buy an adapter if you want gigabit ethernet on your laptop, something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J6583NK It'll speed up your steam game updates alot, but only for games that have the bandwidth to feed it.

Your desktop is a different matter, you could also try this adapter on your desktop as well.

At this point, I'm okay with the speeds I'm getting from the laptop as I just use it for work. I'm more concerned about the desktop and diagnosing why it's so much slower.

 

[rgd1101]

drivereasy. uninstall that

what the desktop motherboard?

 

[delcontesolomon]

drivereasy. uninstall that

what the desktop motherboard?

Okay, uninstalling. Does it not do what it says it does? Should I be worried about the drivers that it did update?

My motherboard is an ASRock Taichi z370

 

[gggplaya]

I would never use a third party program or even microsoft windows to install drivers. They will often install one that work, but are not actually the right drivers. So you'll get weird things like dropouts and flakiness. Alway use drivers directly from your motherboard's website.

Go here and click on the dropdown for windows 10 64 bit. Download and install all the drivers: https://www.asrock.com/mb/intel/Z370 Taichi/index.asp#Download

 

[delcontesolomon]

I would never use a third party program or even microsoft windows to install drivers. They will often install one that work, but are not actually the right drivers. So you'll get weird things like dropouts and flakiness. Alway use drivers directly from your motherboard's website.

Go here and click on the dropdown for windows 10 64 bit. Download and install all the drivers: https://www.asrock.com/mb/intel/Z370 Taichi/index.asp#Download

When I did this initially, I did a speed test and got higher speeds. Then I went to Microsoft and tried to download the Windows 11 ISO and I'm still getting 3 - 4 mbps download speeds.

I'm at wits end here, I don't understand what could be causing it.

 

[gggplaya]

Don't assume Microsoft has fast servers to serve you data at high speeds.

Try www.fast.com and https://speedtest.xfinity.com/

Also, there's really no reason to install windows 11 yet. It still has bugs and problems. I would wait a little longer before upgrading. Windows 11 does offer extra security if that's your main concern. But feature wise, it's not offering much.

 

[delcontesolomon]

Don't assume Microsoft has fast servers to serve you data at high speeds.

Try www.fast.com and https://speedtest.xfinity.com/

Also, there's really no reason to install windows 11 yet. It still has bugs and problems. I would wait a little longer before upgrading. Windows 11 does offer extra security if that's your main concern. But feature wise, it's not offering much.

Only used microsoft as a benchmark because someone suggested it earlier in this thread. I'm not installing windows 11, just using it to see how fast my actual download speed is. My other computers on the same network, on WIFI are downloading the Windows 11 ISO at closer to 60-70 MBPS and this desktop computer which is plugged in via ethernet (I checked the cable) is only getting 3 mbps. The wifi on the desktop is the same 3mbps

 

[King_V]

Only used microsoft as a benchmark because someone suggested it earlier in this thread. I'm not installing windows 11, just using it to see how fast my actual download speed is. My other computers on the same network, on WIFI are downloading the Windows 11 ISO at closer to 60-70 MBPS and this desktop computer which is plugged in via ethernet (I checked the cable) is only getting 3 mbps. The wifi on the desktop is the same 3mbps

That's . . REALLY strange. Ok, 2 points. First, your laptops should definitely be getting more bandwidth than that. Unless you're running on 802.11a or 802.11g, which are limited to about 54Mbps. But that's typically on older equipment.

But the fact that your desktop computer seems to peak at 3mbps regardless of whether it's using WiFi or cabled ethernet is bizarre. I know Windows 10 allows you to set a network interface as a metered connection, but I have never used it, so I don't know if you can set a cap on the speed this way, or if somehow something like that has been set on your computer.

Near the bottom of this page lists the various wifi standards and their speeds:
https://broadbandnow.com/guides/2-4-ghz-vs-5-ghz-wifi


Unless there's some kind of malware that's doing something to choke off your bandwidth on the desktop machine? I'm kind of guessing here.

 

[delcontesolomon]

That's . . REALLY strange. Ok, 2 points. First, your laptops should definitely be getting more bandwidth than that. Unless you're running on 802.11a or 802.11g, which are limited to about 54Mbps. But that's typically on older equipment.

But the fact that your desktop computer seems to peak at 3mbps regardless of whether it's using WiFi or cabled ethernet is bizarre. I know Windows 10 allows you to set a network interface as a metered connection, but I have never used it, so I don't know if you can set a cap on the speed this way, or if somehow something like that has been set on your computer.

Near the bottom of this page lists the various wifi standards and their speeds:
https://broadbandnow.com/guides/2-4-ghz-vs-5-ghz-wifi


Unless there's some kind of malware that's doing something to choke off your bandwidth on the desktop machine? I'm kind of guessing here.

Laptops are new, one is a 2021 macbook pro and one is a lenovo i7, so I don't think I'm using 802.11a or 802.11g - Do you have any guidance on why I'm not getting the right bandwidth with those?

I know Windows 10 allows you to set a network interface as a metered connection, but I have never used it, so I don't know if you can set a cap on the speed this way, or if somehow something like that has been set on your computer.

I am sorry but I have no idea what this means. I know that I haven't messed with the settings on the computer at all, it was originally in my old apartment with Fiber (on wifi), had blazing fast speeds. I had to move and put the tower in storage for a while. Bought a house, took it out, got Xfinity and now here I am.

For malware, I have malwarebytes pro. Not sure of the efficacy of that these days.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[King_V]

Networking is, unfortunately, one of my weaker points of knowledge. I've never tinkered with the settings much at all, except on a laptop with WiFi, I just make sure to use the 5GHz wifi instead of the 2.4GHz.

The network setting for the desktop would be under:
Settings -> Network & Internet -> Properties (for whichever network connection you have) -> Set as metered connection.

I'm at work now, on my work laptop, so I can't go beyond this point. I think if you turn it ON, you'll have more options, but this is outside of my personal experience.