[SOLVED] Router cutting speeds?

Oct 28, 2020
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The details:

Spectrum Internet (400/20 plan) on a Wave2 (Hilton EN2251) modem.

Connected to that is a 3 day old Netgear AC1750 running the latest firmware (1.0.4.102_10.0.75)

Then my desktop system using an Intel I219-V. All running on Cat6 ethernet.

I'm getting 117 down, 23 up on average. Latest test going through the router is 130 down, 23 up (»[Cable Speed test: 130.38/22.37 34 ms]).

IF I connect my desktop straight to the modem, I get 450-475 down, 23 up on average. Latest test running straight to the modem is 476 down, 23 up (»[Cable Speed test: 476.10/23.90 34 ms]).

Tried connecting my old router (Linksys EA8300). Same result, 117 down, 23 up. That's actually why I bought the new Netgear, actually.

Just for fun, I tried swapping in another router I have laying around, (TP-Link Archer A7). Exact same result.

QoS, VPN, and Wifi all disabled during testing, so we can rule that out. Tried multiple cables too, so it's not a bad cable either.

Had Spectrum send out a tech. They replaced the modem (with an identical model), got the SAME result, and then said it's a bad router. I could see that, if it were just ONE router. But THREE different routers, from THREE companies?

As an aside, I let the router clone the MAC of my desktop. Speed reached 300 down, 22 up for about 15 minutes before dropping back to 117 down, 22 up again.

I've tried 4 different desktops and 2 laptops by this point. Total of 36 tests. Same results.

I've used the DSLReports speed test, SpeedTest.net, AND Spectrum's speed test (which is just a branded version of speedtest.net). All report the same thing.

Modem -> Computer, 400+ down.
Modem -> Router -> Computer: 117 down.

Any ideas on how to fix this?
 
Solution
"becoming a bigger issue....

Not surprising overall. Things are becoming much more complex for varying reasons - happens in any number of real world situations.

The way you manage that is by discipline.

Control what is changed and when it is changed. Overall, one change at a time then test.

For example: get one computer successfully up and running without issues. Then go on to the next computer ....

Keep notes, document, and always be ready to undo some change.

Everyone should ensure that their data is backed up, recoverable, and proven readable.

Work as a team.

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Since you get greater than 95Mbit with the router, we can exclude not negotiating gigabit.
Could it be an IPv6 problem?
Could it be an MTU problem?
Either of those is possible.
BUT it might not be a "router" problem. It could be a Windows problem. You need to use either a different wired computer to verify that it is NOT unique to one host. If you can't do that, then I would recommend booting a portable Linux OS and retesting.
 
Oct 28, 2020
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3 of the desktops are Windows 10. the 4th desktop is Ubuntu linux. 1 of the laptops is Windows 7, and the other is Ubuntu linux. So I'm fairly certain we can rule out it being a Windows problem.

The Netgear support rep I've talked with got me to adjust the MTU, twice. No joy there, either.

I just can't figure out why 3 routers by 3 different companies would all do this exact same issue.
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Wondering about this:

"As an aside, I let the router clone the MAC of my desktop. Speed reached 300 down, 22 up for about 15 minutes before dropping back to 117 down, 22 up again. "

Is that a consistent pattern?

If so I will add the following suggestions:

Do the router's logs capture anything around the 15 minute mark?

Use Resource Monitor or Task Manager to observe desktop system performance up to and past that 15 minute mark (Use both but only one at a time.)

Watch for some change at or around 15 minutes. Maybe a backup app launching to update, backup, or simply phone home... Check Task Manager > Startup tab.

Look in Task Scheduler for something being triggered at the 15 minute mark...

Disable all power savers on your desktop to determine if doing so breaks the pattern.

More involved:

When the desktop is initially booted etc, and running at 300 use Powershell to run:

Get-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty

Then when the speed drops to 117 run the command again.

Any differences between the results?

Get-DOConfig may also reveal some difference but not as likely....
 
Oct 28, 2020
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That is a rock solid consistent pattern. And it happens no matter which desktop system the router is cloning a MAC from. Last night I even cloned the MAC from the desktop running a clean install of linux via liveboot USB. Nothing running, no apache/mysql/other servers, just sitting there running idle. At exactly 15 minutes, the speed dropped again.

Since it does this no matter which router is connected, I'm thinking that is the modem or the ISP.

I'm finding some very disturbing things in the Netgear router this morning however.

I set everything back up last night around 2am before going to bed (roommates are working from home today, so we have to have a connection even at the reduced speeds). Checking the router log, I found these:

1, apparently the router is "resetting" itself at 7:10am (zero log entries before that time).

2, this entry is repeating:

Code:
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:19:14
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:18:42
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:18:09
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:17:37
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:17:05
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:16:33
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:16:01
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:15:28
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:14:56
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:14:24
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:13:52
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:13:20
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:12:47
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:12:15
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:11:43
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:11:11
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:10:39
[DHCP IP: (192.168.10.163)] to MAC address D0:BE:76:83:6A:54, Thursday, Oct 29,2020 07:10:06

My network is in the 192.168.0.x range, so there is no 192.168.10.163, and NONE of our devices have that MAC.

As for your suggestions, I can't take the network down until after 5pm today, but soon as I can I'll try them, and report back the results, thanks!

Wondering about this:

"As an aside, I let the router clone the MAC of my desktop. Speed reached 300 down, 22 up for about 15 minutes before dropping back to 117 down, 22 up again. "

Is that a consistent pattern?

If so I will add the following suggestions:

Do the router's logs capture anything around the 15 minute mark?

Use Resource Monitor or Task Manager to observe desktop system performance up to and past that 15 minute mark (Use both but only one at a time.)

Watch for some change at or around 15 minutes. Maybe a backup app launching to update, backup, or simply phone home... Check Task Manager > Startup tab.

Look in Task Scheduler for something being triggered at the 15 minute mark...

Disable all power savers on your desktop to determine if doing so breaks the pattern.

More involved:

When the desktop is initially booted etc, and running at 300 use Powershell to run:

Get-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty

Then when the speed drops to 117 run the command again.

Any differences between the results?

Get-DOConfig may also reveal some difference but not as likely....
 
Oct 28, 2020
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Highly unlikely, as they struggle with using Alexa.

When I've been testing this it's been with ONE PC at a time, Wifi, QOS, VPN, etc disabled. I've tried pinging that rogue IP (yes, the router is still trying to offer it), with the usual result:

Code:
PING 192.168.10.163 (192.168.10.163) 56(84) bytes of data.
^C
--- 192.168.10.163 ping statistics ---
9 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 8195ms


I am wondering if one of your roommates has a rogue DHCP server. I think you need to test the router(s) with ONE PC connected and the WIFI disabled. See if the DHCP stuff shows up in the log.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Highly unlikely, as they struggle with using Alexa.
Actually their technical ignorance probably increases the likelyhood of an improperly configured device.

The Hitron device you listed in the first post (EN2251) is a router based on the datasheet -- https://www.hitrontech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/e489001e8095a3ad6d5a12540dcd162e.pdf

The 192.168.10.x IP address may be the WAN address of the Netgear. Double check that in the router status page.
So you really don't need the Netgear if the device you have is the one listed in the datasheet.
 
Are you power cycling the modem while switching between devices?

My standard procedure is to power cycle the modem, let it fully boot up and connect to the ISP. Once it's fully settled, then I plug in the ethernet cable to my router. Otherwise, things get wonky when the router is already booted and ready to go before the modem.
 
Oct 28, 2020
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Nope. The modem is hobbled (badly) by Spectrum. 1 ethernet port, no user accessible functions. Any changes to it have to be made by Spectrum.

As for that rogue address, I can't find a mention of it anywhere in the router, except in the logs. The WAN IP (assigned via DHCP from Spectrum) is in the 74.136.x.x range.

Actually their technical ignorance probably increases the likelyhood of an improperly configured device.

The Hitron device you listed in the first post (EN2251) is a router based on the datasheet -- https://www.hitrontech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/e489001e8095a3ad6d5a12540dcd162e.pdf

The 192.168.10.x IP address may be the WAN address of the Netgear. Double check that in the router status page.
So you really don't need the Netgear if the device you have is the one listed in the datasheet.
 
Oct 28, 2020
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That's standard. I do a full disconnect/wait/connect every time. Even doing that, when going through the router, we don't get the "initial burst" of speed one would normally get.

Are you power cycling the modem while switching between devices?

My standard procedure is to power cycle the modem, let it fully boot up and connect to the ISP. Once it's fully settled, then I plug in the ethernet cable to my router. Otherwise, things get wonky when the router is already booted and ready to go before the modem.
 
Oct 28, 2020
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I'll try that this evening when I start testing again.

Seriously, at this point I'm almost ready to tear it all down and start at square one.

Sounds stupid, but try using 192.168.1.1 as the router's primary address.

I once fixed a friends brand new router that was on the 192.168.0.x subnet. In his case though, his router wouldn't communicate with the modem at all.
 
Oct 28, 2020
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Oct 28, 2020
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That rogue IP only showed up on the Netgear router. That aside, I finding astronomically unlikely that 3 routers, by 3 different companies, would have the exact same download speed issue.

"Tried that with a Pi I have laying around. No ping. It's not part of our LAN at all. I think that's just a bug in the router. "

Three "buggy" routers then....?

Just wondering and playing devil's advocate bit....
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Agree.

So there is something astray with the current router but unlikely related to the original download issue.

That original download issue being something knocking down the network speeds for all connected computers from 300 back down to 117.

After 15 minutes.....

Reading back:

"The modem is hobbled (badly) by Spectrum. 1 ethernet port, no user accessible functions. Any changes to it have to be made by Spectrum. "

That modem seems to be the common factor or actually the modem-router connections - from an earlier post:

Modem -> Computer, 400+ down.
Modem -> Router -> Computer: 117 down.

As you said: "Whatever is causing this speed issue is between the modem and the router. "

Are you able to get in to at least view the Modem's configuration settings:

Does the following link show the modem that Spectrum provided?

https://www.dslreports.com/r0/downl...ba80dd25/E31U2V1 Quick Installation Guide.pdf

Here is their 5/7/2020 supported modem list:

https://www.spectrum.net/support/internet/compliant-modems-spectrum-network/

And some unflattering notes about Spectrum....

https://www.dslreports.com/r0/downl...ba80dd25/E31U2V1 Quick Installation Guide.pdf

Starting to believe you may need your own modem....

Are you able to borrow a modem from someone just to test without the current Spectrum Modem - Netgear Router relationship?