Slow (10Mbps) Speedtest on a 100Mbps connection on Gigabit Equipment

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May 11, 2015
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I have an issue of speed bottlenecks on a small-ish office network that I am looking for troubleshooting advice for.

Here are the known properly functioning links points from the outside inward, all connected with Cat5e cable:

  • 100/10 service from ISP - I regular hit 100+/10 from other devices.
    Ubiquiti Edgerouter Lite
    Cisco 48 Port Switch
    Asus RT-AC1900 Router
The troublesome segment is as follows:

Asus Router links to:
WAN - Cisco 48 port switch mentioned above - 1 Gbps link
LAN 1 - PC #1 with gigabit controller - 100 Mbps link, speedtest never goes above 10-12 Mbps down, but does get 10 up.
LAN 2 - PC #2 with gigabit controller - 1 Gbps link, speedtest solid 100+
LAN 3 - DVR for security cameras - 100 Mbps (Expected, I think)
LAN 4 - Netgear GS105 Prosafe Gigabit switch - 100Mbps link (Unexpected)

  • - Network printer on GS105 port 1
    - PC #3 on GS105 Port 2 Gigabit controller that will blip as high as 25Mbps, but generally sits right at 10Mbps down/10 up.

So, I have two PCs not getting anywhere near their expected download speed.

Today, I swapped cables from the Asus router as follows -
Originally, LAN 1 to PC #1, LAN 2 to PC #2
Swapped, LAN 1 to PC #2, LAN 2 to PC#1.
The Gigabit link followed PC #1, so I am fairly sure PC#2 is the issue, and not the cable or router port, right?

For PC #3, it will be pretty difficult to replace the cable, but that is my suspicion at this point. That said though, if PC #2 has an issue causing slow speeds, PC #3 may have the same issue which may be causing the link to show only 100Mbps... maybe?

So, the big question... what could cause a computer connected to a router with a known good cable in a known good port to get only 10/10 when it should get 100/10 like it's direct neighbor?

All computers are 2 years old or under, and are updated to the latest release of Windows 10 Pro (Spring Update 2018). I have no real history of speeds received, as we just recently bumped from 15/2 with our ISP to 100/10.

Thanks.





 
Solution
For anyone who may find this, or care...

I've learned yet another lesson in not making assumptions, especially if you did not install everything yourself!

For PC#3, which is the one going through the Netgear switch that shows a 100Mbps link... I ran a LOOONG known good cable straight from the PC to the Asus Router. BAM! Full expected speeds.

The cable it normally uses makes a terrible path through a drop ceiling and a maze of duct work. Apparently, this was a difficult enough cable to pull/re-run when the cables were upgraded to Cat5e that the installer left a VERY old Dog5e of a cable in place and simply used that. So, I will take on the task to run new cable in it's place.

As for PC#1, Best I can tell, an employee (or someone...
Firstly make sure you are not confusing MBps with Mbps.. i.e Megabytes per second, with megabits per second.

If you are on a 100 megabit connection, 10 megabytes per second throughput is about normal.

Check your ports are auto negotiating to the correct speed and duplex.

Be aware of home routers, I cant comment on your specific router but they often have slow back planes, or have a shared connection to all ethernet lan ports making lan to lan transfers slower.
 


1) I am using Google's speedtest on all machines, which uses Mbps. I'm aware of the difference.

2) The Asus router reports port speed, but I don't see a way to check or force speed or duplex. As I posted, I swapped the cables between PC#1 and PC#2 and the speed stayed with PC#2, so I think PC#2 has an issue.

3) Your point about slow back planes, etc, is over my head and I don't understand how it would apply.

Thank you for your input.

 
For anyone who may find this, or care...

I've learned yet another lesson in not making assumptions, especially if you did not install everything yourself!

For PC#3, which is the one going through the Netgear switch that shows a 100Mbps link... I ran a LOOONG known good cable straight from the PC to the Asus Router. BAM! Full expected speeds.

The cable it normally uses makes a terrible path through a drop ceiling and a maze of duct work. Apparently, this was a difficult enough cable to pull/re-run when the cables were upgraded to Cat5e that the installer left a VERY old Dog5e of a cable in place and simply used that. So, I will take on the task to run new cable in it's place.

As for PC#1, Best I can tell, an employee (or someone else with access) at some point swapped the shiny new gigabit ethernet card, with an old clunker 10/100 junker from who knows what machine or where. Easy fix there. It also sheds some possible light on why one of our machines is missing a stick of RAM. I figure someone upgraded their home computer on the sly. Bleh.
 
Solution