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Slow Fiber Connections

1K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  zx10guy 
#1 ·
I recently purchased a 1,000mb/s plan from a local Fiber company for my parents and I after finding out Sparklight wasn't a very good internet provider. After getting fiber all set up and ready to go, I tested the speeds of the internet. With an ethernet cable plugged straight into my laptop and into the router, I received around 700mb/s. Without an ethernet cable, I received around 200-300mb/s. I'm trying to reach around 900-1,000mb/s but it doesn't seem like I'm able to reach it. Is there any way to increase the internet speed? Is it a problem with my router or is it on my provider's end? Any information would be awesome!
 
#4 ·
If you have an older router with 802.11n technology, but you have newer devices that have 802.11ac technology, you are not getting the performance that your devices are capable of. Conversely, if you have a new router with 802.11ac technology, but are using older devices, your speed will be slowed down due to the limited capabilities of the device.

https://www.lifewire.com/how-fast-is-a-wifi-network-816543

https://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/improve-your-wi-fi-speed-in-10-simple-steps
 
#5 ·
Hello and welcome!

I used to work for Sparklight (CableOne at the time) and was curious into the issue.

As to the wireless issue, as it has pointed out you didn't mention the hardware that you have for the wireless connection. Are you using a provider modem/router, or are you using your own router?

If it's a combo modem and router, where is it located? Wireless speeds can be affected by a few things.

What laptop/wireless devices are you using, and if you know, what wireless card is in it (computers only)
 
#6 ·
Sparklight only says to expect more than 500 Mbps.

Sparklight Gigabit

https://www.sparklight.com/gigabit

Gigabit: Up to 1000 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload speeds.

Customers who have optimum hardware and connections should expect wired speed tests in excess of 500 Mbps on a Sparklight speed test site.
I don't know if the wires on your street are fiber or copper. If they are fiber then the Sparklight Gigabit plan is a hybrid plan with copper going into your home.

Where I live:

The ISPs with all copper have Gigabit plans with 1000 Mbps down and about 30-50 Mbps up.
The ISPs with all fiber have Gigabit plans with 1000 Mbps down and 1000 Mbps up.

I have the Comcast Gigabit plan (1200 Mbps down & 35 Mbps up)

Using the Speedtest.net app

My 2 desktops with 1000 Mbps LAN get 950 Mbps down
My laptop with 100 Mbps LAN gets 95 Mbps down, 802.11g WiFi gets 19 Mbps down
My laptop with 1000 Mbps LAN gets 950 Mbps down, 802.11n WiFi gets 52 Mbps down
My laptop with 802.11ac WiFi gets 200-400 Mbps down
My phone with 802.11ax WiFi gets 400-600 Mbps down

I found that WiFi download speeds are very variable depending upon the time of day.
Another important thing to remember is that if you have a dual-band router with 2.4GHz and 5GHz you might get faster speeds by connecting to 5GHz if your device has that capability.
 
#7 ·
First, to get the true speed of your connection, you need to eliminate your router and plug your laptop of whatever PC you're using directly into the modem. If you don't know the performance specs of the router, it could be one of your bottlenecks. Just because a network device has a GigE port, doesn't mean it'll route/forward traffic at that speed. There are a ton of other considerations that determine the ultimate speed of any network device. Second, many times you won't get full line rate speeds as there is some small amount of overhead that will usually take away a little bit of speed.

On the topic of wireless speeds, this will open up a whole rabbit hole of discussion on various factors which affect your true wireless speeds. Needless to say, any advertised wireless speed is always theoretical where you'll never get that; not even in lab/ideal conditions.
 
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