Why has my LAN speed changed?

Sprootle · 09 Oct 2017

I'm most likely not giving you enough information to enable you to make a conclusion but I'm really interested to know why this is so.

My broadband service provider was Virgin and using their router I would transfer files between computers at a solid and constant speed of 11MB/s.

I have switched to BT now (using their router of course) but can reach transfer speeds of 90MB/s!

I don't know if this is constant or can go faster as I haven't really tested it but what could be the reason why this has happened? I haven't changed anything other than the router.

I'd like to learn the hows & whys of this so I can check if I'm using hardware/software to their full advantage.

Thanks very much and hope you can help.

Samuria · 09 Oct 2017

Is this wireless or cable? Wireless depends on router old g type speed is 10 meg n type is up to 300 and new AC type is 3 big so if the type has changed that would do it or if the old one was set wrong

Sprootle · 09 Oct 2017

Samuria said:

Is this wireless or cable? Wireless depends on router old g type speed is 10 meg n type is up to 300 and new AC type is 3 big so if the type has changed that would do it or if the old one was set wrong

No, it's Cat 6 cable.

Thanks.

Jimmyb · 09 Oct 2017

Doesn't virgin have its own lines, exchange etc, unlike BT which runs on Openreach

Sprootle · 09 Oct 2017

Jimmyb said:

Doesn't virgin have its own lines, exchange etc, unlike BT which runs on Openreach

Virgin used cable (fibre optic) to my house with a speed of 300Mbps, BT uses Openreach although not sure if they're still using the old copper wire method from my house to the telegraph pole. The engineer certainly went up it when connecting me!

I only get 52Mbps now but that's fine and much cheaper!

This issue is to do with an internal network though.

Thanks.

Digital Life · 10 Oct 2017

Your old router was probably a 10/100 router your new router is probably 10/100/1000 that's why your internal network got a boost.

Your new router is typically called a "Gigabit router"

bro67 · 10 Oct 2017

Your Ethernet Cable will not make a difference between the Gateway and your computer. You are not on a network having to do a 10gbps connection between two network devices. Cat-5e works just fine for home networks for jacks to Gateway and devices. Your speeds are going to vary for what your max speed is set by your provider. Also any noise conditions between the network node for your provider and your gateway can cause the gateway to tune down the speeds so that it is not able to drop many packets, which get listed as FEC errors. IPv6 can be slower rates for a speedtest than IPv4. It is just the nature of the beast.

Sprootle · 10 Oct 2017

Thanks for all your replies.
Just occurred to me, downloading from the internet (external) I got up 25MB/s (realised I was on 200Mbps not 300 as first stated) yet internally I only got 11MB/s!

Anyways, since I'm getting a faster transfer rate now and not the other way round after the switch over, it's not an issue, as mentioned it would be 'satisfying' to know why it was so.

I'll try to check the specs of the old Virgin router. If it was 10/100, would I be right in saying the maximum transfer speed would have been 12.5MB/s? If so then that would solve the mystery although would it mean internal transfer only because I got more externally?

Thanks again.

bro67 · 10 Oct 2017

You can always remove the network device and drivers to reset everything for networking and let windows reinstall. That would allow Windows to better tune the adapter for the new gateway. Just remember that different operating systems and network type connection (ethernet, wifi, bluetooth), can give you different speeds. Windows has always had a really bad time with overhead.