Why do I have slow speeds through my new router but normal speeds when plugged directly into the PC?

JohnJSal

JohnJSal

Active Member
Hi all. I just got a new router today (TP-Link Archer A54) and set it up. I have a type of ISP that uses an ethernet connection from the wall, so no coax cables or modem. It's just the ethernet cable into the router, and then another ethernet cable from the router to my PC, because my PC does not use Wi-Fi.

I also have to call my ISP and have them activate the new router, because apparently only one device can be activated on the service at a time.

So I did all that, but when I do speed tests, I am consistently getting a download speed of 9.5 Mbps when using the router (both with the PC, which is wired to the router, and with other devices on Wi-Fi). When I bypass the router and plug the cable directly into the PC, I get my normal speeds, which are always around 57-58 Mbps.

My ISP said my signal is fine, and the fact that it works when bypassed means it's the router. I'm trying to contact TP-Link now, but hopefully someone here knows what's going on and can help.

Basically, when connected to the router, download speeds are 9.5 Mbps. When directly connected to the PC, they are 57-58 Mbps. Please help!
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Start simple, try a different cable or different port on the router.

10mbps or even 60mbps is pretty slow in terms of what modern hardware can support. Even a no name off the shelf 40 dollar router probably can do 300-600mbps. Something isn't right.

What if you connect a device via WiFi? What speed does it get?
 
JohnJSal

JohnJSal

Active Member
Well, completely out of nowhere I did another speed test and now it's working properly! The speeds are back to normal! Nothing at all changed in the meantime, so I'm a bit baffled why it suddenly started working.

My only guess is that maybe the router needed some time to get "adjusted" to the network after my ISP activated it? That's my only thought.
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
Might just have been an issue with NIC autonegotiation as that's suspiciously around 10 mbit. Kind of like how people peg out around 940 with gigabit and protocol overhead, 9.4-9.5 for 10 mbit and 94-95 for 100 mbit are pretty common traffic values for those negotiation rates.

If it keeps happening try to identify which leg of the connection isn't negotiating correctly and maybe replace the cable.
 
JohnJSal

JohnJSal

Active Member
beers said:
Might just have been an issue with NIC autonegotiation as that's suspiciously around 10 mbit. Kind of like how people peg out around 940 with gigabit and protocol overhead, 9.4-9.5 for 10 mbit and 94-95 for 100 mbit are pretty common traffic values for those negotiation rates.

If it keeps happening try to identify which leg of the connection isn't negotiating correctly and maybe replace the cable.
Click to expand...
Thanks! Hopefully it's all over now!

I was pretty sure it wasn't the cables though, because the cable plugged into the router was the same one I used when bypassing the router directly to the PC, and when I bypassed, it worked fine, but when it was in the router, I had slow speeds, so I figured it probably wasn't that.
 
Okedokey

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
My only 2 cents would be to install inSSIDer and check that you don't have any neighbors Wi-Fi etc. interfering. You will be able to then change the channel in the router to a 'quiet' channel. A coexistence / co-use of that channel at any given time could severely impact the throughput thus your intermittent or unexplained slow downs.
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Okedokey said:
My only 2 cents would be to install inSSIDer and check that you don't have any neighbors Wi-Fi etc. interfering. You will be able to then change the channel in the router to a 'quiet' channel. A coexistence / co-use of that channel at any given time could severely impact the throughput thus your intermittent or unexplained slow downs.
Click to expand...
Yeah but this is wired?
 
JohnJSal

JohnJSal

Active Member
The slow downs I was seeing happened on the wired PC, but only when it was still going through the router. Not sure if that matters or counts as using wi-fi indirectly.

But yes, it was happening both with the wired PC (via the router) and wif-fi, but not when the PC was wired directly (router was bypassed).

Fortunately it has been fine ever since that afternoon. I'm thinking it was simply that the new router needed to "get into" the network, and that took a couple of hours. Seems the most likely thing at this point, but it would have been nice if the ISP tech support people had known that and told me so I didn't waste two hours on the phone!
 
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