Internet speed much slower through router

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fst89lx

Weaksauce
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Oct 4, 2003
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I'm trying to troubleshoot a problem at my parents house with their internet speeds. If I hook the cable modem directly to the pc, they get 100Mbps down and 6 or 11 up (I can't remember honestly). If I introduce a router into the mix, their speeds drop to 30Mbps down and 6 up. This is using either wired or wifi from the router.

They were running a very old wifi router (8 years ish) so I thought that could have been the problem. Yesterday, I set up a new Netgear Nighthawk ac2600 router at their house and the issue persists. It does not matter if I use the Wifi or run a cable from the router to the pc, the speeds drop more than half compared to a direct connection to the modem.

However, all of our phones will connect to the router and get ~ 60 down on the 2.4ghz band and 100 down on the 5.0 ghz band. It is ONLY the pc that is acting weird. Any suggestions here?

***UPDATE*** 11/18/19
-Parents internet speeds have been tested with 3 routers, 3 cable modems (2 of which are exactly the same model; SurfBoard 6141) , 2 PC's, 2 Iphones.
-Parents PC direct connected directly to any of the modems gets Full speed of 230/12 (except one of the sb6141's gives 120/6 because I assume it is broken in some way)
-Internet speed when tested on parents pc drops to ~20/6 with ANY combination of modem and router, wired or wifi.
-Internet speed when tested using my pc with any modem and router gets full speed, again except for that one sb6141 modem because its messed up.
-Internet speed on Iphones get proper speeds depending on wifi band that is being used.

Parents pc has newest bios, nic drivers, and windows updates. Current suggestion is to re-install windows. That may or may not happen, its up to my parents.
 
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Drivers for wired NIC/Wifi NIC have been updated? Cable is good (have you tried a new one going from router to PC)? How many walls between your router and where the PC is (when you are on wifi)?
 
Drivers have NOT been updated, tried multiple cables (including ones from the current setup at my house getting 240down 12 up), currently cable comes right from the tap on the outside of the house, into the house, directly into the modem. The modem, router, and pc are all within 5 feet of each other in the same room.

I went over there today with my modem (arris surfboard 6141, the exact same modem as them except for color), my router (asus RT-N56U) and my cabling. Hooked it all up a couple different ways and here is what I got:

My modem ----> Wired connection to pc 230 down 12 up. Fathers modem wired direct to pc gives 110 down and 6 up so I do know his modem isn't right.
My modem ----> Fathers router 37 down, 12 up (wired or WiFi, didn't make any difference)
My modem ----> My router 56 down, 12 up Wifi. 37 down, 12 up wired (WTF?)

Scratching my head. Going from modem direct to pc is fine except for his modem is only getting half the speed of mine, but the second I introduce a router into the mix everything gets all screwed up.
 
How old is the parent's modem? Looks like it could be part of the problem, especially if it is as old as the 8 year old router.

How does your modem -> your router work in your house? Wondering if maybe your parent's ISP is running some weird packet size or other odd ball thing.

If there is any setup up documentation from the original ISP install, might check for notes to change default settings that could now need to be undone with more updated equipment.
 
I bought their modem and my modem at the same time, which was about 3 years ago. Before that we were both renting from comcast. At home I get 230 down 12 up, that is wired from modem to router to pc. I don't use wireless on my pc so I don't know. My cell phone gets 50 down, 12 up on 2.4ghz, and 90 down 12 up on the 5ghz band sitting here at my desk w/ the router within arms reach.

No documentation from old install. It was ages ago. I tried factory resetting the routers as well but nothing could come close to the 230 down 12 up that connecting directly to the modem gave.

We both have comcast. I'm tempted to bring his router over to my house just for shits and giggles, but it really doesn't matter if it works here or not since we can't get proper speeds at his place.
 
How many splitters are in between where cable comes to house to all of the TVs/Cable modem?
 
Burner27 said:
How many splitters are in between where cable comes to house to all of the TVs/Cable modem?
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0 splitters at the moment. Cable comes off the tap outside, through a hole in the side of the house and directly to the cable modem. However, tomorrow or the next day, I will be hooking up their comcast tv boxes for a trial period to see if they would like to switch from directv. At this time I will have to install a splitter. I'll re-test internet speeds again after this is done to see if it has any effect on the speed.
 
When you have the modem direct to the PC and are getting 100 speeds down, whats the IP the PC is getting?
When you have the modem to the router, then to the PC and are getting 30 speeds down, whats the IP the PC is getting and whats the WAN interface of the router showing?
 
One thing you could try is new cables, you might have a single decent cable but other cables could be sketchy. So I would either test each cable, or replace them all. Depending on which version of wireless you might be getting the max, as 54Mb is max for G.
 
dbwillis said:
When you have the modem direct to the PC and are getting 100 speeds down, whats the IP the PC is getting?
When you have the modem to the router, then to the PC and are getting 30 speeds down, whats the IP the PC is getting and whats the WAN interface of the router showing?
Click to expand...

I didn't really have time to do much with the internet todayay other than hook up their television. One thing that I did notice real quick is that if I go modem--->PC, and ask google my ip, I get an ipv6 address, when I use the router and ask google, I get ipv4 address. I am hopefully going to have time to head over Saturday morning and fiddle with it a little bit. Just to be sure, when you ask about the Ip, you mean for me to use say google or whatismyip to get my IP or use cmd prompt and ipconfig?

Also some more information. Today I installed a splitter so they could have television and internet. So the cable tap comes into the house through a hole in the wall/cinder block, into a splitter, then off to cable modem and tv box. During the initial setup of the tv box, it popped up a message saying that the signal strength was low. Internet speeds were NOT affected by adding the splitter.

Haven said:
One thing you could try is new cables, you might have a single decent cable but other cables could be sketchy. So I would either test each cable, or replace them all. Depending on which version of wireless you might be getting the max, as 54Mb is max for G.
Click to expand...
I have tried known good cables and the issue persists. Using any router in-between the modem and PC kills internet speeds to the pc (wired and wireless).
 
So, the situation magically fixed itself. Sort of...

I went back over there today and started getting ip addresses, modem signal strength numbers, etc. Did that for a while with their modem and both of their routers. Then I decided to run a speed test. 75 down 6 up on WiFi or wired through their new router (still get 120/6 going direct from modem to pc)
I had also brought my PC, modem, and router to test. Using their modem and new router, with my PC I get 75/6 on 2.4 WiFi, 120/6 5.0 WiFi, 120/6 wired. Swapping out their modem for mine (same modems arris 6141) 75/6 2.4, 220/12 5.0, 220/12 wired.

The problem is with his PC/NIC. (his modem is obviously "broke" as well but it works for the time being.)

Next time I make it over there, I'll update the drivers for his network card and see if that does anything. Not convinced this will do anything since when we used my modem direct wired to his pc, I got 220/12, but it is worth a shot.

BTW in you guys opinion, since he should get a new modem anyway, should I have him take back the netgear router and buy a modem/router combo, or keep the new router and just buy a modem?
 
Keep the modem and router separate. If ordering new parts, might pick up a stand alone NIC for his PC. Possible he suffered a near hit from lightning and his gear has some degradation. If the driver update fixes things, you will have a test card for your troubleshooting kit.
 
Burner27 said:
Get an Arris 6183 and an ASUS router
Click to expand...

I actually think that is the modem I was looking at to replace their current 6141, and while I personally have an Asus router and it has been great for me. If they do decide to go with the separate modem and router, they'll likely just keep the nighthawk router they already bought.

Dead Parrot said:
Keep the modem and router separate. If ordering new parts, might pick up a stand alone NIC for his PC. Possible he suffered a near hit from lightning and his gear has some degradation. If the driver update fixes things, you will have a test card for your troubleshooting kit.
Click to expand...

I'll keep that in mind. hopefully a driver update and modem do the trick, if I know my dad he won't want me to open up the case and start swapping components unless it's 100% necessary (I.e. The component is dead)
 
I have had the 6141, the 6183, and now I am on the 8200. All served me well, and the only reason I upgraded was........i am a nerd. LOL
 
I guess I spoke too soon. Decided to do the driver updates today. I went over there, ran dell update (yes they have a dell). That found a bios update, realtek ethernet adapter update, and 2 others. After those were installed and pc rebooted, I ran speedtest..... 19/6 Wired and wireless. Rebooted modem and router a couple of times as well, same result. Both of our iphones still get ~60/6 on 2.4 wifi and ~100/6 5ghz wifi. Parents are getting a new modem tonight (6183) even though I know this will not fix the problem, at least we'll know that the modem is out of the equation.
 
Can you try a different PC than his? What app are you to test speeds?
 
Burner27 said:
Can you try a different PC than his? What app are you to test speeds?
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Yep, already did that. Post #11. My pc with either his modem/routers or mine work just fine. Whatever is wrong IMO lies within HIS pc.
 
Sorry, I just saw that. Perhaps try adding an Intel nic?

Other than that, try fresh install of OS? If that doesnt work then he needs a new machine....
 
My next suggestion will be a re install of windows. All up to my father though, he might just say fuck it and leave it alone. I hope he lets me do it because it is going to bother the hell out of me if I don't fix it.
 
Using QoS with the Nighthawk, or is this clean and default off-the-shelf? If QoS is enabled disable it and see if there are any changes. If this is the case, many routers lose acceleration when QoS is utilized-very few do not
 
Shikami said:
Using QoS with the Nighthawk, or is this clean and default off-the-shelf? If QoS is enabled disable it and see if there are any changes. If this is the case, many routers lose acceleration when QoS is utilized-very few do not
Click to expand...

No QoS. Never ever used it on his old router, nor my router. His new router is brand new off the shelf. All three have exact same problem.

ryan_975 said:
Have you checked that nothing is consuming bandwidth in the background on his PC?
Click to expand...

I have not directly checked that, however I cannot imagine that's the issue. If I run speed test w/ the router and get the slow speeds, then Immediately after that I run a speed test with modem direct to PC, everything is normal.
 
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