Google Fiber / Network Update. Speed Issues solved.

[SixFootDuo]

I was having a lot of issues with getting 1Gigabit speeds with new Google Fiber. Previously using Windows 7 Pro and a lower end NIC.

Upgraded to Windows 8.1 and an Intel PWLA8492MT PRO/1000

Before was only seeing speeds of 50 - 55MB/sec on average.

Now getting close to 1Gigabit speeds. Microsoft, EA, Usenet, etc. I actually pushed speeds over 1Gigabit, 106 MB/sec across a few large downloads.

Latency has gone from 60 - 80ms to an average of 10 - 20ms, at least a 50% improvement across the board.

Here is a very interesting screen shot. Also, any download that's 100 - 300 MB takes just 1 sec. That's the one thing I'm most surprised about.

The one thing I do want to point out is in the time it took us to get Google Fiber, a year for our fiberhood #58 to get connected, I read review after review, blog post, youtube, editorials, etc and the one thing they all said was that it was impossible to get 1GBit speeds. This is absolutely not true. I can get 90 - 95MB/sec down from several websites, granted, all the best speeds came big name web sites.

 

[Ins0mnyteq]

a decent NIC card helps. wish they'd bring that to me out here. paying $85/month for 50/5

 

[JeffBlair]

Nice, I just wish my complex would get it when it comes to Austin.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Damn, even though I recently got 50/30 fibre (which is freaking awesome compared to 8/1 DSL) I'm still jelly. Seeing near LAN speeds for internet is just incredible!

Notice you're not getting true LAN speed though, that's just because of the overhead of the deep packet inspection being done for the NSA. Hey, somebody has to fund that gigabit fibre project!

 

[TCM2]

I actually pushed speeds over 1Gigabit, 106 MB/sec across a few large downloads.

1Gbps is around 119MB/s.

Here is a very interesting screen shot. Also, any download that's 100 - 300 MB takes just 1 sec. That's the one thing I'm most surprised about.

I suppose you're talking about clicking a link in the browser, then choosing a download location and then the download only takes 1s. The thing is, it already downloads while you choose the location.

 

[Phog]

Hate to break it to you, but I'm guessing this had nothing to do with your software upgrade (unless your previous setup was terrible.) Did you ever try LAN <-> LAN transfers before then? That will expose any network deficiencies regarding drivers/OS issues. Did you ever try a speed test before your software upgrade? I'm guessing you got close to gig speeds on it.

I have Google Fiber as well, and it's true, it's next to impossible to get gigabit transfers. Yes, you will occasionally see brief instances of what you experienced above, but generally you won't get more than 50-100mbps on average. Even Google's services are abysmal. You would think Google Drive would be quick as lightning. Nope, it's slower than dropbox.

I've hit 80MB/s before from Steam, which is great, because that's where most of us get a majority of our content, but everywhere else is typically no benefit. The amount of throttling that occurs on every service provider out there is just sickening (Microsoft, Google, Apple - I'm looking at you.)

Yes, on speed tests I get 944mbps, but I probably won't see a service actually push that sort of throughput for a few more years. On top of that, the further you get out of Kansas City, the slower your speeds get just by nature of latency and routing. Chicago speeds are dynamite, but the best I've seen from anything on the West Coast (where it matters most) is about 700mbps.

Don't get me wrong, Google Fiber is pretty good, but the fact that the rest of the internet is still pushing at 20mbps means you don't often feel the effects of a super-fast connection.

The real kick in the balls for me is that it doesn't speed up your connection to Google's products at all (Drive). Plus, their forced-on-you network box is an absolute joke. It was an afterthought to them, and it's frustratingly handicapping for your internal network (no static routing, can't disable dhcp, can't change DNS, crappy wireless range, ARRRRRRRRRRRG!)