[Question] Network Speed Issues (Dedicated Circuit) - Hardware Problem?

[John Titor]

Hello mighty gods of information, I'm in need.

I recently had a dedicated circuit installed (Level3) and then had a networking services company (BlackBox) run a cable drop for the ISPs equipment to my server room. The issue is that we're paying for a dedicated 100 mbps UP and 100 mbps DOWN, but I'm getting ranges between 30-75 mbps UP and 6-18 DOWN.

Here's the layout:
- CAT6 cable (straight-through) was run about 10 meters from the ISP's equipment to my room (because that's the standard they use for drops)
- ISP set their equipment at 100 mbps & Full-Duplex
- My router (I know it's odd, but it's what I had) is an Asus RT-AC3200 gigabit wireless router
- My speed tests were done while only 1 device (the testing device) was connected

Results:
From the first moment that I plugged into my router, the internet connection worked, but the speed tests showed me this issue. (mind you, this was stilll a straight-through cable)

Next, the ISP told me that we needed to use a cross-over cable, as they told me other customers have had issues similar when not using a cross-over cable. So I changed the cable to a cross-over cable and it also "worked", but I still got the same (unacceptable) speeds as when it was a straight-through cable.

Other Tests I Tried:
- I attempted to plug the cable (both as a straigh-throug & cross-over) into a server running Win2k12, set the static IP, and it also "worked" and could connect to the internet, etc.. It still got the same bad speeds (both cable types). Possibly could be due to needing to set 100 mbps and Full-Duplex???

- Silly as it is, I tried plugging it into one of my over-kill 48-port 10G SFP+ L3 managed switch, and plugging my router into the switch (router's WAN port) and again, it "worked", but still got the same bad speeds. The switch apparently doesn't support hard-coding the speed at 100 mbps (1000 mbps was the minimum it would let me, and 10G max)

My Thoughts:
I feel that the issue is one of 3 things.

- (most likely) My router uses MDI-X and auto-negotiation, and doesn't have an option to hard-code the speed at 100 mbps (like my ISP did on their end). My router runs Full-Duplex, so that (I think) is a no-brainer and probably is less likely to be the issue than hard-coding the speed.

- Maybe it's an issue with the cable drop? The distance is only 10 meters, so probably not the issue. The cable type (CAT6) could maybe be an issue??? Lastly, maybe the cable is damaged somewhere, but that seems less likely.

- Maybe the ISP configured something wrong, but again, this seems unlikely (as I already asked them to verify things on there end)

Any thoughts, ideas, or simple solutions that I could implement? I know I'm a bit inexperienced with networking and some of this likely sounds laughable, but I greatly appreciate y'alls help!!!

 

[NetWise]

Until you start locking to 100/Full, no point trying anything else. It's annoying as hell that telcos still do this garbage in 2016 but it is what it is.

Your best bet will be the 2012 server and lock it. If it's still doing it, then it's not a router or switch issue. At that point, call the telco and have them fix it, would be my line of attack. You've already gone above and beyond why should be needed for a new service. But lock that port to 100/Full before you bitch at them, so you don't get egg on your face if it turns out to be that.


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[Scott Laird]

Try pinging the far end of the link from your end. Compare the success rate of 1400-byte pings vs 1600-byte pings, and then something much larger, like 10k.

If 1400 is more or less perfect, but 1600 loses a giant chunk of traffic, then it's probably a duplex mismatch. Odds are the 10k packets will get nearly a 0% success rate in this case.

 

[djflow195]

Try pinging the far end of the link from your end. Compare the success rate of 1400-byte pings vs 1600-byte pings, and then something much larger, like 10k.

If 1400 is more or less perfect, but 1600 loses a giant chunk of traffic, then it's probably a duplex mismatch. Odds are the 10k packets will get nearly a 0% success rate in this case.

Or they are not passing fragments. I've seen that before



What I would do is get the ISP to send out a tech and validate on your port the speed you are supposed to get. IE: make them validate it is good up to their demarc. If it is good up to their ethernet port, then you may have a problem with your CAT6 extension. See if they will test it up to your CAT6 extension. If it is good up to your side of the CAT6 extension, then it is going to be a problem with your equipment.

How are you speed testing? See if you can hook up a laptop direct to the CAT6 cable and test from it (take the router out of the picture).

Check for errors on the interface. If it is a speed/duplex mismatch your error counts will go up. Or maybe Blackbox fubar'd the cable in which case error counts will go up.

 

[John Titor]

Or they are not passing fragments. I've seen that before



What I would do is get the ISP to send out a tech and validate on your port the speed you are supposed to get. IE: make them validate it is good up to their demarc. If it is good up to their ethernet port, then you may have a problem with your CAT6 extension. See if they will test it up to your CAT6 extension. If it is good up to your side of the CAT6 extension, then it is going to be a problem with your equipment.

How are you speed testing? See if you can hook up a laptop direct to the CAT6 cable and test from it (take the router out of the picture).

Check for errors on the interface. If it is a speed/duplex mismatch your error counts will go up. Or maybe Blackbox fubar'd the cable in which case error counts will go up.

Yes, I attempted directly connecting both a server and my laptop to the cable, and both worked. (speed issue still persists)

I'll need to try it again after hard-coding the PC and/or server with the speed and duplex options before considering it not to be an issue with my router.

IF the speed is still not running at 100, then I'll get access to the networking closet where my ISP's equipment is to test my laptop directly connected with a different cable, which I think will help to determine if the cable-drop was bad.

Think that's a good place to start?

 

[John Titor]

Until you start locking to 100/Full, no point trying anything else. It's annoying as hell that telcos still do this garbage in 2016 but it is what it is.

Your best bet will be the 2012 server and lock it. If it's still doing it, then it's not a router or switch issue. At that point, call the telco and have them fix it, would be my line of attack. You've already gone above and beyond why should be needed for a new service. But lock that port to 100/Full before you bitch at them, so you don't get egg on your face if it turns out to be that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree completely. I'll test this as soon as I can bring down the network for a few minutes!

(I just have some users accessing systems remotely, but solving this greatly out-weighs their access at the moment I feel)

 

[wildchild]

Duplex settings can cause this behavior,especially on cisco stuff
What you could try is simple hookup a laptop and set static there, just for testing purposes.
If you connection maxed out.. there you go

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