USB-C to Ethernet adapter not pushing 1000Mbps

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ekiro

New Member
Mar 16, 2019
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I have a 1Gbps fiber connection and when I use my PC or home server that are wired via Ethernet I get full speeds (up & down). But when I tried connecting my MacBook Pro to the Ethernet wire using a Anker USB C to Ethernet Adapter, Portable 1-Gigabit Network Hub I get a very jumpy connection, starting fas then quickly dropping to around 100Mbps (10MB/s). I get faster speeds using Wi-Fi.

Is this a USBc limitation, or could the adapter be faulty, or is there some configuration issue, or what? Does anyone else have any experience with this? And what is the best USBC-to-Ethernet adapter on the market?
 

Dreece

Active Member
Jan 22, 2019
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Have you tried turning features off in the nic settings? ie jumbo-frames, flow-control etc?

Have you checked if there are any transmission errors going on? possibly a faulty device or connection or cable...

Have you tried switch back and forth between full and half duplex?

Is the adapter getting very hot? possibly forcing it to slow-down...

The above is some of the steps I'd go through first...

If all else fails, take the adaptor to another machine and try it and see if the same problem occurs...

If the problem persists... RMA or refund time.
 

ekiro

New Member
Mar 16, 2019
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It appears installing the driver partially fixed it. Now my down speed seems to be capping at around 700Mbps but the upload speed is stuck at 100Mbps! :( Is this normal or should I be getting 1000Mbps up and down?
 

Dreece

Active Member
Jan 22, 2019
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Ah, I presumed the driver was already installed... 1GBE is nearly always full-duplex so both should be on par unless you're writing data to slow medium on the other end.

Personally I never touch those usb devices, have always had one or another issue with them, moreso with USB-C to be honest. Other half has one of those extenders with hdmi/ethernet/mic/flash etc on her mac, and she's never had an issue, but I can't imagine picturing her sitting there looking at link transfer rates lol

ps she got hers from the apple store so I'm guessing it was an apple approved one... are the Ankers apple approved?
 

Evan

Well-Known Member
Jan 6, 2016
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Not normal.

I have no issues with the original apple gigabit thunderbird adapter (using usb-c to thunderbolt adapter), used that just because I have but I guess apple says use the Belkin one for native usb-c gig Ethernet.
 

ekiro

New Member
Mar 16, 2019
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I ordered the Belkin USBC to Ethernet adapter. I hope it doesn't have issues. If it works I will end up returning the Anker.
 
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Dreece

Active Member
Jan 22, 2019
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Just a quick one, have you tried another cat5e/6 cable with that Ankers?

If you lose a pair in the wire that can bring you down to 100mb, but that normally impacts the negotiation speed to downgrade at the very start. Just that round number of 100 makes me think one of the pairs is either shorting or open.
 
Last edited:

ekiro

New Member
Mar 16, 2019
20
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3
Just a quick one, have you tried another cat5e/6 cable with that Ankers?

If you lose a pair in the wire that can bring you down to 100mb, but that normally impacts the negotiation speed to downgrade at the very start. Just that round number of 100 makes me think one of the pairs is either shorting or open.
Yes it does the same with another cat6 cable that pushed 1000mbps on another machine.
 

ekiro

New Member
Mar 16, 2019
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It appears the same issue is happening with the belkin. My download never seems to go above 750mbps but my upload is always capped at 100mbps.

Now I suspect it might be a configuration or software driver thing. Are there belkin drivers? I cannot seem to find them.
 

Dreece

Active Member
Jan 22, 2019
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No idea. You could consider walking into an Apple store and just don't mention anything, simply say you need ethernet functionality and that you want to see it work before you buy anything... hopefully you sit back with a coffee in-hand and watch them do all the dog work... however success depends on how technically capable they may be.

As far as I can see, the drivers are already built-in the OS, everything should just be plug-n-play (that's the idea behind the type-c port and generic addons). Your thoughts on there being something software/config related being the issue is a sound assessment. If it is feasible, you could just reset back to factory defaults? that's your call to make.
 

BoredSysadmin

Not affiliated with Maxell
Mar 2, 2019
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Not normal.

I have no issues with the original apple gigabit thunderbird adapter (using usb-c to thunderbolt adapter), used that just because I have but I guess apple says use the Belkin one for native usb-c gig Ethernet.
That a 100x times. Don't bother with USB nics if you have t-bolt port available.
 
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Evan

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Jan 6, 2016
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No USB-C is not thunderbolt, you USB-C physical ports may well carry thunderbolt (PCIe) protocol but they are not interchangeable, they just happen to use the same physical connector in the current generations.
(Future USB standard will merge to offer a remote PCIe / thunderbolt as standard but not until now)

In very simplistic terms
- USB protocol is higher up the stack and subject to overheads, more possible jitter etc
- thunderbolt can be thought of more or less external PCIe
 

BoredSysadmin

Not affiliated with Maxell
Mar 2, 2019
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USB-C is a physical connector type. The signal is carried could be full blown clusterduck of various protocols and speeds and to summarize - it depends:
USB-C - Wikipedia