Full Fibre 500 to 900

[#1]

I’ve had Full Fibre 500 for about a year now, faultless service. My pc is connected via network cable and any Speedtest I’ve ran always got me around 560 down and around 78 up. A couple of weeks ago I upgraded to Full Fibre 900. Now when I run any Speedtest I’m getting around 640 down and 110 up… is there any reason that is stopping me achieving anywhere near the 900.

My pc is connected via cat6 network cable

Ive tried different cables

Ive tried different speedtests, downloading from different sources ie torrent’s

Ive tried testing at different times of the day, even early morning 

My connection maxes out at around 640 down..

Anybody any ideas?

If plus net staff read this could you check if everything is ok at your end… thanks

[#2]

@Nick1 

Is your PC capable of handling this speed? Are the PC Ethernet drivers up to date?

[#3]

U need 2.5Gig Ethernet for 900Mbps

[#4]

@goldenfibre You don't.

[#5]

 Things that could slow it down are connecting through a Ethernet hub/switch that isn't capable of gigabit speeds, although the majority do it's worth checking,

another thing is a settings issue for the Ethernet driver being set at Auto, sometimes that doesn't always run at gigabit speeds so setting manually to full duplex might do the trick. 

I'm assuming the op is using windows if so, open device manager, select the network adapter, properties, advanced tab, select speed and duplex and choose the gigabit / Full Duplex. 

[#6]

Having another device on the local network is a good way to try to isolate the issue between local/external

It is fairly unlikely a PC, or switches with Gigabit ports, would struggle with 900Mb/s - that's a low rate compared with a disk transfer for example. If it's already in the 100s of Mb/s then everything must be at Gigabit not 100M - but port LEDs can confirm speed.

I have a NAS and it's simple to transfer a fie to check all is OK - with CAT6 through Gigabit ports it manages 970Mb/s. A 900 Fibre would be getting close to that but even the Hub 2 ought be OK  - if I only saw around 600 I would look to external. 

Routers with 2.5Gb/s arent that expensive now, motherboards with 2.5G/bs have been available for a while, and now have 5Gb/s ports.

[#7]

In determining if your device is up to the speeds, its also worth considering what software you have running as well.  For example, my current and previous laptops are both pretty high spec.  Using ethernet they both peak around 330 - 400Mb/s.  I'm certain this is because they are running zScaler (which I can't do anything about with it being my work laptop).  Using my own, much older, lower spec (even lower spec than my previous laptop), plugged into the exact same ethernet cable, and I can easily max out my 900Mb/s line.

[#8]

I would also recommend checking your browser for any added Extensions that could be running in the background.

Run speed tests from several different websites e.g.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest

https://www.speedtest.net/

https://fast.com/en/gb/#

I must admit, I recently found that 2 out of the 3 speed tests I ran from above websites, I was only getting around 600 instead of 900Mbps on my setup. After much trial and error I discovered that Avast Antivirus was the culprit, if I disabled all shields I got full speed on all speed test websites, but when Avast was fully enabled, only Speedtest.net showed the full speed. Hence I no longer use Avast.

[#9]

FTTP data test speeds not as expected

There have been numerous reports of measured data speeds not fulfilling users' expectations of their shiny new FTTP service. An end-to-end data speed test is a somewhat blunt instrument with which to test the connection speed. In most instances the FTTP service is running at the product's connection speed, but the user's environment or the data speed test service cannot make full use of (saturate) the FTTP connection's bandwidth.

We can no longer have confidence that the cause of slower-than-expected data transfer speed is due to the broadband connection's performance. If there is any doubt that the user's technology, infrastructure or chosen test service cannot make full use of the FTTP link's bandwidth, then a data speed test is likely to deliver misleading results.

Here are a few things to consider / investigate...

1. Is the ethernet cable between the router and the ONT (Optical Network Terminator) CAT5e or better?
   CAT5 or below will not transfer data faster than 100mbps thus a simple cable could be the cause of slow data speeds. The ethernet link rate between hub and ONT can be observed in the Hub Two GUI under 'Status'. This is a good indicator of router <> ONT cable function.
    
2. Is the device on which the data speed test is being run connected over (CAT5e) ethernet cable (not WiFi)?
   A device connected over 2.4GHz WiFi absolutely will not get anywhere close to 300mbps. It will typically be less than 100mbps. Typical 'good' 5GHz performance using the Hub Two is likely to be below 500mbps and will get lower the further away the device is from the router. More optimal Wi-Fi performance is possible but involves sourcing your own third-party equipment that is capable of the newer standards. Also Wi-Fi performance is equally dependent on the type of device and the age of its technology standards. Some older devices do not support 5GHz, even the most recent smartphones only have a 2x2 antenna array, which limits the number of concurrent Wi-Fi streams. The Plusnet Hub Two can use more streams (go faster), but most types of device cannot.
    
3. Is the device on which the data speed test is being run connected over (CAT5e) ethernet cable with no intermediary devices (like Powerline adapters, switches and physical ports) on the LAN side?
   Irrespective of cabling, if there is a 10/100 ethernet switch in the chain then it is going to bottleneck things. Similarly Powerline adapters are highly unlikely to be able to pull anywhere close to 300mbps through electrical wiring. Many Powerline adapters that are rated at e.g. 500mbps, actually have only 10/100 ethernet ports which means the advertised speeds are near fiction.
    
4. There are no other devices active on the network at the time of the test.
   Other concurrent use of the network will reduce the bandwidth available for the data speed test, thus delivering a misleading result.
    
5. If on a static IP or using the Plusnet firewall (configured in the user portal) has the Plusnet IP profile updated?
   Data speed tests performed soon after the service has been connected (but before Plusnet's systems have updated) might be constrained by the account's line speed profile. Disconnect the router from the ONT, wait a short while, reconnect then check that the Current Line Speed (Download) reported in PN Broadband Status reflects the FTTP product's profile.
    
6. If using a third party router ensure that QoS (Quality of Service) and other traffic shaping tools are disabled.
   QoS and other tools have been seen to cause havoc with attempting to saturate FTTP links. Prioritisation and QoS features are very processor intensive and can (probably will) significantly bottleneck speeds. Notably there have been numerous reports of Netgear Orbi maxing out at 550mbps when connected direct to the ONT, rather than being connected to a Plusnet Hub Two.
    
7. Is the test device configured to use any VPN or corporate intranet connection?
   VPNs and corporate intranets can also be potential bottlenecks.
    
8. Is the data speed test device capable of moving the data at FTTP speeds?
   Some kit simply does not have the power to make full use of FTTP connection speeds. Whilst undertaking data speed tests, if running on MS Windows, use Task Manager's performance tab to check throughput limitations do not arise from...
   • CPU performance
   • Disk read/write speeds - FTTP will easily outpace a 5400 rpm disk
   • Memory utilisation - the data has to go somewhere!
   • Network performance - unless the machine is reasonably new, the ethernet port will be limited to 100mbps!!
      
9. Speed test service
   Not all speed test services are dependable nor consistent, so run some comparable tests on different speed test services, at different times of day and night (both on and off-peak) where possible. The following are good points of reference.
   • Think Broadband who also offer a number of download files to soak test connections.
   • Ookla aka SpeedTest.net who also have a client-side speed test application which is preferable.

Please check out the above factors, to ensure that the perceived data speed is not compromised by some other factor limiting the data throughput-speed of your full-fibre FTTP.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A user has observed that different devices ran at different speeds and their problem was discovered to be the LAN card settings on their Laptop...

My PlayStation was connecting at around 535mbs all the time, but the laptop was only running about 130mbps max. On checking the internet settings I found that speed and duplex were set to auto. I changed this to 1 Gigabit and now the test speed is 838mbps.

To find the settings for your ethernet adapter, go to advanced after selecting properties.