Posted on 01/27/2021 4:25:33 AM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
I have a fairly new tower computer with a built-in network RJ45 port. The motherboard has a Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller built in that is supposed to get speeds up to 1GB but in the device manager it only says 100MB/100MB up and down. I have a fiber connection that was 600MB Full Duplex but is being upgraded to Gigabit fiber soon. Since my computer is upstairs I use a TP-Link R305 range extender that is supposed to be capable of up to 1.2GB. The signal is strong and I connect directly from that to my PC with a Cat6 cable, also high speed.
To eliminate the onboard network controller I bought a TP-link Gigabit PCI-E network adapter capable of 10/100/1000 MBPS. When I went to install I found that it uses the same drivers as my onboard network controller. It also shows 100MB. Speed and Duplex is set to 1GB Full Duplex. I am downloading at about 12MB/s and uploading at about 3MB/s which I have read is about the limit for a 100MB port. Because I have a strong signal and it is maxxing out with the range extender I feel I should be doing better.
Short of hauling the PC downstairs and connecting it directly to the cable modem is there anything else I can try to speed it up?
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
This is where I got the information:
https://static.tp-link.com/2020/202005/20200527/RE305(US)%203.0%20Datasheet.pdf
In an ideal world, 1,000 Mbps = 125 MB/sec
“Mbps” = Megabits per second
Eight bits = one byte
“MB/sec” = Megabytes per second
In reality, it may be that 10 bits = 1 byte, due to error correction overhead per byte delivered. Add in plenty of additional overhead for management and loss and your 1,000 Mbps connection might get you 90 MB/sec.
If we are talking about a “100 mbps” connection, that would be 9 MB/sec, practical maximum.
Scale up or down for added speed, so a 600 mbps connection would be 54 MB/sec.
Now, add in the losses from WiFi, in which the bands are often harassed by neighbors using the same frequencies, you can conceivably cut your “sped” down by a chunk more.
Then, add in that your range extender's physical port is 100mbps, and you have a recipe for the problem you are noting.
That’s probably my bottleneck. I will have to find a range extender with a high speed output jack then email TP-link and ask them why they would do something so stupid.
But, your internet is coming in over a shared bandwidth connection. That connection might support 1000mb, but you won't actually get that. You will get your "shared part" of it.
You stated that you do get much faster connection by connecting hard line directly to your incoming internet line. The first place I would look for a problem would be your repeater (extender) and then your wifi access point.
I can tell you that my internet connection is from a cellular router that usually only gets about 20mb up/down at max. (I can't get hardwire out here.) My house wifi is 2.4 GHz and I sometimes have as many as four video streams at once with no problems. But, my equipment is not cheap.
Your speed is only as fast as the slowest connection.
Many modems and routers have 100Mbps external ports and 1Gbps internal ports. So, internal network communications (like between computers or network attached storage - NAS devices) can transfer at up to 1Gbps (assuming both devices have 1Gbps ports. However, downloading through a 100Mbps external port, even with a 1Gbps download internet speed, would only be 100Mbps.
You should be able to use Cat 5e (not Cat 5) to transmit at those speeds, but Cat 6 would be better (up to 10Gbps).
WiFi extenders typically cut the transmission speeds in half. They’re designed more for getting a signal where it doesn’t typically reach, not for maintaining speed.
If you’re able to verify the speeds up to the WiFi extender, you might want to consider replacing the WiFi extender with EoP defices. The EoP (ethernet over power) uses existing AC wiring to transmit network communications. While they have some that supposed to transmit at 1Gbps, the best I have gotten is in the 700Mbps range - which is pretty good considering it’s an option to having to run network cabling where it might not be possible.
See answers to Do WiFi repeaters/range extenders reduce Internet speed?
I have posted in the TP-Link technical support forum to find out if they sell a range extender with a high speed RJ45 output jack.
Thanks for all of the help. FReepers rule!
You are exactly right. I have posted in the TP-link tech support forum to find out if they make a range extender that has a high speed output jack. The only thing I need the range extender for is my pc.
Great
Sorry for not or mis-understanding. I also have a Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller on a MSI B450-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard with integrated network adapter and under Properties W/10 says 1000/1000 (Mbps) and under Status it says 1.0Gbps and https://www.speedtest.net says 116.00 Mbps Download and 5.79 Mbps Upload and is connected to the Router/Modem directly via Ethernet. But my plan is only good for 100 Mbps Download. I had a higher tier for a while and although it got 200 Mbps Download yet the upload was the same.
Then I went to one of my tv sites and started to download a program. This is what I call the real world speed and it's what matters to me. When we had DSL I would tell my next door neighbor that I was only getting 2MB/sec down and he would tell me that I must have some kind of a problem because his speed was 10 times faster than mine. We were getting the same speed, just describing it differently.
Seems pretty identical to me.
They are identical. It’s just a question of semantics. When someone tells me they are downloading at 96MBps I roll my eyes. It’s the 12MBps that matters to me and all that I look at. It’s a number I see day in and day out while the larger number is something I only see if I go to a place like Speedtest.
I *believe* that Speedtest uses Mbps because that is how ISPs advertise their speeds.
In this case, my first impression is the bottleneck is on the other end. Quite often, it is. No matter how fast your speed is, going through a maze of congested routers on the net will produce slow results. I would test it against other websites other than the ones you are having problems connecting to. See how fast you can load pages from Amazon, MSN, etc.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.