Discrepancy between download/upload speed in router and reality

[sandra_dee]

Hello,

I am a Verizon customer, have Westell 7500 router.

When I log into the router at https://192.168.1.1 it says:

DSL Link:

Connected

Speed(Down/Up)

6204 Kbps / 860 Kbps

Connection Type:

PPPoE

I paid for 7000 Kbps upload speed.

However my question is something else....

I have been trying to download a 172 MB file for the past half hour, and it still has not completed. it says two hours left.

Is there an outage?

I am on Mac OS

Please help.

[sandra_dee]

Hello,

I went to System Monitoring > Advanced Status > Tranceiver Statisics and the following is shown:

Transceiver Revision: A2pB020b3.d20h

Vendor ID Code: 4D54

Line Mode: ADSL_2plus

Data Path: FAST

DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec): 6204 (Down Stream Path), 860 (Up Stream Path)

Margin (dB): 9.4 (Down Stream Path), 14.7 (Up Stream Path)

Line Attenuation (dB): 40.0 (Down Stream Path), 18.6 (Up Stream Path)

Transmit Power (dBm): 21.4 (Down Stream Path), 12.4 (Up Stream Path)

[jmw1950]

All Verizon sells you is the on/off ramp to the internet. There is no shortage of potential bottlenecks upstream or downstream  from that connection. Your Transceiver Stats say the link between you and the Central Office runs at 6204kbs, however so you are little short of 7 mpbs, your uplink speed however is correct. There is a reason it is called ADSL, A is for Asymmetric. Your downlink speed is only supposed to be 768kbps.

So while it may indeed take take 30 minutes to download you 172mb file, the problem probably isn't at the  Verizon end. You have made no mention of where the file was coming from, whether you are using a hardwired or Ethernet connection to you computer, and whether or not your MAC has been properly set up for a 7mbps link. There is an immense amount that can go wrong or be limited between your computer and the server you are downloading from..

I have a FiOS 20/5 connection. I recently downloaded about 4gb from iTunes. I didn't get anywhere the 20mbps the link is capable of. However having run the speed test from Argonne National Laboratories (ndt.anl.gov) I do know that my connection is actually somewhat faster than the 20/5 Verizon quoted.

[smith6612]

Your line isn't even synced up correctly. On G.DMT connections Normal sync rates are 7616/864 . ADSL2+ will lower the sync rates but only slightly, to something such as 7612/861. The problem could be from anything at this point, whether a noise issue (your line shouldn't be on FastPath, should be on Interleaved) due to your speed and distance or congestion either on Verizon's end or on the server end.

When your download is complete, make sure nothing else is using your connection and then visit http://www.measurementlab.net/ and perform their NDT Test. Post up the results you get when done.

[sandra_dee]

Hello,

@ Matthew: I was downloading OpenOffice for Mac OS. The 170 MB file nearly took 2 hours. Also, I am connected Wirelessly to the Westell router.

How do I set up my Mac for 7 mbps link?

@ Smith: Will get the results shortly

Thank you.

[sandra_dee]

@ Smith: i ran the test and was unable to copy and paste, even after upgrading my browswer. So, i took a screenshot. However, since there is no way to upload files to ones post, I uploaded the screenshot to my blog, please see below:

http://butisitpluggedin.blogspot.com/2011/01/results-from-measurementlabnet.html

Thank you in advance!

[jmw1950]

My first suggestion is NOT to use Wireless. The frequencies used by Wi-Fi are used by several other devices, including wireless telephone headsets to connect to the base station, and a variety of other devices, all of which can interfere with Wi-Fi Performance. So for the best speed, connect via an Ethernet cable. Moving your computer closer to the router/wireless access point may also improve the performance.

If you cannot connect with an Ethernet cable, and insist on wireless, try moving your wireless network to another channel that may have less interference. Connect to your router (http://192.168.1.1), login and go to wireless settings and change the channel. Default is usually 11, so you can try 1 and/or 6, but there is no guarantee that will solve the problem.

[smith6612]

The result shown by the NDT server is showing better speeds, though they are still not where they could be. It is indicating some form of congestion though, but that could be anything from being on a Wireless link instead of on Ethernet, other applications/sites sending or receiving data, or congestion on Verizon's end. Anyways, I'd have to say it would be an issue with where you were download from though if it's happening with all downloads, let us know.