Down/Up speeds spontaneously drop and a router reset restores them

[Saml01]

Hello Everyone,

I have developed a very strange issue with my fios that begun several weeks ago. At the beggining of every day I would notice that my connection is sluggish. I run a speed test and see that my 50/25 connection is reporting 10/5. After restting the router and re-running the test I get my 50/25 back. I have to do this daily otherwise the speeds never restore on their own. Initially I thought this was a fluke so I let it go. But I couldnt take it anymore so I went to verizon and had the router exchanged yesterday. Today, once again, same story.

I have tried basically everything I know and I work in IT. I am currently out of ideas besides dropping an RJ45 to the ONT instead of the Coax, but that hasnt been a problem for the last 3 years. 

Any thoughts on what this could be before I call and complain to verizon?

Thank You

[eljefe2]

That's a strange one. 

Are you running the speed test via a wired (vs wifi) connection to your router?  And when getting the slower speeds, have you run the speed test with more than one device, PC, Mac, etc?

[Saml01]

Great suggestion. I completed overlooked that test. I have only two machines wired. A media center PC and a desktop. The rest on wifi. Problem is the media center is connected to the TV with a front end, I just never gave it a second thought to run the speed test from it. 

Well, I did just that and what do you know, the computer I am on is barely chugging while the other is flying. 

I think I have narrowed down the issue to something in my adapter config. I lock my ports into 100 full duplex on the router and the nic in the desktop is gig compatible. I think its having a hard time auto negotiating with the router. I just locked the nic to 100 full and the speed has been restored without requiring a reboot of the router.  However, this could also be because the connection was reset.

I will investigate further but right now you helped me asertain that it is not verizon causing the issue. 

Thanks.

[eljefe2]

Interesting.  Sounds like you're on the right track.

FWIW, I have all the ports on my Actiontec router left to their default setting, Auto.  Connections that warrant 1000 Full Duplex get it, and others that are only 100 Full Duplex get that too.  I always get my 75/35 plan, plus a little, when running speed tests from various devices.   You might try using those default settings for a day or so to see if they help any.

Or...if locking your PC to 100 Full solves the problem, you can't argue with success.

Please do report back if and when you solve the problem.  I'll be curious myself and it may also help others with a similar problem in the future.

Good luck.

[Saml01]

Just wanted to report back.

Changing the NIC's setting for the connection type from AUTO to 100 FULL has remedied the problem. Your suggestion of changing the port settings in the router from 100 FULL back to AUTO and keeping the NIC on AUTO also fixes the problem. 

Interesting discovery, my media centers NIC card is set to AUTO and has no issue working with the port locked to 100. I assume because the card in the media center does not support GIG speeds. But for whatever reason the one in my desktop has problems being forced to 100 by the switch. 

[eljefe2]

Glad you're back in business and thanks for the report.