Replaced Router, faster speed?

[olds]

My G router (Asus WL-520gU) died. So I bought an AC router. I pay for 30 MB from Comcast. I can occasionally hit 35 MB. Mostly it's in the 25 MB range. Set up the new router and did a speed test:

This is a wired connection. I did the test on my wife's laptop, on wireless and it came in around 78 MB. Is that normal or did Comcast give me a boost and not tell me?

 

[frowertr]

Are you connecting to it via wireless or wired? Try wired (if you haven't already).

The real test would be to download a large file. http://www.thinkbroadband.com/download/

Download that 1GB file and see where you speed averages out.

 

[olds]

This is a wired connection. I did the test on my wife's laptop, on wireless and it came in around 78 MB.

I'll DL the file when I get home.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Maybe you got a free upgrade? But you weren't able to utilize it, because your former router was bottle-necking you?

Edit: I wish I got a free upgrade.

 

[Nashemon]

There are many reports that Speedtest.net is an inaccurate test. The theory is that ISPs are aware of it and have unthrottled connections to it. They use it when they first install your service to show you the speed you're getting is as advertised, but even when you're being throttled, your ISP will leave the connection to Speedtest servers open so you will think the problem is on your end. You may want to try a lesser known bandwidth testing site and compare the results you get. Sorry I can't recommend any at the moment.

 

[frowertr]

I have gotten letters from Comcast in the past that said they "upped" my internet speed to X for free. I noticed the increases as well.

Really won't know until you do some more download testing to see what i s really going on.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

There are many reports that Speedtest.net is an inaccurate test. The theory is that ISPs are aware of it and have unthrottled connections to it.

Try SpeedOf.Me if you believe that to be the case.

It is possible you got a free upgrade to your service at some point (TW Dallas did this 2 months after I moved 30Mb -> 100Mb), but your old modem/router couldn't utilize the full bandwidth. Generally speaking though, replacing the modem is when that is noticed. Did you get a combo modem/router combo by chance?

 

[boomerang]

That increase would be two tiers of service. I doubt you'd get that as a free upgrade from Comcast as they are typically only one tier. Do you know the name Comcast is using for the tier of service you're paying for?

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/15643

On a side note, there are a lot of people who have received a free upgrade who have modems that are not capable of the increased speeds. Comcast has not told anyone I know of this, only that they received an upgrade. I should mention that our area is one that is exclusive to Comcast so everybody I know is with them.

If you are renting a modem from them they will provide one capable of the tier of service you are paying for on an exchange basis. If you own your modem obviously you will have to open up your wallet.

 

[olds]

It's a stand alone router, TP Link Archer C9. I purchased my modem in December 2011. It's an ARRIS SURFboard SB6121 DOCSIS 3.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It's a stand alone router, TP Link Archer C9. I purchased my modem in December 2011. It's an ARRIS SURFboard SB6121 DOCSIS 3.

That modem is good for 120Mbit/sec on Comcast. I know this because my friend has one, and he had Comcast Blast 150 service.

Edit: Btw, does your new router have Gigabit LAN and WAN ports? Or is it a cheaper AC router with 10/100? The reason that I ask is, you might get 120Mbit/sec (wired) with a Gigabit router.

Edit: Nevermind. You do already have gigabit LAN/WAN.
http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/Archer-C9.html

 

[JackMDS]

It is anybody's guess Many times the numbers are a result of periodical spikes of the connection in combination with the measuring Apps that actually measure only few seconds of traffic.

That said, if you want to know the real bandwidth capacity use a wired Computer, log to Microsoft or similar site. Download large file (more than 500MB), measure the download time and compute.

85Mb/sec should yield about 9MB/sec. I.e., a 500 MB file should take about 1 min. to download.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Comcast offers two speeds that I know of.

25 and 75. Sure you didn't get double play lately? Only the very basic internet/cable service is 25. Anything beyond basic "forces" you into the 75 internet plan.

 

[olds]

Comcast offers two speeds that I know of.

25 and 75. Sure you didn't get double play lately? Only the very basic internet/cable service is 25. Anything beyond basic "forces" you into the 75 internet plan.

I have auto pay and I never look at the bill. Somewhere along the line my plan changed.
My Internet plan
Performance
Download Speed: 75Mbps*
Upload Speed: 5Mbps

That would explain it but I never saw those speeds before.

 

[VirtualLarry]

http://corporate.comcast.com/news-i...additional-cost-for-majority-of-its-customers

 

[Tweak155]

I have 2 anecdotes that might apply to your situation...

Just last month, before I moved, Comcast called me to offer me triple the speed (from 25mbps to 75mbps) and HBO for only $10 more per month. This makes me wonder if they are probably just tripling speeds anyway.

Second, I moved to a new place with 100mbps service. My wired speed was maxing at 68mbps so I assumed it was my modem. Replaced the modem with a newer model and I still capped... found out it was my router. Replaced router and it went to 115mbps.

Basically what I'm saying is it's possible either Comcast upped your service recently or your old router really did hold you back. Most likely it was your router.

Also if an ISP ups your speed, usually it takes rebooting the modem to have it kick in. Usually the ISP can and will send a signal to reboot your modem, but possibly you rebooted during this process and pulled the new profile.

 

[olds]

..

Also if an ISP ups your speed, usually it takes rebooting the modem to have it kick in. Usually the ISP can and will send a signal to reboot your modem, but possibly you rebooted during this process and pulled the new profile.

I was rebooting my modem and router at least once a month.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

ISPs often require the modem to use the router's MAC address to pull an IP address from the ISP, and I guess it's possible Comcast had never properly provisioned your modem with the old router. Once the modem got the new router's MAC address it pulled a new IP address and finally re-provisioned the modem correctly. It's not unusual for a modem to re-use the same IP address for years, even through reboots. They often recommend resetting the modem to get the new speeds, not just rebooting.

Did you change the network cable between router and modem by chance? If so, it's also possible your old cable was the problem.

 

[olds]

I am not a network pearson. But I did clone a MAC but I was setting up the router so I assumed it was the modem's MAC.

I did replace the cable from the modem to the router with the one that came with the router.

All in all, this was a great surprise.

Thanks all for the input.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I have auto pay and I never look at the bill. Somewhere along the line my plan changed.
My Internet plan
Performance
Download Speed: 75Mbps*
Upload Speed: 5Mbps

That would explain it but I never saw those speeds before.

Ya, not surprised. You got moved into a higher tier. And without a new Wi-Fi router you would have gotten poor bandwidth through Wi-Fi.

I'm not sure what router you got. But when I moved to a Nighthawk X6 is was like night and day. 6 channels are amazing. 12 devices would on average have 2 devices per channel. "collisions" almost disappear when that change occurs. It almost brought tears to my eyes seeing all my "loading" issues on Netflix disappear and all my dropped connections on my PS4 disappear.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I am not a network pearson. But I did clone a MAC but I was setting up the router so I assumed it was the modem's MAC.

Cloning the MAC is telling your router to use your PCs MAC address as the router's MAC address and sending that to the modem to use. FWIW, if you configured the router from a different PC/tablet/phone, did the clone MAC procedure again and reboot the modem, you would (most likely) get a new IP address from the ISP.

I did replace the cable from the modem to the router with the one that came with the router.

This is probably the best possibility, and you could test this theory if you desired by replacing the new cable with the old cable.

 

[KingFatty]

As a test you can install a large game from Steam. The downloader has a nice graph that shows fluctuations etc. in speed over time, and whether you are pegged at your download speed limit.

 

[Ayah]

did none of you actually look at the old router?

it's based off a Broadcom BCM3302 @ 240MHz, 16MiB ram b/g wireless...
it's stone age compared to his upgrade. 35Mbps is likely around it's maximum routing performance.

 

[Tweak155]

... Most likely it was your router...

did none of you actually look at the old router?

it's based off a Broadcom BCM3302 @ 240MHz, 16MiB ram b/g wireless...
it's stone age compared to his upgrade. 35Mbps is likely around it's maximum routing performance.

Did you not read all the previous replies?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I can't remember ever seeing a wireless router that didn't support 100 Base-T WAN/LAN, so I don't see how checking the router's specs would matter. FWIW, that router does support 100 Base-T WAN/LAN. It is also a wireless G router, so it couldn't have ever hit 30-35Mbps over wireless either, so we know he was using the wired connection for his speed tests which should have been capable of ~85Mbps.

 

[Tweak155]

I can't remember ever seeing a wireless router that didn't support 100 Base-T WAN/LAN, so I don't see how checking the router's specs would matter. FWIW, that router does support 100 Base-T WAN/LAN. It is also a wireless G router, so it couldn't have ever hit 30-35Mbps over wireless either, so we know he was using the wired connection for his speed tests which should have been capable of ~85Mbps.

I had this same problem with the Wireless G router I replaced... capped at 68mbps on LAN... skipped router and went straight to laptop and received 115mbps. I replaced the router and was good to go.

A number of routers have restricted WAN throughput. It's the likely culprit if OP did not change out the modem.