Slow Remote File Transfers From Server, but Fast Uplink Speed - Need Help

[Aaron407]

I've been struggling with this issue for some time on a Windows 7 Home Premium machine on a gigabit network. Running a typical speed test (e.g., speedtest.net) shows decent upload bandwidth of around 5 Mbps (600+ kB/s). However, transfers and connections from the server to remote locations through the gateway are significantly slower than this and fluctuate between 15 and 40 kB/s for download speeds at the remote end. I have found this to be the case for downloading from my FTP server, as well as connecting to my security camera software's web server for viewing and downloading clips. Changing ports makes no discernible difference, nor does disabling the antivirus, and Window firewall is turned off in lieu of the router firewall. I'm running a Netgear R7000 router with no QoS, and the ISP has confirmed that they in no way have any traffic shaping/QoS enabled for the connection, which suggests that it's likely a local issue for remote downloads. I'm connecting with a static IP that is passed directly to the router. One other noteworthy item - uploading from a remote location to the server is fast - it's just sourcing from the server that's slow remotely.

Can anyone offer any suggestions for where to start digging on this issue? Ultimately, I'm not sure if it's a networking issue or a Windows issue as I only have the 1 server to test with, but any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Also note that I'm just a weekend warrior when it comes to this stuff, so my apologies in advance if I end up missing anything obvious.

 

[SamirD]

Was this working fine before and just started acting like this? Or has something else changed recently?

 

[ch33zw1z]

What are the speeds at the remote end, and what devices are used at them to connect to main site? Any VPN involved?

 

[Aaron407]

It seemed to be working ok for a while a few months ago, but eventually degraded to what it is now. I've created a temporary FTP account for the ISP to try downloading a file at their point in the network to see if the choke point is before or after them as they offered to do this test. Nothing else has really changed recently, but I know the ISP was having some issues at one point with their upstream provider.

The speeds at the remote end are solid, with my Android cell on the order of 100 Mbps down/40 Mbps up on an LTE+ system for FTP testing and camera server access, and a work computer on a minimum 100 Mbps/50 Mbps for other camera server access. The work one bumps through a few proxies, but the speeds are still good. No VPNs involved.

 

[mxnerd]

1. Driver problem?

2. Check event viewer see if there is any error regarding networking.

3. Try Wireshark analysis?

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wireshark+slow+network+analysis

 

[Aaron407]

I've used wireshark a bit in the past, but I figured it wouldn't be able to see what's specifically causing a slowdown at a higher level in the network. I'm probably wrong, though, so I'll do some digging. Thanks.

 

[JackMDS]

From your ""Good Speed"" numbers it seems that you are Not on main stream ISP provider.

In situations like this to Debug the ystem it is advisable to ignore Wireless and Cell phones and use wired computers to access the LAN transfers with and without Internet connection.

Judging fro your story I would suspect that the situation occurs from your WAN out to the ISP rather than your LAN.

 

[Aaron407]

You're right about not being on a mainstream ISP. We live on an acreage in Saskatchewan, Canada and rely on a rural ISP (and pay a ridiculous premium for it). They've been good to work with, but their service is sometimes a bit flaky. They said that they don't do any traffic shaping/throttling, nor does their upstream provider, but that doesn't mean that there isn't some setting in their equipment somewhere that's causing issues. I'm awaiting their feedback about FTP server access results.

Everything seems great within the LAN, and even uploading to the server from the remote devices is fast. It's just remotely sourcing from the server that's the problem. Unfortunately, I have to rely on the ISP to help troubleshoot upstream of our LAN since it's a point-to-point radio directly upstream of our router that ties to its internet port. I was mostly looking to confirm that there isn't something that I might be overlooking in terms of Windows settings, router, etc. before pushing things at the ISP level.

Thanks for all of the feedback, by the way. I'm a new member, and it's been a great experience thus far

 

[SamirD]

It seemed to be working ok for a while a few months ago, but eventually degraded to what it is now. I've created a temporary FTP account for the ISP to try downloading a file at their point in the network to see if the choke point is before or after them as they offered to do this test. Nothing else has really changed recently, but I know the ISP was having some issues at one point with their upstream provider.

The speeds at the remote end are solid, with my Android cell on the order of 100 Mbps down/40 Mbps up on an LTE+ system for FTP testing and camera server access, and a work computer on a minimum 100 Mbps/50 Mbps for other camera server access. The work one bumps through a few proxies, but the speeds are still good. No VPNs involved.

Thank you for the details. Exactly how does this FTP account between you and the ISP work? Is the account on the ISP's server or yours?

Another test to completely rule out any windows issues--boot up a linux live cd and run tests from that and see if your results are different. If they are, it points to a windows-related issue.

 

[Aaron407]

The FTP server is hosted within our LAN on a windows computer. I just created an account for them to see how the speeds are at their point in the network when they try to download a file. If the speed is good there, it would suggest that the choke point is further upstream. If it's slow, it would suggest to me that the problem is either at their level or down.

 

[SamirD]

The FTP server is hosted within our LAN on a windows computer. I just created an account for them to see how the speeds are at their point in the network when they try to download a file. If the speed is good there, it would suggest that the choke point is further upstream. If it's slow, it would suggest to me that the problem is either at their level or down.

Thank you for the explanation.

Do you have any packet loss to any of the gateways or hops inside the isp's network?

Also, if you can connect to your resources remotely from other isp accounts like the cellular hotspot, that does point to something local at your system or your isp. We can eliminate your system by running the linux live cd test.

 

[mxnerd]

Does the FTP server has speed control capability that's accidentally being turned on?

Or router has bandwidth control being turned on for that particular server/IP?

 

[JackMDS]

I have one location that is kind of “Rural”. Only service that was available was one slow DSL.

For many years I use to have difficulties similar to yours and numerous amounts of times I went through the same motions.

7 years ago we were semi-destroyed by Super Storm sandy.

The only service that was available for two years was old style Satellite, and it was grossly dysfunction.

Lucky for us, with strong Political pressure the NY State Communication Dept. "”Convinced”” Verizon to install FIOS. They agreed to provide only Phone and Internet (so we still get TV from DirecTV/ATT).
This combo works OK, but the cost is more than Twice of a main stream price of these services in NYS.

Wow, suddenly all my Network problems that during previous year were ""caused"" by my LAN (as claimed by the DSL ISP) Gone without me doing anything.
surprise -

 

[Aaron407]

A few items to note:

-The FTP server does have speed control, but it's definitely turned off. The speeds locally from the server are very fast as well, and the speed issue also affects my security camera web server that is accessed through HTTP, so I don't think it's an FTP configuration issue.
-The router does have some bandwidth control capabilities in the form of basic QoS, but it's fully disabled.
-I don't get any packet loss when pinging my public IP. There are a lot of 'no responses' when trying to do a full traceroute, though. If transmitting from the remote device to the FTP server is ok for speed, though, I would think (possibly incorrectly) that packet loss shouldn't be the issue?
-I have very, very limited experience with linux, but I'll look into the live CD.

I'm still thinking it's an ISP issue. I've had issues where the upload speed in speed tests dropped to 0, download speed graphs would be sawtooth, etc. Things are a bit of a crap shoot with rural internet it seems...

 

[mxnerd]

Could it be router's firewall rules dropping incoming requests?

If everything seems good, then it's time to use Wireshark to do packets analysis.

 

[Aaron407]

Depending on what I hear back from the ISP, that's certainly looking likely for the next step.

 

[SamirD]

A few items to note:

-The FTP server does have speed control, but it's definitely turned off. The speeds locally from the server are very fast as well, and the speed issue also affects my security camera web server that is accessed through HTTP, so I don't think it's an FTP configuration issue.
-The router does have some bandwidth control capabilities in the form of basic QoS, but it's fully disabled.
-I don't get any packet loss when pinging my public IP. There are a lot of 'no responses' when trying to do a full traceroute, though. If transmitting from the remote device to the FTP server is ok for speed, though, I would think (possibly incorrectly) that packet loss shouldn't be the issue?
-I have very, very limited experience with linux, but I'll look into the live CD.

I'm still thinking it's an ISP issue. I've had issues where the upload speed in speed tests dropped to 0, download speed graphs would be sawtooth, etc. Things are a bit of a crap shoot with rural internet it seems...

Thank you for the additional notes as it helps clear up some things.

I don't use linux at all, and a live cd is as simple as it gets--it's a cd that you can boot to a linux os without installing it (I always disconnect my hard drive just to make sure). It will usually recognize all the hardware and give you a good testbed to check things like this and rule out windows issues.

Try these two testing sites as they are what I use to diagnose strange issues:
dslreports.com/speedtest
https://freeola.com/line-test/

I do agree that it does seem to be more of an isp issue than yours, and if we can solidly rule out your particular system by trying another (the linux live cd would almost count as another), then the isp is the only culprit.

 

[SamirD]

Could it be router's firewall rules dropping incoming requests?

If everything seems good, then it's time to use Wireshark to do packets analysis.

If the router is suspect, then is there a way to connect directly to the isp, sans router? If so, then you can use the linux live cd to do so.

 

[mxnerd]

If the router is suspect, then is there a way to connect directly to the isp, sans router? If so, then you can use the linux live cd to do so.

Yes. He can do that. But since OP mentioned point to point, I guess it's a DSL service. I was wondering whether his modem's phone cord is in good condition

 

[Aaron407]

I doubt that it's a cord issue since normal speed tests show solid upload speeds. I could be wrong, though.

 

[SamirD]

Yes. He can do that. But since OP mentioned point to point, I guess it's a DSL service. I was wondering whether his modem's phone cord is in good condition

Good point. If it isn't directly connectable then we definitely can't run that test.

 

[SamirD]

I doubt that it's a cord issue since normal speed tests show solid upload speeds. I could be wrong, though.

This reminded me of a weird thing I once saw when an ethernet duplex setting wasn't auto-configuring correctly. Can you manually set the duplex setting on the nic and see if anything changes?

 

[Aaron407]

I can give it a shot. I'll try 1000 Mbps full duplex rather than auto negotiate since it is connected to a gigabit router.

Edit: didn't make a measurable difference, unfortunately.

 

[mxnerd]

What FTP server software do you use?

 

[Aaron407]

I use Filezilla server. The speed is slow for the directional remote transfers outside of FTP as well, though. If I try to download a security camera clip through http from a remote location, I get the same slow speeds, so it doesn't seem to be related to the FTP server config.