Slow speed when wired to router; yet speedtest ok; losing my mind.

[liquidsense]

I recently purchased Comcast internet, specifically the "Performance" package (25 Mbps). I purchased an approved modem (Motorola Surfboard SB6141) and a router (Medialink Wireless N).

My problem has me so mind-boggled that I'm flipping out: My speeds are slower when wired to the router (PC-->modem) versus wired directly to the modem (PC-->router-->modem). Here's the rub: Regardless of whether I am wired directly into the modem or wired to the router, I get 25 Mbps when I go to Speedtest.net. How could that be?

I thought maybe it was in my head, maybe it was psychological, but I tested it time and time again. For example, when streaming video while connected to the modem, I can pause the video and it buffers very fast. But, when I'm connected to the router, it buffers about 1/10 of the speed. Yet Speedtest.net is saying they are both maxing out at 25 Mbps! The ping rate is the same too. WTF!? How could that possibly be? (I tested this 20 times with the same video and got the same result each time.) I also tried changing cables and power cycling, but that doesn't make a difference.

Did I get a bad router?

I also tried connecting to the router wirelessly. While Speedtest.net shows a slightly slower speed (i.e., 20 Mpbs), the buffering on streaming video is still ungodly slow. Why is this happening? Someone please help me before I rip all my hair out.

 

[Danimal1209]

Youtube is totally random to me as far as buffering goes. Recently, I firewalled some of youtubes servers and now it buffers very quickly.

So, I'm not sure.

Are there any other devices on your network?

 

[liquidsense]

Youtube is totally random to me as far as buffering goes. Recently, I firewalled some of youtubes servers and now it buffers very quickly.

So, I'm not sure.

Are there any other devices on your network?

No other devices on the network. I just tried updating the firmware as instructed on Medialink's software page, but that didn't help either.

I realize that things are sometimes random - at one point, it might buffer fast, and the second time, it might buffer slow. But, between yesterday and today, I've tested a single video 20 times and I get the same result every time. 1/10 the speed when wired to router vs wired to modem.

 

[Danimal1209]

If you're the only device on the network, what do you need a router for?

 

[John Connor]

SPI? They make great firewalls. Or for WIFI.

I thought maybe it was firmware, but you checked that so I'm not sure what it is other than a bum router.

 

[liquidsense]

If you're the only device on the network, what do you need a router for?

I'm testing it using a single device on the network. I have 6 additional devices that I will eventually need connected to the router wirelessly.

SPI? They make great firewalls. Or for WIFI.

I thought maybe it was firmware, but you checked that so I'm not sure what it is other than a bum router.

I think you may be right. I'm going to return it and try this instead: Asus RT-N66U

 

[VirtualLarry]

Disable QoS on the router. It sounds like it could be enabled by default.

 

[John Connor]

That could be it too. I had QoS enabled on my router once and despite me having the highest privilege things were slow. I'm using DD-WRT.

 

[liquidsense]

Disable QoS on the router. It sounds like it could be enabled by default.

Ah. I wish I could have tried that before I returned it (just for curiosity's sake). In any event, I got the ASUS RT-N66U, and it's working like a charm. 3 minute setup. And it looks meaner. Thanks everyone for the help.

 

[Voxmeus]

I am having exactly the same issue. I have a tp-link tl-wr841N and a sufboard sb6121 modem.

I tried disabling the DHCP, the QoS is disabled, and i am testing the download speed with a peer-to-peer download that is going at an annoyingly slow 10kb/s.

speedtest.net shows 30mbps for both connections, but when connected directly to the modem, my P2P download reaches ~3 megabytes per second!

Is this just a bad router? is there any other explanation?