Hello!
When the first Gigabit fiber router (wireless PACE device) was installed, it had occasional connection drops. I figured it was Sonic making maintenance on street poles. It turned out to be a router problem. At some point I had to reboot it five times a day. Then its upload speeds became erratic. Uploads could go from 250Mbps to 50Mbps in minutes. This problem was not only related to internet (speedtest on Sonic or Ookla), but also on local LAN. Transferring a single large file from PC to NAS would cap at 50Mbps. After resetting the connection it would sometimes go up to 250Mbps, which would stay consistent for a while.
I tested the upload speeds it with a cable connection as well as another wireless laptop to rule out the possibility of interference and bad device problem. They all had a problem with the upload speeds. No problem with downloads, which are usually ~800 on cable and ~200 on WiFi.
I reset the router to factory settings and that solved the problem for half an hour (possibly due to the fact that it was rebooted), but it started happening again.
I then plugged in my own gigabit TP-Link router and tested the whole day. The upload speeds were consistently excellent, with 300Mbps uploads on LAN. The problem was solved.
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Today I received a replacement PACE router, and it has the same issue. The upload caps at 5MBs (50Mbps).
What I've learned so far:
It's not a white fiber optic modem problem because the upload speeds (internet and LAN) are great with my own router.
It's not a laptop issue because it's been tested with other computers.
It's not a wireless interference issue because it's been reproduced with cable.
Tested on an Android device. Windows 10 bug is ruled out.
Cables are fine because maxium performance has been achieved with the existing cables while using my router.
It's not a manual PACE configuration problem because the only change I made was the SSID name and the password (but not the password authentication type).
Tested while there was no other network activity from other devices.
It's not a NAS problem because when the LAN upload speeds are slow, internet upload speeds are also slow at that exact time, and it's been confirmed to be OK while using my TP-Link router.
It's not a wireless range/wall problem because I get consistent 200Mbps upload speeds with my TP-Link, while 20ft away with one "paper" wall in between.
It's not a neighborhood peak-time congestion problem because LAN speeds are also slow.
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My guess is, either I have a really bad luck for getting two consecutive bad PACE routers, or there is a CPU/RAM/buffer flaw in these routers that can't handle lots of upstream packets at certain times, or the router has a problem with "negotiating" proper link speeds.
I've used a WiFi diagnostics program from Intel because at first I thought my laptop's Intel AC-wireless was bad. The tool (sorry I forgot the name) does a complete diagnostics and tells you internet connection details. Every time I had slow upload speeds, the tool's report indicated that the negotiated link on my 5GHz network was 54Mbps. This explains why uploads were capped at 50Mbps. Every time I had a great upload, the negotiated link was reported as 230-370Mbps. This link speed can also be checked from the computer's WiFi adapter's Status page, but I found that to be highly inaccurate. This Intel tool does a better job.
I've also seen a negotiated link of 110Mbps, while the actual upload speed while transferring file was 10MB/s. So I don't think it's a problem of Wireless G being used instead of AC..? Vast majority of time it's at 54Mbps.
Why would it negotiate 54Mbps in one minute, then after resetting the link start a 300Mbps one? This can be achieved by either rebooting the router, or disabling/enabling the NIC on the laptop. Either way the link would be reset and sometimes it would negotiate a faster link. Keep in mind that this was tested with a AC devices as well as CAT.5e physical connection.
I noticed a strange thing few times. To temporarily fix the LAN upload speed, I didn't necessarily have to disable the wifi adapter or reboot the router. Initiating an internet speedtest and letting its upload portion to properly finish would very rarely fix the local LAN upload problem. So imagine my LAN upload is capped at 50Mbps. I stop all traffic, do a speedtest at sonic.net, immediately after the speedtest is done I transfer the file in LAN, that's when the local upload speed is all of a sudden 200Mbps. It's almost as if the PACE router was "sleeping" and it needed a burst of data going to internet in order to wake up and negotiate better links with the devices on local network. Sounds like a firmware problem? Again, I've only been able to do this twice.
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There is a 2.4GHz Chromecast that's connected to the 2.4GHz network that was not being used during the tests. Speaking of 2.4GHz, its download speeds with PACE router never goes above 15Mbps regardless of channel that's used. With the personal TP-Link, the download speed on 2.4GHz is consistently 40Mbps. Just like in 5GHz network, the only change I've done to it was changing the SSID display name and the login password (but not the authentication protocol). No other changes, except for experimenting with random 1-11 channels after the problem was already apparent.
To recap,
5GHz and cable usually have bad upload speeds on internet and LAN.
2.4GHz always has bad download and upload speeds.
Any advice? I don't mind trying technically challenging things if you have any tips. Should I test my luck with another PACE router?
Thank You.
EDIT: I should also add that whenever the upload speeds are fine, the cable LAN and internet speeds are 800Mbps. When the upload problem begins, cable's LAN and internet upload is at 50Mbps. At this exact time, wireless laptop upload speeds are also at 50Mbps. It's apparent that the culprit is the PACE router which is struggling to receive upstream traffic.
When the first Gigabit fiber router (wireless PACE device) was installed, it had occasional connection drops. I figured it was Sonic making maintenance on street poles. It turned out to be a router problem. At some point I had to reboot it five times a day. Then its upload speeds became erratic. Uploads could go from 250Mbps to 50Mbps in minutes. This problem was not only related to internet (speedtest on Sonic or Ookla), but also on local LAN. Transferring a single large file from PC to NAS would cap at 50Mbps. After resetting the connection it would sometimes go up to 250Mbps, which would stay consistent for a while.
I tested the upload speeds it with a cable connection as well as another wireless laptop to rule out the possibility of interference and bad device problem. They all had a problem with the upload speeds. No problem with downloads, which are usually ~800 on cable and ~200 on WiFi.
I reset the router to factory settings and that solved the problem for half an hour (possibly due to the fact that it was rebooted), but it started happening again.
I then plugged in my own gigabit TP-Link router and tested the whole day. The upload speeds were consistently excellent, with 300Mbps uploads on LAN. The problem was solved.
---------------------------------------
Today I received a replacement PACE router, and it has the same issue. The upload caps at 5MBs (50Mbps).
What I've learned so far:
It's not a white fiber optic modem problem because the upload speeds (internet and LAN) are great with my own router.
It's not a laptop issue because it's been tested with other computers.
It's not a wireless interference issue because it's been reproduced with cable.
Tested on an Android device. Windows 10 bug is ruled out.
Cables are fine because maxium performance has been achieved with the existing cables while using my router.
It's not a manual PACE configuration problem because the only change I made was the SSID name and the password (but not the password authentication type).
Tested while there was no other network activity from other devices.
It's not a NAS problem because when the LAN upload speeds are slow, internet upload speeds are also slow at that exact time, and it's been confirmed to be OK while using my TP-Link router.
It's not a wireless range/wall problem because I get consistent 200Mbps upload speeds with my TP-Link, while 20ft away with one "paper" wall in between.
It's not a neighborhood peak-time congestion problem because LAN speeds are also slow.
---------------------------------------
My guess is, either I have a really bad luck for getting two consecutive bad PACE routers, or there is a CPU/RAM/buffer flaw in these routers that can't handle lots of upstream packets at certain times, or the router has a problem with "negotiating" proper link speeds.
I've used a WiFi diagnostics program from Intel because at first I thought my laptop's Intel AC-wireless was bad. The tool (sorry I forgot the name) does a complete diagnostics and tells you internet connection details. Every time I had slow upload speeds, the tool's report indicated that the negotiated link on my 5GHz network was 54Mbps. This explains why uploads were capped at 50Mbps. Every time I had a great upload, the negotiated link was reported as 230-370Mbps. This link speed can also be checked from the computer's WiFi adapter's Status page, but I found that to be highly inaccurate. This Intel tool does a better job.
I've also seen a negotiated link of 110Mbps, while the actual upload speed while transferring file was 10MB/s. So I don't think it's a problem of Wireless G being used instead of AC..? Vast majority of time it's at 54Mbps.
Why would it negotiate 54Mbps in one minute, then after resetting the link start a 300Mbps one? This can be achieved by either rebooting the router, or disabling/enabling the NIC on the laptop. Either way the link would be reset and sometimes it would negotiate a faster link. Keep in mind that this was tested with a AC devices as well as CAT.5e physical connection.
I noticed a strange thing few times. To temporarily fix the LAN upload speed, I didn't necessarily have to disable the wifi adapter or reboot the router. Initiating an internet speedtest and letting its upload portion to properly finish would very rarely fix the local LAN upload problem. So imagine my LAN upload is capped at 50Mbps. I stop all traffic, do a speedtest at sonic.net, immediately after the speedtest is done I transfer the file in LAN, that's when the local upload speed is all of a sudden 200Mbps. It's almost as if the PACE router was "sleeping" and it needed a burst of data going to internet in order to wake up and negotiate better links with the devices on local network. Sounds like a firmware problem? Again, I've only been able to do this twice.
---------------------------------------
There is a 2.4GHz Chromecast that's connected to the 2.4GHz network that was not being used during the tests. Speaking of 2.4GHz, its download speeds with PACE router never goes above 15Mbps regardless of channel that's used. With the personal TP-Link, the download speed on 2.4GHz is consistently 40Mbps. Just like in 5GHz network, the only change I've done to it was changing the SSID display name and the login password (but not the authentication protocol). No other changes, except for experimenting with random 1-11 channels after the problem was already apparent.
To recap,
5GHz and cable usually have bad upload speeds on internet and LAN.
2.4GHz always has bad download and upload speeds.
Any advice? I don't mind trying technically challenging things if you have any tips. Should I test my luck with another PACE router?
Thank You.
EDIT: I should also add that whenever the upload speeds are fine, the cable LAN and internet speeds are 800Mbps. When the upload problem begins, cable's LAN and internet upload is at 50Mbps. At this exact time, wireless laptop upload speeds are also at 50Mbps. It's apparent that the culprit is the PACE router which is struggling to receive upstream traffic.
