Inside Insight → [Speeds] Slow speed through router

InsightBB - For several months I have been consistently getting around 1450 DL - spoke with Insight yesterday and they say everything looks good to my modem and the network in my area has capacity (will believe them for now). To troubleshoot I changed my WAN cable - no difference. I then bypassed the router (DI-624) and my speeds increased by about 800. That's still lower than it should be but still a 50% improvemnent. Borrowed another router from a friend this morning (BEFSR11) and hooked it up and it also shows about 1450. Bypassed it and again, about 2250. The WAN cable is not the issue - tried a new one and the same thing. The cable to the computer doing the testing should not be an issue. The modem is an old 3Com shark fin (3CR29220). I could understand some speed loss with the router but this is way too much. Any ideas?

To make it even more interesting - when I connect wirelessly with the notebook (G) I get in the 2100 to 2200 range. The same as a direct connection to the modem. Use a cat5 connection to the notebook (tried all 4 ports) and it's back to 1450 again. Going to drag out a switch and see if it affects anything.

Are you running or using a firewall, I assume you have tweaked your settings (rwin)...
Gbeau

No tweaks - everything is default - as it was a few months ago when I was getting 3000+. Just ran the tweak test under tools and it basically said everything was looking good. No recommendations. All the computers involved are running XP SP2 with default settings. I just don't understand why the big difference between direct connect to the modem or wireless versus ethernet. As for firewall - using Zone Alarm on all machines - Windows firewall is turned off. Just threw a spare switch into the mix and no difference. Of course, I still have to use part of the routers switch to hook up the separate switch.

The use of a router shuldn't make any noticeable difference in download speed(s), Am I right in assuming that you did turn off Zone Alarm during a test and there was no difference. I do know you wrote that without the router the speeds are good, but we have to start somewhere.

Zone Alarm and certain antivirus programs have been known to slow down system performance.

Have you used drtcp from this url.
»Tweaking FAQ

Give drtcp a try and vary the RWIN settings from 128480, 256960 and 513920 (write down your original setting) and remember to reboot after each change and have zone alarm turned off/disabled during the testing.

Use internet explorer and download a 16 mb or so file from »ftp://ftp1.optonline.net/ and note the time it takes for download. It took me 49 seconds to download a 16 mb file not great by any means.

good luck.

Thanks for the response. I think at issue here, if anyone knows, is the difference in the values that Windows uses for wireless vs. wired (if any). I have my work laptop out right now to print something for work tomorrow - It's a Windows 2000 system with 802.11b - I get a 11Mbps connection with my router. I ran a speed test at speakeasy (Atlanta) and I hit 3400Kbps. Fastest I've seen in a long time. Reran the test and got the same result. I have an ethernet connection in the same room so I shut the wireless radio down and connected wired. Reran the test and it started over 3000 and then worked its way down to 1400. Report a speed of just over 1400. I haven't shut down zone alarm for the tests - will do so on my other machine - not running it on the work laptop. Will let you know.

it may be the brands of routers you are using... i ALWAYS USE LINKSYS, never anything else,as Cisco makes them and Cisco knows what they are doing, as for the way wireless works, it as far as i know has a smaller packet size, also you could try getting a router that will allow you to clone the modem's MAC address so that the router is transparent to the cable company, the system may see that and be flipping out... just some thoughts

Please try a test without Zone Alarm....

Dennis

Since a router is in play - try the test without ZoneAlarm. But again let us keep in mind that unless your doing real world download test. This can't be just written off as the problem if in fact it seems to be the software firewall causing the issue. Do to the fact that privacy settings etc could be effecting the online speed test.

I'm hoping to send yet another email off to my contact at ZoneLabs and ask about this subject. Honestly ZoneLabs and other vendors have been less then helpful in troubleshooting these type of issues. I'm hoping to do an article on that soon.

Also keep in mind that many threads have been started recently in regards to certain models of routers not performing well do to the quality of the internal components.

Everyone is always quick to jump on the blame the security software bandwagon. Keep in mind that not using security products can lead to a much bigger headache than not having full speeds. Many people who would tell you to not run these products to obtain your full speeds don't have your best interest at heart.

I've stated in the past that vendors and broadband providers should be more proactive in communicating with each other. So that both will be aware of issues and resolutions to those problems. But I highly doubt we will ever see this type of open dialogue ever put into place.

You have phone representatives telling you to disable your security to test things. Basically troubleshooting to see if that is the problem. But they never seem to keep in mind that this could easily open you up to a fast infection. And then if you get infected many ISP will now shut your connection down until you clean your machine. So it is a catch 22 and the ISP don't seem to care. But they will be pissed off if your infected and on their network.

You should be running the latest version of all the products your using. This means that you should be running the latest firmware for your router. Many known issues get resolved with firmware updates. Also check your RWIN within your router. Some people have reported that lowering the RWIN within the router - to a non traditional number has provided results in resolving speed problems.

Update -

With the current version of ZoneAlarm Security Suite and XP SP2 with all the security updates applied. And without any form of antivirus installed. When testing with the Speakeasy site my download speed is cut in half. Which is what has been reported with previous builds by other ZoneAlarm users,

Here is my test this AM after fully uninstalling ZASS.

Download Speed: 3801 kbps (475.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 473 kbps (59.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

This also without the Nvidia chipset firewall installed. When I just ran that without ZASS installed. My speed test results on speed testing sites where similar to what I posted above.

Keep in mind this is still very low for my 6000/512 connection.

I use a Linksys WRT54G router.

Still working on it. Let me recap:
I use ZoneAlarm and Norton Antivirus - no change when disabled - haven't uninstalled for obvious reasons.
I have a D-Link DI624 and an old 3Com 'sharkfin' modem.
I have borrowed a LinkSys BEFSR11 for testing - no difference wired, wireless unavailable.
I have been testing with 4 computers:
2 wired - both with XP SP2 - one Athlon XP 2500+ Barton and one Athlon64 3500+. 2 notebooks - one XP SP2 and one 2000 Professional. The XP notebook has wired and G - the 2000 notebook has wired and B. I also brought an old 98SE notebook into the testing with wired and G - won't go into that other than to say it really didn't make any difference.
All computers get about 1450 on the wired connections.
The G notebook gets about 2400 on the wireless connection.
The B notebook gets about 3400 on the wireless connection.
Again, the notebooks get about 1450 on the wired connections.
Also, connecting the wired desktop directly to the modem gets me about 2200.
I have been using the speakeasy test from Atlanta - but I have confirmed on actual downloads that there is a real speed difference.
I have tried changing one wired desktop to the RWIN and MTU settings that the fastest notebook had with limited success - got up to 2200. Casual browsing and repeated speed test give me reason to believe that it is not as stable as before.
Most optmizers I have tried seem to believe that my settings are correct and should work well.
So - bottom line - the faster my computers connection to the router is, the slower the speed. It is predictable and infinitely repeatable. Obviously, the different connections are using different parameters and that is definitely making a difference. But I don't believe adjusting these settings is the way to solve the problem. This discrepancy is not the problem, but the symptom of the problem. Rather than forcing my wired connections to work around the issue, I need to find out what is causing it. Since I have tried two different routers with the same result, I don't think it is the router or the switch built into the router. I can really only suspect the modem at this point. Or, my line is just bad enough that I'm limited on what I can push through it at the moment. However, I do not seem to be dropping any packets during testing. I would think if larger packets were causing the problem I would see some retransmits of dropped packets.
So, I'm pretty much stuck at this point. Any thoughts or dialog would be appreciated. Please though - no tweak your settings suggestions. I think that is a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself. I don't think I should really have to do that if the router, modem, and line are OK. One obviously isn't.

Just a quick note - I don't have time to fully read the last reply. In many case just disabling the security software won't show a difference. You would need to fully uninstall the software. Especially with ZoneAlarm. Just because you think the product isn't running in some cases it is. The VSMON service will load in some cases even when you have disabled ZoneAlarm to load at start-up.

Also keep in mind some Norton products include features similar to - if not exactly like a software firewall. Other antivirus vendors have started to include these features as well. So looking for a source of conflict between software might worth looking into as well.

It's just anti-virus 2005- not a firewall. Again - the G notebook gets a different speed between wired and wireless - obviously running the same programs. I would think that it would be more consistent if AV or ZA were an issue. The B notebook is not running ZA at all - never has. Is running a different AV - although it is Norton it is the corporate version. It also reports a large difference between wired and wireless with the exact same set of software running.

As I mentioned above just because it states antivirus doesn't mean it may not include a firewall like component. I guess I could go hunting in the security forum or the Norton site to prove my point. Not trying to argue. I'm just trying to point out that if you still have the security software installed on each machine. Your not taking that out of the mix as the source of the problem. Which you can safely do for a few minutes if your behind a router. The only way your going to be able to pinpoint if the modem or router is the cause is to take the security software out of the mix. Also hooking up the modem directly to any pc would help to determine if the modem is providing full speeds. This could pinpoint the router or a setting within the router as the source of the problem. Hooking up the modem directly without any firewall or antivirus in use could be risky.

As for the laptop not running a firewall - why not? The router will not protect this device if it is connecting wireless. If the laptop is connected directly to the router then this is of course a non issue.

For some modems this link »192.168.100.1/signal.html will allow you to obtain signal levels you can post here. This can help determine if the problem may be related to your line quality.

The laptop mentioned previously does not run a firewall because it is my laptop from work. It doesn't spend a great deal of time on my home network. Besides, I mainly run ZA for outbound - the router does pretty much catch everything inbound.
Granted - Norton does include one firewall like component - internet worm protection but that has been disabled along with the entire application to no effect. The 98SE notebook is normally used by my son and is not generally hooked to the network - it runs no antivirus or firewall. ZA has never been installed and AVG is disabled at the moment. Again - no difference in wired speed.

try having them reactivate your account, make sure they register the mac address of your router and not your computer