Download V Upload Speed

H

Hudejected

Member
Pretty much every time I do a speedtest, invariably using speedtest.BTwholesale.com but not exclusively, I can pretty much predict one thing (it happens so often) THAT the download speed will be slower than the upload speed.

Not only that but the upload speed would be something in the region I would expect e.g 15-20mbps, whilst the download is typically only 5-12mbps - when its supposed to be "fast" i.e 67mbps. The contract is with one of the BT owned (EE) providers. When I occasionally phone EE, they always say, "from our end the speed to your line is showing as 80mbps!" I.e so far as they are concerned everything is wonderful.

Anyone else experiencing anything like this? I'm thinking, fine I just switch to Gigaclear, now a possibility for me. But i don't think I can reasonably feel that will fix things. Thanks
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hudejected said:
Pretty much every time I do a speedtest, invariably using speedtest.BTwholesale.com but not exclusively, I can pretty much predict one thing (it happens so often) THAT the download speed will be slower than the upload speed.

Not only that but the upload speed would be something in the region I would expect e.g 15-20mbps, whilst the download is typically only 5-12mbps - when its supposed to be "fast" i.e 67mbps. The contract is with one of the BT owned (EE) providers. When I occasionally phone EE, they always say, "from our end the speed to your line is showing as 80mbps!" I.e so far as they are concerned everything is wonderful.

Anyone else experiencing anything like this? I'm thinking, fine I just switch to Gigaclear, now a possibility for me. But i don't think I can reasonably feel that will fix things. Thanks
Click to expand...
It's not an issue with your connection as that is reading fine as EE have confirmed.

So it's something with your home network from the router to the device.

So you need to identify where the bottleneck is.

How is it connecting? Wifi or cable?

I would also use www.speedtest.net for any testing, it's a windows store app on windows 10 and 11.
 
H

Hudejected

Member
Hi, thanks.

It connects by wifi. The router is in another room (hallway) where the line comes into the house. Meaning there is a solid (except for the door,) brick wall between the router and the desktop in an area of the lounge. I'd need approx a 10m ethernet cable to link the two up.

We tried a plug in extender for a while but the results were patchy. The extender kept losing connection to the router, as in the red light on the extender came back on after a few days. It seemed like an intermittent fault with the extender. I've heard about mesh. Gigaclear offer a Linksys router and a (linksys) node to mesh with the router. But not sure if this will fix what the extender could not.

Thanks again for taking the time to read/reply. Much appreciated. In case it helps, system details below:

Case FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU) AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Quad Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.3GHz/18MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM) 8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card 4GB AMD RADEON™ RX 570 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive 500GB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 550MB/sR |
520MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans 1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless Network Card WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz
PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT
PORTS
Operating System Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
 
SimonPeters116

SimonPeters116

Enthusiast
Hudejected said:
Pretty much every time I do a speedtest, invariably using speedtest.BTwholesale.com but not exclusively, I can pretty much predict one thing (it happens so often) THAT the download speed will be slower than the upload speed.

Not only that but the upload speed would be something in the region I would expect e.g 15-20mbps, whilst the download is typically only 5-12mbps - when its supposed to be "fast" i.e 67mbps. The contract is with one of the BT owned (EE) providers. When I occasionally phone EE, they always say, "from our end the speed to your line is showing as 80mbps!" I.e so far as they are concerned everything is wonderful.

Anyone else experiencing anything like this? I'm thinking, fine I just switch to Gigaclear, now a possibility for me. But i don't think I can reasonably feel that will fix things. Thanks
Click to expand...
Once upon a time, long, long ago, in the days of Dial-up connection to the internet, I was with Freeserve. After several name changes over the intervening years I found I was with EE on broadband. It was fine initially, but my download speed deteriorated slowly. Eventually I got tired of how badly it was deteriorating and phoned them. They gave me the usual "info" on fault finding, etc. Over several months of phone calls I got fed up with never getting any answers off them and closed my account. It was always the same, "our end says you're getting 60mbps (or whatever), have you done ??? ". I got BT broadband instead, which has been fine so far over, 6 to 8 years. I recently called them to update my broadband hub, and was given their "always on" package as well. That's an EE mobile connection in case the phone line broadband goes down. I'm not too keen on that, but as long as it works, and is very temporary, I won't be fussed about it.
 
SimonPeters116

SimonPeters116

Enthusiast
How is your wi-fi signal strength at your computer?

BT also gave me a BT Disc, which is a wi-fi extender. I've put it upstairs, and get full signal whilst in the bathroom :eek:
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hudejected said:
Hi, thanks.

It connects by wifi. The router is in another room (hallway) where the line comes into the house. Meaning there is a solid (except for the door,) brick wall between the router and the desktop in an area of the lounge. I'd need approx a 10m ethernet cable to link the two up.

We tried a plug in extender for a while but the results were patchy. The extender kept losing connection to the router, as in the red light on the extender came back on after a few days. It seemed like an intermittent fault with the extender. I've heard about mesh. Gigaclear offer a Linksys router and a (linksys) node to mesh with the router. But not sure if this will fix what the extender could not.

Thanks again for taking the time to read/reply. Much appreciated. In case it helps, system details below:

Case FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU) AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Quad Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.3GHz/18MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM) 8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card 4GB AMD RADEON™ RX 570 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive 500GB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 550MB/sR |
520MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans 1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless Network Card WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz
PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT
PORTS
Operating System Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Click to expand...
An extender is old technology and was never very effective as all it does is boost the signal it's receiving, so if it's a weak signal, you're simply boosting that weak signal further. Best to avoid.

So next test, if you connect a mobile or laptop or something to the wifi network in the room the router is in, is you speedtest faster?

It sounds like it's likely just a cheap router which has poor wifi strength. This is not uncommon especially with ISP provided routers. I haven't used an ISP provided router since about 2000, always buy a 3rd party one.

What make and model is the router?
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
SimonPeters116 said:
I recently called them to update my broadband hub, and was given their "always on" package as well. That's an EE mobile connection in case the phone line broadband goes down. I'm not too keen on that, but as long as it works, and is very temporary, I won't be fussed about it.
Click to expand...
Just to dispel any confusion, these are simply 4g / 5g back routers that only take over if the main ISP signal fails because of an outage. Obviously though, if it's a major power outage that has affected the network masts, then the backup mobile broadband will go down as well.

They don't affect the main line at all in any way.

All ISP's now offer this as standard. It's a good thing.
 
B4zookaw

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
If it’s poor WiFi, I’d expect the upload speed to be as bad as the download, so could be something else. As others have suggested, first confirm your broadband connection is performing at expected speeds by either running a speed test from the router’s admin pages (some routers offer this) or from a device connected directly to the router via Ethernet cable. If the speed test looks good at this point, I’d move to test the WiFi. Again starting in the room router is located and moving back to where PC would normally be.

Also worth checking if the router has both 2.4Ghz and 5GHz enabled. 5GHz offers faster speeds, but over shorter distances. 2.4GHz would have lower top speed but offers greater range in connecting
 
H

Hudejected

Member
SpyderTracks said:
An extender is old technology and was never very effective as all it does is boost the signal it's receiving, so if it's a weak signal, you're simply boosting that weak signal further. Best to avoid.

So next test, if you connect a mobile or laptop or something to the wifi network in the room the router is in, is you speedtest faster?

It sounds like it's likely just a cheap router which has poor wifi strength. This is not uncommon especially with ISP provided routers. I haven't used an ISP provided router since about 2000, always buy a 3rd party one.

What make and model is the router?
Click to expand...

Make and Model, is simply EE's own "EE Smart Hub" installed about 2 years ago.

The Speedtest using a 5 year old HP laptop, sat almost next to the router just now, result was: Download 74mbps Upload 17mbps, i.e just the job! (Went immediately back to the desktop and got Dwld: 11Mbps Upld: 12Mbps.) I guess this means the router is "underpowered?"

Please would you mind giving me an idea of what 3rd party router I need to be looking for? Is it any make is better than the ISP option?
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hudejected said:
I guess this means the router is "underpowered?"
Click to expand...
Not necessarily, it could be a hardware issue on that specific PC.

You need to test another device in the same location as the PC and test a speedtest.net on wifi to verify if it's the signal affecting any device, or if it's a configuration issue on the driver side with that specific PC.

I take it you've attached the wifi antenna onto that PC?
 
H

Hudejected

Member
SpyderTracks said:
Not necessarily, it could be a hardware issue on that specific PC.

You need to test another device in the same location as the PC and test a speedtest.net on wifi to verify if it's the signal affecting any device, or if it's a configuration issue on the driver side with that specific PC.

I take it you've attached the wifi antenna onto that PC?
Click to expand...
Yes, V-shaped Antenna definitely attached!
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hudejected said:
Yes, V-shaped Antenna definitely attached!
Click to expand...
When you say V-Shaped, can you upload a photo?

The antenna for that card should be two individual ones like these, I may well just be misunderstanding what you mean by V shaped.

1666554473248.png
 
H

Hudejected

Member
SpyderTracks said:
Not necessarily, it could be a hardware issue on that specific PC.

You need to test another device in the same location as the PC and test a speedtest.net on wifi to verify if it's the signal affecting any device, or if it's a configuration issue on the driver side with that specific PC.

I take it you've attached the wifi antenna onto that PC?
Click to expand...
Ok done a virtually simultaneous speedtest on the laptop and desktop in the same location, i.e where the desktop is located. Seem like strange results, but the are: Laptop Dld 12mbps Upld 4mbps. Desktop, Dld 4mbps Upld 15mbps. Don't know if it matters Laptop ping was 42 and Desktop was 9.
SpyderTracks said:
When you say V-Shaped, can you upload a photo?

The antenna for that card should be two individual ones like these, I may well just be misunderstanding what you mean by V shaped.

View attachment 34988
Click to expand...
Yes, sorry, two "stems" like that, one pointed to the left the other to the right in a V-like formation.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hudejected said:
Ok done a virtually simultaneous speedtest on the laptop and desktop in the same location, i.e where the desktop is located. Seem like strange results, but the are: Laptop Dld 12mbps Upld 4mbps. Desktop, Dld 4mbps Upld 15mbps. Don't know if it matters Laptop ping was 42 and Desktop was 9.

Yes, sorry, two "stems" like that, one pointed to the left the other to the right in a V-like formation.
Click to expand...
So yes then, that does suggest the signal just isn't strong enough in that location.

A weak signal will vary hugely in strength from second to second, it's not consistent.

I would personally reccomend investing in a mesh wifi setup, that way you can keep your existing router, and just turn it into bridge mode (disables wifi) and offload the wifi to a far more capable mesh configuration.

As @SimonPeters116 says, BT are now supplying mesh router pucks as part of your contract, we've been given 4 to blanket the house, was all free under the standard contract.

From what I understand, a lot of ISP's are now doing this, so I'd query with yours just to see if it's something they offer.

If not, you can purchase your own, they range hugely in price, and obviously depends on the size of your property as to how many you'd need, but they're modular, so the point it you start off with a base and one receiver, and then add additional ones if they're required.

TPLink IMHO are the clear winners at the budget end while still being reliable and decent quality.

Something like this which is just a single puck plus base station for £75 from amazon, around £90 elsewhere


I will add that going up to a 3 pack is actually only a few quid extra (£99), and will likely be far better value depending on the size of your home, but I'll link that also so you've got it handy, individual pucks are around £50 each

 
stegor

stegor

Bright Spark
I use plug in ethernet extenders which gives a consistent reliable connection, but obviously you are tethered to the spot. FYI mine are TP-LINK. Good quality.
 
L

leea123

Enthusiast
put it this way I get 960 MB wired to pc and consoles, but wireless to laptop tv, and phone downstairs it drops to 500 MB, wifi just ain't all that compared to wired mostly, and I would only expect the guaranteed speeds when wired
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
I've got a mix of mesh and home plugs. The home plugs were great but like anything they need a reset every now and then. For your speeds and uses I think the homeplugs would have you sorted. A mesh is the ideal fix but it can be expensive. If you're only really concerned with the one spot. I'd recommend this:


You can save £5 by only opting for 2 hardline ports.


If you are certain you will only need one hardwire then this is a bargain:

 
H

Hudejected

Member
SpyderTracks said:
So yes then, that does suggest the signal just isn't strong enough in that location.

A weak signal will vary hugely in strength from second to second, it's not consistent.

I would personally reccomend investing in a mesh wifi setup, that way you can keep your existing router, and just turn it into bridge mode (disables wifi) and offload the wifi to a far more capable mesh configuration.

As @SimonPeters116 says, BT are now supplying mesh router pucks as part of your contract, we've been given 4 to blanket the house, was all free under the standard contract.

From what I understand, a lot of ISP's are now doing this, so I'd query with yours just to see if it's something they offer.

If not, you can purchase your own, they range hugely in price, and obviously depends on the size of your property as to how many you'd need, but they're modular, so the point it you start off with a base and one receiver, and then add additional ones if they're required.

TPLink IMHO are the clear winners at the budget end while still being reliable and decent quality.

Something like this which is just a single puck plus base station for £75 from amazon, around £90 elsewhere


I will add that going up to a 3 pack is actually only a few quid extra (£99), and will likely be far better value depending on the size of your home, but I'll link that also so you've got it handy, individual pucks are around £50 each

Click to expand...

That's great. Thanks for your help.
 
SimonPeters116

SimonPeters116

Enthusiast
SpyderTracks said:
Just to dispel any confusion, these are simply 4g / 5g back routers that only take over if the main ISP signal fails because of an outage. Obviously though, if it's a major power outage that has affected the network masts, then the backup mobile broadband will go down as well.

They don't affect the main line at all in any way.

All ISP's now offer this as standard. It's a good thing.
Click to expand...
It wasn't so much the 4g/5g idea, that seems quite a good idea. 5g, on my phone at least, seems almost as quick as wired broadband. Although, as you say, if there's a major power outage, possibly neither of them will work, mind you, neither will my computer.
No, it was using EE again that I wasn't so keen on.
If there turns out that there's a problem with it, I hope I'll be dealing with BT, rather than EE.
 
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