3BB Internet Speeds - Confused can someone explain

[Thomas J]

I have a dell latitude E6430.  It has an  Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3340M CPU @ 2.70GHz, 2701 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s) 
8 gigabyte of Ram 
Intel(R) Centrino(R) Ultimate-N 6300 AGN Wireless Card  Intel 82579 Ethernet card

 

I was on 3bb 200/200 plan and upgraded to their 1gb 500 gb plan. 

I get wireless speeds up to about 200 mpbs on both uploads and downloads but no faster.  
 

I hooked it up to the ethernet directly to the router and it was even slower.  

I would think my computer processor is fast enough and the internet says the Intel 82579 is called a gigabyte network connection.  The Centrino wireless is suppose to go up to 450mbps  

Is the problem with the computer hardware or is 3bb still not pushing the speed fast enough?   I have an apple iphone 8+ and it records speeds of about 350 mbps.  

 

 

 

 

[worgeordie]

Ethernet cable CAT at least 5 should be faster than WiFi ?, dont

know why yours is not, 

1 GB - 500 GB package you are never going to get that,especially

connecting overseas,so you are wasting your money,does your

router have a Gigabyte port ? if not you will never get the speeds

promised.

regards worgeordie

[lopburi3]

This is probably not the best time to be testing internet speeds as everyone is at home and using.  In USA almost impossible to even upload these days as so overworked (even with sites such as YouTube using lowest quality for video).  That said using 200/200 from True and currently have 221/228 (true speed) and 223/219 (speedtest net) here in Bangkok.  As said will be much lower if going outside of Thailand.

[KhunBENQ]

Just used their test site:

https://speedtest.3bb.co.th/

(you used the same?)
All other results won't be interesting to 3BB!

 

Numbers are about OK (898/495).

All wired.

I don't have a mobile/WiFi that could come anywhere close to these numbers.

 

What you can do: check the properties of the LAN/ethernet connection.

Does it say that it is indeed a Gigabit connection?

How to? Depends on your OS.

 

6 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

so you are wasting your money

I know that is not of much practical use.

But well it was just a 100 Baht more.

Best I get is youtube Video downloads at about 400 Mbit/s (depends on age and type of video, some are much slower).

Nice to have and I prefer watching with VLC much over the web player.

[Thomas J]

worgeordie,

 

It is the router from 3bb.  It has 4 lans ports but none indicate that they are all marked the same. 
I recognize I will never get the 1gb speed advertised.  However the fact that my phone gets faster speeds than my laptop means something in the hardware is part of the issue.  The fact that the Ethernet is slower than the wireless is particularly baffling. 

[eisfeld]

17 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

the Intel 82579 is called a gigabyte network connection.

Small correction: Gigabit. That's one eigth of a Gigabyte.

 

I think considering that the network card is 9 years old around 200mbps in real world is kinda OK. Maybe it's running on 2.4GHz instead of 5GHz? Check that.

 

9 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

1 GB - 500 GB package you are never going to get that,especially

connecting overseas,so you are wasting your money,does your

router have a Gigabyte port ? if not you will never get the speeds

promised.

1 Gbps / 500 Mbps. GB would mean Gigabyte, see above.

I highly doubt the router supports more than 100 Mbps Wifi but has no 1Gbps ethernet port.

 

 

All in all a bit hard to diagnose the issue. One hint is that the iPhone gets better speeds so maybe it is using the 5GHz band while your laptop is on 2.4GHz. That's the first thing I would check. The ethernet being slower seems strange, maybe wrong cable?

[Thomas J]

3 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Just used their test site:

KhunBENQ  Yes I used their test site for both the wireless and ethernet tests.  Strange that the wireless was faster than the ethernet connection and the iphone was faster wireless than the laptop. 

[Thomas J]

2 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

I highly doubt the router supports more than 100 Mbps Wifi but has no 1Gbps ethernet port.

eisfeld,

 

It is the router supplied by 3BB and I always got speeds ranging from about 120mbps to 175 mbps on it even with the 200/200 package.  So it must have a speed above 100.  Also my iphone wireless recorded speeds up to about 350 mbps so it is definitely more than 100. 

[eisfeld]

  

6 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

Strange that the wireless was faster than the ethernet connection and the iphone was faster wireless than the laptop. 

The first part yes that is strange, as mentioned possibly a cable issue. But the iPhone being faster than the laptop is not a surprise. The laptop wifi card is quite old and supports only up to "n" standard while the phone is a lot younger and supports "ac".

 

Nevertheless I think the speeds for both the laptop and your iPhone are too low. Have you also tried at different times of the day with the iPhone? Especially during times when others might not be using the internet as much. Early in the morning for example.

 

2 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

It is the router supplied by 3BB and I always got speeds ranging from about 120mbps to 175 mbps on it even with the 200/200 package.  So it must have a speed above 100.  Also my iphone wireless recorded speeds up to about 350 mbps so it is definitely more than 100. 

Exactly, so it can't be a 100mbps Ethernet port and the next speed is 1Gbps and while in the real world it's unlikely to get the full speeds, usually one can get pretty close. More than 20% of the max for sure ????

Edited April 2, 2020 by eisfeld

[Thomas J]

3 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

Nevertheless I think the speeds for both the laptop and your iPhone are too low

eisfeld,

 

They just upgraded today so I don't know if it is too many people on the same node.  I just tested my fiance's iphone 10 and she got 450/350.  So the speed is definitely better, I just don't know why the speed on the laptop is so much markedly slower. 

[Susco]

12 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

The first part yes that is strange, as mentioned possibly a cable issue.

It is not a cable issue, and neither a Ethernet port issue, currently 3bb has A LOT of issues with their network, and they know it.

 

There is a topic from me here

 

And this is the 3bb speed log for 30 days on my "Gigabyte" package. Please note this log is provided by 3bb technical department.

 

 

And my speed tests done today with 3 different browser and connected by LAN Cat5e

 

 

 

 

[eisfeld]

7 minutes ago, Susco said:

It is not a cable issue, and neither a Ethernet port issue, currently 3bb has A LOT of issues with their network, and they know it.

How do you explain that he gets much lower speeds via Ethernet than via Wifi?

 

I agree though that it's not a port issue.

 

The total speed of his 3BB uplink is at least 450/350 Mbps as shown by the test with the iPhone 10. His laptop is getting about half of that. The difference can't be because of 3BB.

 

So there are three things to figure out:

 

1. Why only 450/350 with iPhone 10. Likely 3BB right now not being able to do more. Test at a time in the middle of the night or early morning.

2. Why his laptop is getting slower speed via Wifi. Could be old card, only "n". Maybe not using the 5GHz band. He can check that easily.

3. Why his laptop is getting even slower speeds via Ethernet. Possibly bad cable. Need to get the cable specs and try a different one.

[Thomas J]

3 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

How do you explain that he gets much lower speeds via Ethernet than via Wifi

eisfeld,

 

I 'think" you are correct in terms of the network card.  It is a Gigabit not Gigabyte which would mean it will only deliver about 20% of the speed.  However, the Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300, Dual Band

shows a speed of 450 mbps.  Given the fact that the Iphone x gets that speed there is obviously something different about the ability of the hardware in the laptop versus the iphone.  Any thoughts? 

[recom273]

Why don't you get the 3BB tech round your house to sort all this out?

 

Make a report and they will send the tech round. I had an issue on Monday, I had them back and forth for three days until it was sorted out and I was happy.

 

I was only getting slow speeds, the guy changed the hardware, spoke to his local office that gave me the wrong router, then returned the next day because my test results didn't match his, we changed a couple of settings and I was satisfied.

[RichCor]

Try each of the Ethernet ports, one at a time. Another topic thread recently mentioned issues where only some of the Gigabit Ethernet ports actually delivered that speed, while the others were vastly less.

 

How many pieces of equipment have 3BB deployed at your endpoint?

If more than one router/WiFi box then there might be an incompatibility, not to mention double-NAT, occurring. 

 

I'd also check to see if the computer has any updated network drivers posted on the manufacturer support website. 

[Thomas J]

Just now, recom273 said:

Why don't you get the 3BB tech round your house to sort all this out?

 

Make a report and they will send the tech round. I had an issue on Monday, I had them back and forth for three days until it was sorted out and I was happy.

 

I was only getting slow speeds, the guy changed the hardware, spoke to his local office that gave me the wrong router, then returned the next day because my test results didn't match his, we changed a couple of settings and I was satisfied.

recom273  

Yes I will do that, however my experience with technicians of all kinds is that they really aren't all that knowledgeable.  When they don't know, they make up some story and if you are not well versed, they can feed you a line of BS and then just leave.  I just wanted to make sure the problem was not my hardware before getting them out here. 

 

[Susco]

16 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

How do you explain that he gets much lower speeds via Ethernet than via Wifi?

I don't have an explanation for that, and neither does 3bb, but it is a network issue since long time.

 

My international speeds to UK with testmy.net are ~10Mbps over LAN, but easily triple that over WIFI.

3bb technicians with their laptops get the same results. I have had 4 different routers already ( 3 different models)

I have had the Chinese technicians from Fiberhome who provides the network and routers here for a full day and they could not solve it.

 

16 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

The total speed of his 3BB uplink is at least 450/350 Mbps as shown by the test with the iPhone 10. His laptop is getting about half of that. The difference can't be because of 3BB.

 

So there are three things to figure out:

 

1. Why only 450/350 with iPhone 10. Likely 3BB right now not being able to do more. Test at a time in the middle of the night or early morning.

2. Why his laptop is getting slower speed via Wifi. Could be old card, only "n". Maybe not using the 5GHz band. He can check that easily.

3. Why his laptop is getting even slower speeds via Ethernet. Possibly bad cable. Need to get the cable specs and try a different one.

 

Different devices and different browsers give different results, as you can notice from my 3 tests all done on the same device at the same time but with 3 different browsers

 

The internet provider is by law required to provide a local network speed of at least 80% of the speed written in the contract, AT ALL TIMES.

 

NBTC has this confirmed to me, and are currently processing my complaint. They are very helpful in that regard

Edited April 2, 2020 by Susco

[Susco]

13 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

It is a Gigabit not Gigabyte which would mean it will only deliver about 20% of the speed.

A Gigabit card handles speeds of 1 Gbps or 1000 Mbps

 

In computer networking, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE or 1 GigE) is the term applied to transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second

Edited April 2, 2020 by Susco

[Thomas J]

11 minutes ago, RichCor said:

How many pieces of equipment have 3BB deployed at your endpoint?

If more than one router/WiFi box then there might be an incompatibility, not to mention double-NAT, occurring. 

RichCor,

 

Only Smart TV is hardwired.  One laptop that uses wireless. The Laptop is I believe 2015 manufacture but has relatively modern components with the I5 processor.  It is the network and wireless cards I wonder if they are somewhat dated for 1 GB speed.  I would even settle for the 450 speed the Centrino is suppose to get.  

[recom273]

3 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

recom273  

Yes I will do that, however my experience with technicians of all kinds is that they really aren't all that knowledgeable.  When they don't know, they make up some story and if you are not well versed, they can feed you a line of BS and then just leave.  I just wanted to make sure the problem was not my hardware before getting them out here. 

 

Yes, agreed .. I usually avoid them at all costs .. but the guy that came on Monday was cool, he knew straight away why I wasn't getting the speeds - the fibre terminal was out of date and would never reach 1000/1000, but as far as the helpline was concerned, I upgraded my package then I should have got the speeds.

 

He sent me to the shop to pick up a new router ( I wasn't allowed in the shop without a mask ) and the sent the wife away with a brown box and "we can confirm it is in bridge mode" which it wasn't .. and then I called them to come and set up the router in bridge mode.

 

Another tech turned up, and then called the shop to find out why I had been given another bit of kit that wasn't capable of reaching 1000/1000 - the answer was "well we didn't have the right kit, so we fobbed him off with something to keep him happy" - He explained to them that they couldn't treat customers like this .. I was really impressed.

 

He then called around, drove to another shop that was closed, and returned and plummed it in, while I was working in my office.

 

When I checked the speeds through my mesh network via ethernet, I wasn't getting the same speeds as he was getting direct from the 3BB router, so I opened a ticket late at night.

 

The network team were on the phone the next day, an hour later, both the techs were sorting out their router so that my router could output the same as theirs - they didn't have to do this, they could have just walked away .. but I was really impressed, so much so I bought them lunch.

 

My advice with 3BB is don't be fobbed off, make the helpline operators life hell, ask fo the ticket number, chase up every query until you get the result you are looking for, the people you want to speak to are the people hidden behind the frontline staff, but reaching the trick.

[RichCor]

Is the 3BB equipment just 1 piece?

 

Also, try disconnecting all other Ethernet and WiFi connected equipment when doing the initial testing (to make sure there's no interference).

[CLS]

I assume your IEEE 802.11n WLAN card has one single antenna. Then don’t expect much more than 200 MBit/s.

For your Ethernet set the port speed on both sides to 1 GBit/s full-duplex. No autosense/autonegotiation. 

Iphone 8+ supports 802.11ac, a different generation of WLAN.
 

 

 

for your reference:

https://www.actiontec.com/wifihelp/evolution-wi-fi-standards-look-802-11abgnac/

[Thomas J]

RichCor

Susco

Recom273  
Eisfeld,

I went to the router again.  These are the pictures from my computer when I checked on the device manager.  It appears as though the ethernet is capable of 1G GBPS.  Despite the internet saying my wireless card was up to 450 MBPS it appears to be only 300 MBPS.  

I tested it on the ethernet connection again.  I got about 250/325 several times.  Then I went to internet explorer instead of chrome and the speed shot up to about 750/350.  Obviously the browser has a lot to do with speed. 

Now I went back to the wireless and used internet explorer and firefox.  The download speeds were about the same just over 200 MPBS but uploads were slower closer to 165 

Now why would internet explorer be almost 3 times faster wired but actually have slower uploads than chrome and about the same speed on wireless? 

[eisfeld]

"Up to 450Mbps" for a wireless card made in 2011 and supporting only "n" is optimistic. I probably would expect up to maybe 300Mbps under good conditions but 200Mbps is not so bad IMHO. I see you are already on the 5GHz band so that's not it either. Maybe search what speeds other people with that specific card have reported and what to expect in the real world instead of tech specs.

 

So if you get 750Mbps in IE then the hardware is just fine and your internet connection as well. Why IE would be faster than Chrome is a bit of a mystery. I can't explain that. I would repeat the results several times and maybe take Firefox also into the mix.

 

If you get several hundred Mbps via Wifi then that's pretty good considering it's still cheap consumer hardware.

 

See it this way: you can probably get close to 1Gbps if several devices in your household or transfering data from several different sources.

[Thomas J]

2 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

"Up to 450Mbps" for a wireless card made in 2011 and supporting only "n" is optimistic. I probably would expect up to maybe 300Mbps under good conditions but 200Mbps is not so bad IMHO.

eistfeld,  

Not sure when the card was made but the computer was 2015.  Not new but not ancient.  I can get speeds wireless that range from about 200 to 225.  Does not seem to make much difference which browser.  I tried, IE, Firefox, even Vivaldi.  They all seemed a touch faster closer to the 225 than Chrome which was closer to 205.  However not worlds of difference.  I don't know if having a wireless USB would make sense or not.  I am starting to run out of storage space on my 128 SSD so perhaps it is time to think about a new laptop. 

[Susco]

46 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

I went to the router again.  These are the pictures from my computer when I checked on the device manager.  It appears as though the ethernet is capable of 1G GBPS.  Despite the internet saying my wireless card was up to 450 MBPS it appears to be only 300 MBPS.  

I tested it on the ethernet connection again.  I got about 250/325 several times.  Then I went to internet explorer instead of chrome and the speed shot up to about 750/350.  Obviously the browser has a lot to do with speed. 

Now I went back to the wireless and used internet explorer and firefox.  The download speeds were about the same just over 200 MPBS but uploads were slower closer to 165 

Now why would internet explorer be almost 3 times faster wired but actually have slower uploads than chrome and about the same speed on wireless?

 

First of all GBPS and MBPS are something different from Gbps and Mbps.Your WIFI is capable of 300 Mbps speed, but that doesn't mean you will get that, because a wireless signal is subject to signal strength and many appliances in your home that cause interference.

The 300 Mbps is something you will never reach in real life circumstances.

 

Why different browsers give different speeds I don't know, but that's for everyone the same

 

I just tried Explorer 11 on my PC, and it struggles to complete a speed test

Edited April 2, 2020 by Susco

[eisfeld]

28 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

Not sure when the card was made but the computer was 2015

Intels site says launch date in 2011. So planned and developed about a decade ago. Even 100Mbps were rather uncommon at that time.

 

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/59474/intel-centrino-ultimate-n-6300-dual-band.html

 

The network card was released in 2011 as well. The CPU beginning of 2013. So when you bought your laptop in 2015 the hardware was already a couple years old.

 

Might not be a bad idea to think about a new laptop. AMD just released their new Ryzen 4000 mobile CPUs which are getting very good reviews and should result in some good value offerings.

 

 

[Thomas J]

2 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

Might not be a bad idea to think about a new laptop. AMD just released their new Ryzen 4000 mobile CPUs which are getting very good reviews and should result in some good value offerings.

eisfeld,  

 

What do you think of the Ryzen versus the intel chips.  I bought one computer with an AMD chipset years ago.  Not any problem but have I guess stayed with Intel because as soon as AMD released a new model, Intel always seem to jump one step ahead.

[eisfeld]

28 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

eisfeld,  

 

What do you think of the Ryzen versus the intel chips.  I bought one computer with an AMD chipset years ago.  Not any problem but have I guess stayed with Intel because as soon as AMD released a new model, Intel always seem to jump one step ahead.

Right now AMD crushes Intel in many regards. Most of the time Intel was the leader but right now AMD is doing extremely well. Especially considering the glut of security issues that Intel CPUs suffered recently. I don't see much point in buying Intel at this moment in time. I've built myself a Ryzen 3700X PC and am very happy with it.

 

Intel seems unable to counter AMDs newest CPUs because they had a lot of issues bringing their newer generation fabs into production. They are years behind schedule. AMD wisely ditched their own fabs (Global Foundries) and uses TSMC which have executed pretty much flawlessly when it comes to downsizing their nodes and are making further improvements each year. Very impressive road map. I don't think there's any point in waiting for Intel to become the leader again. I am actually happy that AMD is doing so well because Intel for so many years was purely sitting on their asses and squeezing the market as much as possible and yet managed to waste humongous amounts of cash on R&D. Just as a comparison: Intel spent roughly twice as much on R&D in the past year than the whole revenue of AMD.

 

Just make sure you get a Ryzen of the 7nm generation and not older.

 

In general though when it comes to laptops I value a good screen, battery life and keyboard more than a faster CPU.

Edited April 2, 2020 by eisfeld

[muratremix]

don't connect ethernet and wifi at the same time!

disable wifi when you use ethernet connection.