Router vs. Cable Modem and speed

[Guest]

I recently upgraded from 10 to 30 mbps through my cable company and at the
same time purchased a 108 mbps router, but I am not getting the full benefit
from the speed upgrade.

I spoke with the cable company, we tested directly bypassing the router and
achieved the 30 mbps speed, so from I went to Netgear and changed some
settings, but that didn't work.

The point is, once the router is in place it limits the cable speed to the
10 mbps speed.

Question? Are there any specific XP Pro settings to consider and what about
firewalls such as McAfee?

Thanks for any direction on this matter.

Daddio

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I recently upgraded from 10 to 30 mbps through my cable company and
at the same time purchased a 108 mbps router, but I am not getting
the full benefit from the speed upgrade.

I spoke with the cable company, we tested directly bypassing the
router and achieved the 30 mbps speed, so from I went to Netgear
and changed some settings, but that didn't work.

The point is, once the router is in place it limits the cable speed
to the 10 mbps speed.

Question? Are there any specific XP Pro settings to consider and
what about firewalls such as McAfee?

Thanks for any direction on this matter.

Sounds like the WAN port is 10Mbps, no matter the wired/wireless internal
speed.
Interesting.

I'd look into getting a different router, personally. A little research and
less than $100 adds a lot of security and capability back to your network.
Or at least contact Netgear about the router you have.

As far as Windows XP settings while connected directly.. Make sure your
firewall (even if it is just the Windows XP firewall) is active, make sure
your patches are up to date and your antivirus software stays updated.

 

[Steve N.]

I recently upgraded from 10 to 30 mbps through my cable company and at the
same time purchased a 108 mbps router, but I am not getting the full benefit
from the speed upgrade.

I spoke with the cable company, we tested directly bypassing the router and
achieved the 30 mbps speed, so from I went to Netgear and changed some
settings, but that didn't work.

The point is, once the router is in place it limits the cable speed to the
10 mbps speed.

Question? Are there any specific XP Pro settings to consider and what about
firewalls such as McAfee?

Thanks for any direction on this matter.

Daddio

Your router is apparently only 10mb capable. Get a faster router.

Steve N.

 

[GTS]

Most Ethernet hardware today uses an auto-negotiation/auto-sensing
mechanism to establish the highest compatible speed. This process on rare
occasions fails and they may fall back to 10 mbps. (See
http://www.scyld.com/NWay.html for more than you ever wanted to know about
this.)

The failure here could be either at the cable modem/router WAN port
interface, or more likely, at the PC NIC to LAN port side. Make sure you're
using good quality CAT 5 or better patch cords. You might see what happens
if you turn off autosensing on the NIC (in Device Manager) and try forcing a
100mbs speed there. If this fails, if at all possible, I would suggest
trying the connection with another PC (maybe a friends laptop) to try to
narrow where the failure lies. If that synchs at 100 then replacing your
NIC would be an economical solution.

 

[Leythos]

I recently upgraded from 10 to 30 mbps through my cable company and at the
same time purchased a 108 mbps router, but I am not getting the full benefit
from the speed upgrade.

I spoke with the cable company, we tested directly bypassing the router and
achieved the 30 mbps speed, so from I went to Netgear and changed some
settings, but that didn't work.

The point is, once the router is in place it limits the cable speed to the
10 mbps speed.

Question? Are there any specific XP Pro settings to consider and what about
firewalls such as McAfee?

Thanks for any direction on this matter.

Since the router is BETWEEN your computer and the DSL/Cable modem, it's
a limitation of the WAN port speed on your ROUTER.

Some cheap routers are limited to 10mbps at the WAN port, others, better
units, are able to to 10/100mbps. Get another router.

 

[Mak]

Welcome to 1995.

Forcing two dissimilar network device to 100Mbit/sec (and full duplex for
that matter) - is asking for trouble.
In our days, if 100TX network device doesn't do Auto / Auto (speed /
duplex) - it is simply faulty.

 

[GTS]

Wrong. Although rare, auto-sensing can fail while a device is capable of
functioning compatibly in a manually set mode. There's no downside to the
OP giving it a try in this case.
--

 

[Mak]

The defined way of how 100TX device determine its speed in IEEE standard is
Auto. What device does when forced is outside of this standard, not defined
and left to device manufacture to decide. All devices _must_ handle Auto, if
they don't work in accordance with the standards - they are faulty.

Example of downside: forcing both sides to 100 / Full - one device _may_
disable FLP completely whether the other end will have it on - that device
will fall to 100 / half and you have the worth case scenario: duplex
mismatch. (and I'm not even talking here about forcing one side)

so.. if you still, in 2006, force your network devices - good luck to you.

 

[Leythos]

The defined way of how 100TX device determine its speed in IEEE standard is
Auto. What device does when forced is outside of this standard, not defined
and left to device manufacture to decide. All devices _must_ handle Auto, if
they don't work in accordance with the standards - they are faulty.

I've seen many CISCO products in my days that would not Autonegotiate
with 3COM and HP switches, but the 3COM and HP would negotiate with
anything else.

Forcing a port to a given speed eliminates the startup chatter and also
the chance that it will switch to a lower speed.

Auto is NOT needed, but it can be a indicator that there is another
problem in the system if it's not functioning properly.