Ethernet Connection much slower than Wi-Fi

Anyone able to shed light on such a bewildering and infuriating issue?

Recently my download speeds are around 100Mbps when they used to be 900Mbps - my Wi-Fi speeds are around 500Mbps. This has followed a long period in which there has been consistent packet loss which has been steadily worsening (could this be another symptom of an underlying hardware problem?)

Zen is trying to decide whether to sent out an engineer. In the meanwhile, I’m desperately trying to make sense of a real puzzle. I’ve tried different devices (laptops) and different Ethernet cables - but the problem has persisted.

Could it be a faulty Fritzbox or ONT. And if the latter, how could I persuade Zen/Openreach to supply a replacement?

Update: Zen has refused to send out an engineer. Instead they want me to trouble shoot further. I said I would try out a 3rd party router and report back. Their lack of generosity/tight-fistedness is really disappointing.

Edited by kam67 (Tue 25-Apr-23 18:24:05)

Has a direct connection been tested direct from the ONT?

Yes tried with Zen’s help but couldn’t be established.

Does that indicate a faulty ONT?

I will be testing with another router this afternoon to rule that out.

If that doesn’t work, then surely that would make a problem with the ONT likely. The question is whether Zen will agree to send out a tech with a replacement ONT. They seem very reluctant to do so.

(The strange thing is wifi speeds are very good)

Edited by kam67 (Wed 26-Apr-23 10:00:05)

What were the speeds that you got on testing from the ONT?

As I said it failed when trying to connect from ONT directly.

The speeds I got when connecting ONT via the Fritzbox were 1/10 of my usual speeds : 100Mbps instead of100Mbps

Your title is misleading - it suggests that on your LAN connecting via wired connection is slower than using wi-fi wheras it appears your actual problem is low download speeds on the fibre WAN connection. The only relevance your wi-fi speed has is that it is much faster than your attainable download speed so is unlikely to be the bottleneck Though a wi-fi connection will still be slightly slower than a wired connection to the router even if the wi-fi isn't saturated..

Whilst it is not impossibleI think it is unlikely to be a fault with the ONT or FRitzbox , and the fibre connection itself must be OK otehrwise it wouldn't be working at all. I do find I need to reboot/powercycle the fritzbox occassionally when I get intermittent problems (usually only after 6 weeks or more of continuous connection.

How are you determining download speed and packet loss? Since the last firmware udatre I have found that the BQM to my router on IPv4 frequently shows latency spikes and significant packet loss, however the IPv6 one to my server idoesn't. and I don't mnotice any network degradation

From your other posts it appears you might have an overly complcated setup, however it does mean you have another router you could try temporarily instead of the Fritzbox to elimnuate that from the possibilities.

Have you checked your order history on your Zen account, to check they haven't migrated your backhaul. That did cause me to lose IPv^ connectivity as tsome config somewhere wasn't updated to reflect the change. More significantly , as seen by an interminably long thread on here, has caused some users severe issues which I don't think have ever been fully explained .

Sorry you’ve lost me there - all I’m saying is that Wi-Fi is performing normally (around 600Mbps); while my Ethernet connection is a fraction of that (around 100Mbps). Given this very unusual situation, I’m at a loss what could have caused this. I’ve powercycled to no avail. So the only thing I’m left with is the conclusion that it must be the ONT or the router. Given that Zen support couldn’t help me establish a direct connection to the ONT, does that indicate a faulty ONT or something less hardwire related - like a problem with the “cease and reprovide” process not being done correctly.

What is the physical link speed that you are achieving on the device you have wired into your router. Something is negotiating 100Mbps, you need to find it.

Bit of clarification, please.

You say that your download speeds are 100Mbps while you WiFi speeds are 500Mbps.

Does this mean that your WiFi speed measured purely as point-to-point from your router to device is 500Mbps or that download speed from the outside world reaches 500Mbps when using WiFi but only 100Mbps when using ethernet?

If the former, what is the download speed from the outside world when reaching your device by WiFi?

Once that has been clarified it will help establish whether it is a problem within your network (although maybe due to Zen supplied kit) or a Zen problem beyond your network.

I mean Wi-Fi speeds between the router (Fritzbox) and various devices(laptop, iPhone etc.) is averaging around 500Mbps.

Egg on face 🙈: turned out to be dodgy Ethernet Cable!

Thanks for the reply. Many people would have said nothing and just let the thread die in the hope that they would avoid showing any signs of embarrassment while having no thought for the people who had spent time trying to help.

WI-FI is (part of) your LAN and is only the connection between your local devices and the router. It will work even if you have no WAN connection on your router (though obviously you wouldn't be able to access anything outside your lovcal network. The speed of your wi-fi has nothing to do with your download speeds , other than they will be limited by the slowest link in the path, which in this case would appear not to be your wi-fi..

If your router can connect through the ONT fact that you couldn't establish a direct connection to the ONT is either down to incorrect isnstructions from Zen or a mis-understanding on your part in following those instructions .

A mis-configuration in your connection profile somewhere in Zen's sytsem could well be the issue as thjat is where the speed is limited .
Whilst you can set speeds on the fritzbox it only really makes a difference if you have QoS enabled where it will throttle non-high priority traffic if the bandwidth gets close to the set maximum -by default it will be set at the speed of the link between the router and ONT (1 GB) rtaher than your actual lower connection speed

Glad I didn’t do that as I’m very grateful to people on this forum who have helped me out on many occasions

In reply to a post by kam67:

I mean Wi-Fi speeds between the router (Fritzbox) and various devices(laptop, iPhone etc.) is averaging around 500Mbps.

It is now some years since I used a Fritzbox Router so my recollection of the port settings may not be correct but as I recall you can set the ports to either 100 mbps or to 1 gbps.

Perhaps, it may be useful to check that the Ethernet Ports are set to 1 gbps and also that the port on your PC is a 1 gbps port.


https://en.avm.de/service/knowledge-base/dok/FRITZ-B...

Regards,
Fido

In my experience 90% of problems at work are caused by dodgy cables, though usual only those that are subjected to lots movement and/orr plugging /unpluging which shouldn't be the case between your router and ONT.

Pleased it is sorted.

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

Thanks for the reply. Many people would have said nothing and just let the thread die in the hope that they would avoid showing any signs of embarrassment while having no thought for the people who had spent time trying to help.

Definitely. Fair play, OP. I would've said check the cables and try another port on the router as going from a gigabit to 100 Mb has to be either port or cable. Every day's a school day and holding hands up and admitting fault isn't easy but something we certainly need more of.

In reply to a post by kam67:

Egg on face 🙈: turned out to be dodgy Ethernet Cable!

For future reference, it would have helped if you posted the *exact* speed you got.

A speed of 94Mbps or slightly less would indicate a faulty ethernet cable (or ethernet port on one of the devices). Anything higher than that would rule out that possibility.

Thanks Candlerb - good know!

In reply to a post by XGS_Is_On:

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

Thanks for the reply. Many people would have said nothing and just let the thread die in the hope that they would avoid showing any signs of embarrassment while having no thought for the people who had spent time trying to help.

Definitely. Fair play, OP. I would've said check the cables and try another port on the router as going from a gigabit to 100 Mb has to be either port or cable. Every day's a school day and holding hands up and admitting fault isn't easy but something we certainly need more of.

Absolutely - it’s all a learning process and I’m usually in nursery school 😂.

In reply to a post by kam67:

Could it be a faulty Fritzbox or ONT. And if the latter, how could I persuade Zen/Openreach to supply a replacement?

If you enable powersaving ethernet in a Fritz!Box it drops speed to 100Mbit on that port. One to be aware of for the future.

Thanks for the warning, hunnymonster. I will make sure to avoid that.