Router ports behaving differently

smallclone · 12-10-2021, 13:10

Hi, I have a D-LINK DIR 3060 (modem mode on superhub), which has been fine for about a year. This week I noticed a drop in speeds - checked 2 ports and the laptop is running at between 80MBps - 120Mbps. I pay for 350Mbps.

Then stuck the laptop into another port - and got 350MBps. I have restarted everything. Still the same behaviour.

So is this behaviour normal? Is the router automatically sending / sharing the broadband or something? Why would only 1 port give the maximum?

I tried different cables too and they all behave the same so it's not that. Seems really odd to me, is it a faulty router?

Thanks

tweetiepooh · 13-10-2021, 11:17

Try different browsers first. I can't explain why one port is different and if consistent all the time, first run, cache empty etc. Firefox gives me slower speeds than chrome on one PC but is fine on another (wired). All very odd. (On Linux - Firefox = 350/53, Chrome 750/50; Firefox is more level, Chrome can vary all over the place, lots of wires in place though, some old and 750 is likely peak processing through the 2 routers in place.)

smallclone · 13-10-2021, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

Try different browsers first. I can't explain why one port is different and if consistent all the time, first run, cache empty etc. Firefox gives me slower speeds than chrome on one PC but is fine on another (wired). All very odd. (On Linux - Firefox = 350/53, Chrome 750/50; Firefox is more level, Chrome can vary all over the place, lots of wires in place though, some old and 750 is likely peak processing through the 2 routers in place.)

Thanks, checked speed this morning and now the GOOD port that gave 350 yesterday is 90Mbps today!

So I figured it must be the CAT5 cable - as it is going a fair few metres. So I changed it to some spare CAT7 that I had and seems to be ok now - getting the full 350mbs again. Could that be a plausible reason? a 30m cat5 cable not strong enough to carry the full 350? Why was it working yesterday though?

tweetiepooh · 14-10-2021, 15:28

I have 30m Cat5e that copes nicely with the figures above but I don't know if Cat5 is the same.

The Cat 5 speed is capable of 10/100 Mbps and frequencies up to 100MHz all at a length up to 100m.

Cat5e cable is a great choice for residential installations with it's performance of 350MHz and 1Gb up to 100 meters

Cat7 can also support 10 Gbps, but laboratory testing has successfully shown its ability to transmit up to 40 Gb at 50 meters and even 100 Gb at 15 meters.

smallclone · 14-10-2021, 15:49

Well, Cat7 has apparently solved this problem straight away (touchwood) - still getting constant speeds of 350 - 370 Mbps so I'm a happy camper.