Download speeds

[RS]

On 16/04/18 12:50, I wrote:
> 
> 
> On 16/04/18 01:42, Alan Milewczyk wrote:
>> I'm with Virgin and my 200 Mbps connection has typically achieved 
>> download speeds of around 50 Mbps from the hlshd CDNs.
>>
>> As quite a few TV programmes are no longer available in hlshd, I 
>> decided reluctantly to switch to the 50fps option so I can still get 
>> HD content. However, hvfhd downloads (using hvfhd1 CDN) are typically 
>> only achieving download speeds of around 20 Mbps. This, combined with 
>> the fact that the downloads themselves are double the size of hlshd, 
>> means that my download times are 5 times longer than hitherto! Not 
>> good! :-(
>>
> I have just downloaded two episodes of the second series of Salamander 
> from hvfhd1/bi (Azure?) at 148Mbit/s.  That is similar to the HLShd 
> speed.  It does vary with time of day, and can go down to 60Mbit/s.
> 
Are you using WiFi?  That will slow your connection.

Does all your equipment support Gigabit LAN?  Your network will run at 
the speed of the slowest component.  You can use Cat5 cable, but Cat5e 
is better.  When I was upgraded from 100Mbit/s to 200Mbit/s I knew this 
machine had a 10/100 built in LAN card so I disabled it.

I first bought a PCI-E USB3 card and a USB3 Gigabit LAN device.  I then 
replaced it with a PCI Gigabit LAN card.  I replaced my TP-LINK 5-way 
10/100 switch with an 8-way Netgear Gigabit LAN switch.  I could connect 
directly to the PC at 210Mbit/s, but only 90Mbit/s through the switch. 
I found a post in Netgear's forum from someone with a similar problem so 
I concluded the switch was faulty.

I replaced it with a TP-LINK switch only to find the same problem.  I 
eventually realised I had set the LAN card in the PC to the default of 
auto speed detection.  Also I had a 1.5m Cat5 patch cable between the PC 
and the switch.  The patch cable was being auto-detected as only capable 
of 100Mbit/s.  I replaced the patch cable with Cat5e and set the LAN 
card to force a 1000Mbit/s connection.  It then worked as it should.

I hope this gives you some idea of where to look.

Best wishes
Richard