Slow Upload Speeds

[DrBix]

Last week I upgraded to the Verizon "double play" (Ultimate HD + 35/35 Internet speed).  The install went fairly smooth and everything was working by last Friday.  Saturday, I ran a speed test and got a 35M+ download speed but only about at 13M upload speed.  I repeated the speed test about a dozen times over the course of Saturday and today (Sunday) with the "EXACT" same results.  I chatted with a representative on Saturday that continued to tell me it was "traffic" or "congestion" that was to blame and that I was receiving my full bandwidth (a load of bunk).  I even ran a bandwidth monitor on the network and SAW the upload speed cap at around 14M.  The cap was obvious due to the straight flat-line at around 14M or so.

Who can I possibly talk to to please look into this because obviously the chat people can't, or won't, fix it.  And for the love of all that is good, tell them to STOP thanking me every other line when the problem is (obviously) not fixed!

[spacedebris]

There may be many issues that can cause that. Some have to change their settings from full duplex to half duplex to get the proper speeds.

But before you go through all that. The first thing to ask is, do you even need that upload speed? Most do not. Unless you are into filesharing or you have to send a lot of large files to work or something, almost no one uses even a fraction of the upload speed to begin with. And if you dont need it, then there would be no need in doing anything. The only speeds that nearly everyone uses is just the download. Rarely do we even use the upload (for most of us anyway).

[eljefe2 · Accepted solution]

Wow, spacedebris, I really disagree with you.  You think that someone who's paying for 35 mb/s should be happy getting less than half that speed?  That doesn't sound like human nature to me.  In the mean time....

DrBix, for starters....

Are you testing with the Verizon FiOS speedtest?   http://my.verizon.com/micro/speedtest/broadband/ 

Do you get similar results with www.speedtest.net using several near to you servers?

Have you run the FiOS optimizer?    Take a look in your registry and see if you have this key and value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\AFD\Parameters 

DefaultSendWindow  261360

I think the optimizer is better now but when I first ran it on this Win 7 machine a year or so ago it didn't tweak that send window and I had to do it manually.

Here's what I get day-in and day-out:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1125526199.png

You should be able to get similiar results too.

[DrBix]

First off, thanks for mentioning about what I'm getting vs. what I'm paying for.  And to be quite honest, yes, I will use that bandwidth on occasion.

I've run the speed tests at several different places and all report the same speeds.

I've done every optimization I can find except the registry change which I'm going to try now and reboot to see if that helps.  That said, it's plainly obvious (imo) that it's being capped.  Here's a graph:

http://i.imgur.com/MUhsA.png

This graph was produced at my router (though, if my PC was clamping the speed it would probably show in that graph too as the PC wouldn't pull data faster than its limit).  I'm going to do the registry change now and will report back once I've tested it.

[DrBix]

Spot on brother!  Thanks!  Solid 35M+ in both directions with that registery addition.  I appreciate your time in posting that helpful response.

[DrBix]

There is one somewhat "strange" caveat to this.  I'm getting the 35/35 speeds using Verizon's speed test (and verifying at my router that, indeed, I AM getting the speeds mentioned).  HOWEVER, the speeds I get at other test sites show a very different picture (including the site you posted in your previous post).  Those sites are still showing me 35/13 or so; almost like Verizon is clamping the speed going out from their side ... hmm....   Again, I 100% verified the speeds using the bandwidth graph that my router provides (dd-wrt flashed router) so I know that leaving my house to Verizon is going at 35M.  This seems fishy to me though based on the other speed test sites (most of which are local to me).  I'll keep trying a few other ones to be sure.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1125565177.png

[eljefe2]

Hey....glad that send window tweak worked for you!

What part of the country are you in?  Some of the speedtest.net servers don't seem to be able to handle the kind of upload speed FiOS gets yet but from the results you're seeing I'd say you're indeed getting 35 up.

I have never heard of even a rumor that Verizon does any kind of bandwidth capping.  I wouldn't worry about that.

You say you have occasional need for the upload speed.  So do I...serviceing my web site, etc.  Why don't you try some real world tests doing whatever it is you need the speed for in the first place.  Measure what you get that way.  I know if I upload a few files simultaneously I always can saturate my upstream at just what I get on the speed tests.

Good luck.

edit:  Just noticed your speedtest results from Tampa.  I seem to remember that there have been some issues with a few Florida speedtest.net servers.  Maybe someone else can be more specific.  Anyway....satisfy yourself with real world uploads.

edit 2:  I ran speedtest.net on the Tampa server.  Exact same results you're getting:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1125654874.png

I 100% sure I'm getting ~32 mb/s upstream.  I rest my case.  🙂

[DrBix]

Yep, I'm pretty certain too.  Here's the graph from my router of two runs of the speedtest at speedtest.verizon.net:

http://i.imgur.com/QY8L6.png

By bandwidth capping, I mean that they cap bandwidth so you don't exceed what you're paying for, not the "amount" of data :).  Thanks again for your help!

[smokegr]

hello,

         what timing.i have noticed that my internet speed is also not,what it should be.at times nowhere near 35/35.first off i just got the fios double play internet 35/35 wireless.. i can except a slight diff.in connection speed  between ethernet wire,and wifi. but i have ran speed test at several differant times.and to differant locations.best i have seen is 20/14mbps..i have ran there optimizer to no avial..any tips?

[eljefe2]

First, wired and wireless problems are not one and the same.   You should start with wired and worry about wireless later.

For staters:

Where are you located?

What version of Windows are you running?

What speed results do you get from the Verizon speed test?

What do you mean by "at times?"  Are you speedtest results ok sometimes but not others?