Switched to Ethernet and now Internet is a fraction of the speed

[ccarlin]

So I switched from coax to ethernet today so I could get rid of the actiontec router which was causing major NAT issues.  Good news is I no longer am having NAT issues.  Bad news is my internet is extremely slower.  My current setup is ONT> (100ft Cat6a cable)> Asus rt-n66u > Wifi.  If I hard wire in to the router my download speed is consistently a 9.5 mbps and upload anywhere from 7.5-9.5 mbps.  I am currently subscribed to 75/25.  With the coax I had 25-35 mbps dl speed and 20 mbps upload over wifi and that was ONt>Actiontec>Asus rt-n66u>Wifi. Anyone have any suggestions?  These speeds are pitiful  

[Anti-Phish1]

Make sure you have any automatic QOS setting in the Asus turned off.  Some routers, especially those intended for gaming, may have some kind of "equitable access" option enabled by default to make sure all users get the same amount of bandwidth.  e.g. D-Link calls this "Gamefuel".

[ccarlin]

QoS is off.  

[smith6612 · Accepted solution]

It sounds like you have a bad network cable or a misconfigured network pot. A cap of 9.5Mbs suggests a 10Mbps Full duplex link.

Please ensure the ASUS's WAN port is configured for Auto Negotiate or 1Gbps mode, and make sure you have a good CAT5e or CAT6a rated cable connecting between the ONT and the router. Gigabit requires use of all cable pairs to work properly. 100Mbps can deal with less but is not ideal on a bad cable.

If the ASUS does not indicate what link state the router is in, try connecting a computer temporarily to the cable. A computer will not get an IP address due to the way Verizon handles DHCP leases without releasing the IP lease, but it will negotiate a link. You should see 100Mbps  (BPON) or 1Gbps (GPON) depending on your ONT. Some ONTs also display the Ethernet status by changing the color or blink sequence of the status light. You can open the customer access portion of the ONT and look at the instructions within to determine what the status light is showing.

Last but not least, make sure VPNs are turned off along with any QoS or "Game Booster" mode in the router. Many home routers have to process data in QoS through the CPU, which on faster connections is not fast enough. High end routers usually have dedicated hardware to help with QoS processing.