SH1 / Tenda N60 speed problem

As posted elsewhere in the forum, I have just upgraded from 60Mb/s to (up to) 152Mb/s.

My current setup is SH1 in Router Mode, with a Tenda N60* attached to that, and a cable from the N60 going upstairs to a little TP-Link Gig switch, with the main PC, a Linksys WRT54GS, and a printer from the switch.

I noticed that on speedtest.net I was only getting between 75 - 85Mb/s (with 12Mb/s up), so I plugged in a laptop (using the same CAT5 cable that is used between the SH1 and the N60) to the SH1, and got 145-153Mb/s consistently.

When I plug the laptop into the N60( using the same cable as before), I still only get 75-85Mb/s (with 12Mb/s up) - this is with all other network cables unplugged.

I have checked on the N60, and there are no QoS settings (there is something called "Bandwidth Control").

SH1 IP address is 192.168.100.1, and the N60 is 192.168.0.1, and the N60 is enabled as the DHCP server, with devices attached to the N60 are in the range 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.200. Bandwidth Control under the N60 Advanced tab is disabled, and I am on the latest N60 firmware.

I am obviously doing something basic wrong, but much searching on the intraweebs provides no answers - any suggestions to resolve this, please?

*N60 has TiVo, BluRay, and Xbox360 attached by CAT5, and there are various laptops, tablets, smartphones attached to the N60 or the Linksys depending where they are in the house.

[arcimedes]

My first thought is that link between SH1 and N60 is only running at 100Mb/s. It would explain what you have just described.

Both the SH and the N60 say they have gigabit ports, and I used the same port on the SH1 in Router Mode (which the only one live in that mode), and that gave me 145-155 to the laptop cabled (using the same CAT5 cable) directly to that port - that is why I am confused....

I get your point, though, just can't work out why it would be 100Mb/s only.

[arcimedes]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Both the SH and the N60 say they have gigabit ports, and I used the same port on the SH1 in Router Mode (which the only one live in that mode), and that gave me 145-155 to the laptop cabled (using the same CAT5 cable) directly to that port - that is why I am confused....

I think you mean you are in modem mode if only one port is active. and can you confirm which mode you usually run in?

Modem mode - oops.

[qasdfdsaq]

If you have the know-how (which I assume you do) try do some WAN <-> LAN throughput tests via the router to a local host.

The Tenda N60 isn't the most powerful device, but it should be able to manage at least 200Mbps routed throughput. However I've seen many cases on other devices where activating features requiring packet inspection like QoS or SPI firewalls can more than halve that.

P.S. Does the Tenda have colour coded lights to indicate GbE vs. FE link?

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

If you have the know-how (which I assume you do) try do some WAN <-> LAN throughput tests via the router to a local host.

The Tenda N60 isn't the most powerful device, but it should be able to manage at least 200Mbps routed throughput. However I've seen many cases on other devices where activating features requiring packet inspection like QoS or SPI firewalls can more than halve that.

P.S. Does the Tenda have colour coded lights to indicate GbE vs. FE link?

Thanks, I'll try that.

re PS, no, it doesn't (but how would I know, I am slightly colour-blind...)

Update at 17:54

Dragged and dropped some 2GB files between the main computer upstairs and a laptop attached directly to the N60 downstairs, and got average speeds of 21MB/s from computer to laptop, and 27MB/s from laptop to computer (so 170Mb/s and 220Mb/s) - this is backed up by a test from a bit of freeware called LanSpeedTest Lite showing roughly the same speeds on transferring just under a 1GB test file.



So, the LAN is capable of more than the 75Mb/s I get from speedtest.net....

Update.

Just gone back to using the SH1 as a router (with wifi switched off), and using the Tenda N60 for downstairs wifi and additional ports, with this result.

[qasdfdsaq]

Ach, didn't see your update till now. You're not too clear on exactly what the network setup is - LAN speeds should never be bottlenecked by the router, but in order to test WAN <-> LAN performance you would need to have the host machine on a different subnet and connected to the WAN port - is that how you tested it? (Because Windows file sharing which you used usually doesn't work by default in such circumstances)