Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Not your average "internet speed" problem...

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    33 Posts 7 Posters 3.1k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by stephenw10

      Yeah if OpenWRT is configured with all the VLAN as interfaces it will route between them and that could cause all sorts of problems.
      Only the switch config there should be aware of the VLANs in order to trunk them.

      Steve

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • P
        Panja
        last edited by

        Sorry forgot to add. Itโ€™s a really plain install of pfSense. No limiters are setup at all.

        If vlan traffic is handled by the Archer instead of pfSense would file transfers not be limited as well?
        Iโ€™m getting 113MB/s when transferring files between VLANs

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • P
          Panja
          last edited by

          The VLANS are indeed configured as interfaces on OpenWRT. I will have a look if that can be changed.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • P
            Panja
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 said in Not your average "internet speed" problem...:

            Yeah if OpenWRT is configured with all the VLAN as interfaces it will route between them and that could cause all sorts of problems.
            Only the switch config there should be aware of the VLANs in order to trunk them.

            What I don't understand is why does file transer between vlans work as it supposted to getting near gigabit speeds.

            Also I already tried:

            • Put the cable, that goes in to the TL-SG108E, in an unmanaged/dumb switch, than a cable from the unmanaged swith to a second Archer C7 (OpenWRT) with same config as the other and from that Archer a cable to my laptop

            Which resulted in full (internet) speeds.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Can you swap the positions of the switch and AP?

              They should all be on the same layer2 so it would make no difference but something is not right.

              P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • P
                Panja @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10

                Will give that a try. No problem!
                Though I will do that tomorrow. The room where the switch is located is occupied by a sleeping little girl at the moment. ๐Ÿ˜‰

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  SteveITS Galactic Empire @Panja
                  last edited by

                  @panja Did you connect a computer directly to the pfSense as suggested above? If it is still slow that would rule out the other hardware.

                  A few things I've found out about inconsistent results, that may or may not help...

                  Afternoon/evening background traffic is usually higher. People get home from work or school and stream video. While not everyone can run speed tests at 4-5 am that is often where peak speed is seen. At this point I'm rather surprised to get full/expected speed tests from around 3-4 pm to midnight, even at business clients. If your neighborhood's connection is "full" then it doesn't matter if your house is idle.

                  Different speed test sites can give wildly different results even when run within seconds of each other, especially during busy evenings.

                  IPv4 vs IPv6 can be different, especially so if using a tunnel like Hurricane Electric.

                  Depending on the ISP, using your ISP's speed test site might be faster than third party test sites.

                  Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                  When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                  Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • JKnottJ
                    JKnott @Panja
                    last edited by JKnott

                    @panja

                    Some TP-Link switches, including I believe that model, have problems with VLANs. That might be your issue.

                    PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                    i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                    UniFi AC-Lite access point

                    I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

                    M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • M
                      mcury @JKnott
                      last edited by

                      @jknott said in Not your average "internet speed" problem...:

                      TP-Link switches, including I believe that model, have problems with VLANs

                      The VLAN problem is fixed in hardware revision 3.0 and above

                      dead on arrival, nowhere to be found.

                      JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • JKnottJ
                        JKnott @mcury
                        last edited by

                        @mcury said in Not your average "internet speed" problem...:

                        @jknott said in Not your average "internet speed" problem...:

                        TP-Link switches, including I believe that model, have problems with VLANs

                        The VLAN problem is fixed in hardware revision 3.0 and above

                        Well, we can still blame them. ๐Ÿ˜‰

                        PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                        i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                        UniFi AC-Lite access point

                        I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • P
                          Panja
                          last edited by Panja

                          I have tried to put my laptop directly into the pfSense box which gives me full speeds. Also when connect to the Archer C7 I get full speeds.

                          The TP-Link switch has also been replaced by a Netgear as mentioned in my OP.
                          Getting the same problems with the Netgear.

                          Speedtest are done right after each other.
                          Maybe 2 minutes between them. Which always results in the same problems.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            Except it did the same thing with a Netgear switch in there instead and with OpenWRT on the AP we can't even blame them there. ๐Ÿ˜‰

                            P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • P
                              Panja @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10

                              Can you elaborate?
                              I donโ€™t quite understand what you mean. Sorry!

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • stephenw10S
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by

                                Sorry I was replying to @JKnott but my reply ended up out of order.

                                You might need a packet capture to see what's happening there. Seem like something low level, and IP/MAC conflict maybe.

                                No errors logged anywhere? On any of those devices?

                                Steve

                                P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • P
                                  Panja @stephenw10
                                  last edited by

                                  @stephenw10

                                  Ahhhh ok. I see now. ๐Ÿ˜‚

                                  I will try to do some more (error) testing tomorrow and also look if I can find anything in the logs.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • ?
                                    A Former User
                                    last edited by

                                    @Panja

                                    Is the OpenWRT in router mode or did you set it up in AP
                                    mode?

                                    P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • P
                                      Panja @A Former User
                                      last edited by

                                      @dobby_

                                      AP mode.
                                      Also disabled Firewall, DNS and DHCP on the OpenWRT device.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • P
                                        Panja
                                        last edited by

                                        What I tested today:

                                        • Port 4 from Archer C7 directly into my laptop: full speeds
                                        • Cable from pfSense directly in the TP link switch and port 8 (vlan 40) directly to my laptop: full speeds
                                        • Port 4 from Archer C7 into new Netgear switch (factory defaults, no setup): internet speed problem
                                        • Port 4 from Archer C7 into new Netgear xx (factory defaults, no setup), unplug port 2 (so eliminating the TP link switch): internet speed problem
                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          Mmm, that's got to be something really low level.

                                          You see latency and low speeds but not packet loss?

                                          I would be running packet captures to try to identify what's happening.

                                          Steve

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • P
                                            Panja
                                            last edited by Panja

                                            @mcury @Dobby_ @Gertjan @stephenw10 @JKnott @SteveITS

                                            And LOW LEVEL is was!
                                            Finally fixed the problem...

                                            I've tested my problem with 3 different laptops.
                                            Surface Laptop, Surface Pro and HP Probook.
                                            All do not have an internal LAN port so I used an USB3.0 to LAN adapter (MS Surface Ethernet Adapter). And the 2 Surface devices I tried also on a Microsoft Surface Dock (with ethernet port). Continues problems, either with the dongle or on the dock.
                                            If it was only with the dongle I would have thought the dongle would be f*ck3d.
                                            But the problem was there with the dock as well...

                                            Yesterday I tried that same dongle on a PopOS (Linux) device and to my suprise I was getting full speeds. That made me think it could not be the dongle itself.
                                            I took a look at the driver settings for both the dongle and dock and they both use the same chip: Realtek RTL8153.
                                            Both were installed with the MS Surface drivers and are recommended/installed by MS.

                                            I've downloaded the latest RTL8153 drivers from the Realtek site. Manually updated the drivers and choose a different brand ethernet adapter. Voila problem solved!!
                                            Finally full speed now.

                                            Many thanks for all your help guys!

                                            M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.