WAN speed to ISP
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@timbaeten If you have a spare switch you could try putting that between the 6100 and the ISP router.
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@SteveITS I can probably dig one up, but I'm concerned about WAN speeds right now, not what the lan can do.
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@timbaeten Every once in a while there is a post about a strange communication issue between a port and an ISP router. I'm suggesting putting the switch in front of the WAN port.
Testing from LAN to the Internet tests through pfSense. You can test on pfSense itself but per Netgate pfSense is optimized for routing not running programs, and tests take CPU power, so the result is capped. I'd still think you'd get over 500 though...
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@SteveITS ok, I think I get what you're saying, but let me rephrase. You'd like me to put a switch between the ISP modem and the Netgate box and the only things connected to that switch are the modem and the router. Correct?
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@timbaeten right.
ISP router -- switch -- 6100 -- laptop
Not guaranteeing it will help but it might.
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What ports are you using on the 6100?
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@stephenw10 WAN1 (ethernet) and LAN1 (ethernet).
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So the default assignments, ix3 (WAN) and igb0 (LAN)?
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@stephenw10 as far as I know, all I've done so far is run the first setup wizard out of the box. If you want me to check, lmk how please.
And I certainly very much appreciate the help!
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That should be fine. Do you see any errors on ether interface in Status > Interfaces?
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@stephenw10 Here is what the status page shows:
WAN (ix3)
Media 1000baseT <full-duplex,rxpause,txpause>
In/out errors 0/0
Collisions 0
Interrupts 34007717 (206/s)Lan (igc0)
Media 1000baseT <full-duplex>
In/out errors 0/0
Collisions 0
Interrupts 48413084 (293/s) -
Is it possible the ISP modem is locked to the laptop MAC and offers only a lower rate to others?
What's the WAN actually connected to?
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@stephenw10 I don't think so because I have to reboot the ISP's modem every time I switch the device connected to it. The 6100 WAN port, for now, is connecting directly to the ISP (Spectrum) modem. I will try the suggestion from @SteveITS and put a dumb switch in between.
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Some ISPs will allow other MACs to connect but at a much reduced rate. It's unusual though.
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@stephenw10 I'll check with the ISP, but at no point did they ask for a MAC address, and I just tried with a completely different laptop, and it also got near a gig speed test that the first laptop did.
Since I just unboxed this 6100, I'm going to return it. It's either defective or we're all missing something.
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I would try reassigning WAN to one of the other ports and testing that. If it's a hardware issue that will show it.
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@stephenw10 Well, I switched to WAN2, reconfigured pfSense and rebooted the modem and now I'm getting a couple hundred more bps, 700mbs vs the 500 I was getting on wan1. Curiouser and curiouser.
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@timbaeten said in WAN speed to ISP:
@stephenw10 Here is what the status page shows:
WAN (ix3)
Media 1000baseT <full-duplex,rxpause,txpause>
Lan (igc0)
Media 1000baseT <full-duplex>It probably does not matter in this case but I find it odd that a interface being used as a WAN port would default to having flow control set to "on" (although this seems to be an ix interface thing).
I could just about stretch my mind to having flow control enabled on a LAN port, where you could match switch and other local settings; but really even that could be questionable.
now I'm getting a couple hundred more bps, 700mbs vs the 500 I was getting on wan1. Curiouser and curiouser.
Can you confirm again that your latest speed test was via a laptop directly plugged into igc0 and connected to an external speed test site on an ix port via either a RJ45 plug or a SFP module:
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Yes, ix defaults to using flow-control if the other side supports it.
Odd that using ix2 made any difference. Those ports should be identical.
I would try assigning WAN to one of the igc ports as a test. If you see full rate there it's clearly a problem with the default settings on the ix ports.
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Something that I had to do to improve my download speed was to change the bandwidth settings for the interfaces in the Firewall > Traffic Shaper page.
I was seeing a value of 209715.2 Kbits there so I changed each to 2 Gbit (I have a 5100 with 6x1 Gb interfaces). A setting of 1 Gbit gave a lower download speed than the 2 Gbit setting.
I suppose I could have just disabled the Enabled checkboxes for each interface. I figured they were enabled for a reason…
I went from a very consistent 200 Mb download before these changes to 600-700 Mb. Not the full 1 Gb from the ISP (and that I can see via speed tests directly on the modem), but much better for those rare times that I'm sucking down data by the bucket full.
