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    Help with troubleshooting low interface throughput

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • M
      mattzap
      last edited by

      Hi,

      I have a symmetric gigabit internet connection; however when I perform numerous speed tests from a hardwired computer, my download speed never gets above 48 Mbps, while my upload speed bounces between 120-180 Mbps. If I connect directly to the ISP equipment (removing pfSense), speed tests show at least 500 Mbps up/down.

      I am running pfSense 2.4.4-RELEASE-p1 on a PC Engines APU2 (BIOS 4.0.18). This device has three Intel NICs: one is for WAN, one is subnet A (no VLAN) and subnet B (VLANed), and the last NIC is subnet C (VLANed) and subnet D (VLANed).

      Referencing the pfSense Documentation, here's the troubleshooting bullet points:

      • CPU usage doesn't go above 30% during a speed test.
      • System Activity doesn't show any significant usage for any IRQ process.
      • MBUF hasn't gone above 2%.
      • [Checked] - Disable hardware checksum offload
      • [Checked] - Disable hardware TCP segmentation offload
      • [Checked] - Disable hardware large receive offload
      • System > Advanced > System Tunables:
        • net.inet.tcp.tso=0
        • kern.ipc.nmbclusters=1000000
        • hw.igb.num_queues=1
      • sysctl net.inet.ip.intr_queue_drops returns a 0
      • I've verified all interfaces have negotiated to 1000Mbps/full duplex.
      • All interfaces have the default MTU (1500).
      • There are no Traffic Shaping Queues or Limiters.
      • No VPN clients were connected during speed tests.
      • ISP devices, pfSense, and my switch have all been rebooted.

      Installed packages:

      • arping
      • iperf
      • Netgate_Coreboot_Upgrade
      • openvpn-client-export
      • sudo

      I know this hardware was able to handle at least 150Mbps to the internet when I first got the gigabit connection. Something has changed (probably some tweaking my part over the months/years), any help would be greatly appreciated in tracking this down. Thanks!

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      • bmeeksB
        bmeeks
        last edited by

        Who is your ISP? Is it perhaps AT&T? If so, there was another poster on here about two months ago with similar sudden speed slowdown and it turned out to be a firmware update pushed by AT&T to his AT&T-provided modem/router.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • M
          mattzap
          last edited by

          Ah-ha! Yes, I do have AT&T. Here's the relevant threads I just found:

          • https://forum.netgate.com/topic/138604/sudden-drop-in-throughput-900-900-on-modem-vs-30-100-on-pfsense/14
          • https://forum.netgate.com/topic/112691/wan-throughput-capping-at-500mbps-att-gigapower/3
          • https://forums.att.com/t5/AT-T-Fiber-Equipment/DMZPlus-mode-in-my-Pace-5268AC-causing-browsing-to-not-work-but/td-p/5712305

          I haven't read through all of this yet, but it all starts out matching my situation exactly. I'll report back when I get a chance to get up to speed on this and see if it turns out to be my issue.

          Thanks!

          bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • bmeeksB
            bmeeks @mattzap
            last edited by

            @mattzap said in Help with troubleshooting low interface throughput:

            Ah-ha! Yes, I do have AT&T. Here's the relevant threads I just found:

            • https://forum.netgate.com/topic/138604/sudden-drop-in-throughput-900-900-on-modem-vs-30-100-on-pfsense/14
            • https://forum.netgate.com/topic/112691/wan-throughput-capping-at-500mbps-att-gigapower/3
            • https://forums.att.com/t5/AT-T-Fiber-Equipment/DMZPlus-mode-in-my-Pace-5268AC-causing-browsing-to-not-work-but/td-p/5712305

            I haven't read through all of this yet, but it all starts out matching my situation exactly. I'll report back when I get a chance to get up to speed on this and see if it turns out to be my issue.

            Thanks!

            Yep, those are some of the relevant threads. I think the user found a solution on the AT&T forums.

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