Guide - Getting the most out of your high speed Virgin Media (UPC) 240mb/s service

iggy

mass_debater wrote: »

Maybe that's all the speedtest server can cope with

I had the technicolor modem before the Cisco and speedtest. net would give me results of 240mb.

tnegun

iggy wrote: »

I had the technicolor modem before the Cisco and speedtest. net would give me results of 240mb.

Where are you Iggy? I'm in Maynooth with the exact same issue

edit: Sorry not the exact same my the UPC speed test matches the speedtest.net result.

iggy

tnegun wrote: »

Where are you Iggy? I'm in Maynooth with the exact same issue

edit: Sorry not the exact same my the UPC speed test matches the speedtest.net result.

I'm in Lucan.

Snake Plisken

iggy wrote: »

I have a Cisco 3925. I'm on the 240mb package.
When I run a test on speedtest. net I only get a result of 150mb.
When I run test on the UPC site I get result of 240mb.
Which results are right?

Hi Iggy I'm in Lucan as well, what I have noticed about speedtest.net it seems to default to the Digiweb server and I always seem to get around 150Mbps but try selecting the Vodafone server and you should get close to the 240Mbps depending on the time of day. I tried it wirelessly just now via mp TP-Link Archer 7 router and got 224Mb wirelessly and i'm pretty happy with that!

ro23

Living in an old house with thick walls and high ceilings - would the TP Link Archer C7 be any good boosting the wifi signal throughout or maybe a home plug solution better?

bk

ro23 wrote: »

Living in an old house with thick walls and high ceilings - would the TP Link Archer C7 be any good boosting the wifi signal throughout or maybe a home plug solution better?

Using the C7 certainly boosts the wifi signal over the UPC wifi. I my case I'd say 4 times more powerful.

No guarantees that it will cover every corner of your house, but it should be good enough for most people. I'd pick one up and try it before looking at other solutions like home plugs.

If your not happy with it you can always return it.

garysully1986

Alright Lads,

I am paying for a 240mb connection with UPC, I have my modem downstairs its a Cisco EPC3925, I have it going straight into a tpl link av500 powerline using a cat5e cable from connection 1 on the back of the modem. I have tested my pc the last few evenings and am only getting a max of 80mb down and 25 up. I cannot seem to beat that speed, I am only using cat5e cables for all connections and am getting nowhere near the speed. I am using unblock-us as a DNS server, would that make a difference? Is it time to purchase another modem or is there something I can do. I have built the pc myself and it has 10/100/1000 LAN connection so should be able to get full speed?

Any help would be much appreciated.

mass_debater

garysully1986 wrote: »

Alright Lads,

I am paying for a 240mb connection with UPC, I have my modem downstairs its a Cisco EPC3925, I have it going straight into a tpl link av500 powerline using a cat5e cable from connection 1 on the back of the modem. I have tested my pc the last few evenings and am only getting a max of 80mb down and 25 up. I cannot seem to beat that speed, I am only using cat5e cables for all connections and am getting nowhere near the speed. I am using unblock-us as a DNS server, would that make a difference? Is it time to purchase another modem or is there something I can do. I have built the pc myself and it has 10/100/1000 LAN connection so should be able to get full speed?

Any help would be much appreciated.

You are hitting the limit of your homeplugs, you'll need till run a cable to get any faster

garysully1986

mass_debater wrote: »

You are hitting the limit of your homeplugs, you'll need till run a cable to get any faster

I have seen video of people using the same homeplug and getting close to 200 down, It was in a review on this site, They should be able to get up to 500 meg no?

Would it be possible to replace them with stronger ones?

Its not really feasible to move my setup downstairs unfortunately.

Found the video.

mass_debater

garysully1986 wrote: »

I have seen video of people using the same homeplug and getting close to 200 down, It was in a review on this site, They should be able to get up to 500 meg no?

Would it be possible to replace them with stronger ones?

Its not really feasible to move my setup downstairs unfortunately.

Found the video.

Homeplugs are completely hit or miss, they send a radio signal through your internal electrical cabling which isn't designed for this purpose. There is no way to predict or pre calculate how well they will work. Something as simple as a cable overlap or a twist can cause problems. I've seen plenty of new houses where they will not work at all, refuse to pair.

Running a cable is the only way to overcome this, a cat5e will do at least gigabit full duplex (send and receive at the same time)

garysully1986

Cheers, I don't think the missus will be too happy with me runnin a cable up the stairs, might see if I can get it up through the walls, house has pipe connection in all the rooms, actually would the pipe connection work or does it need to be connected to the main box directly

mass_debater

garysully1986 wrote: »

Cheers, I don't think the missus will be too happy with me runnin a cable up the stairs, might see if I can get it up through the walls, house has pipe connection in all the rooms, actually would the pipe connection work or does it need to be connected to the main box directly

Get a good few metres of cat5e cable, bring it outside at skirting level and up behind a down pipe. There's usually a way if you put some thought into it.

garysully1986

mass_debater wrote: »

Get a good few metres of cat5e cable, bring it outside at skirting level and up behind a down pipe. There's usually a way if you put some thought into it.

Cheers, thanks for the help, I will have to look into this.

Morf

mass_debater wrote: »

Get a good few metres of cat5e cable, bring it outside at skirting level and up behind a down pipe. There's usually a way if you put some thought into it.

If he's going to go to much trouble surely he should go cat6 to make the most of the effort would you agree?

mass_debater

Morf wrote: »

If he's going to go to much trouble surely he should go cat6 to make the most of the effort would you agree?

What I really meant was at least cat5e. Cat6 is much harder to work with, much harder to crimp, harder to bend and twist, for not much gain when cat5e does gigabit.

banie01

banie01 wrote: »

Folks I'm after inheriting an archer C20i router same as this model
I know most people here recommend the C7 or newer/higher specs but is anyone using this particular model to run their WiFi?
If you are, any pitfalls or foibles I should be aware of?
I'm currently using the Thomson TWG-870 router with upgraded antenna along with a cantenna mod in 5ghz mode but I'm really looking for a dual band capable solution.

Just following up on this with my experience of real world use of the TP-Link c20i.
Its a total scam on the part of TP-Link to sell this POS as an AC router.
Whilst it has a Wifi chipset capable of Simultaneous 2.4GHz 300Mbps and 5GHz 433Mbps connections for 733Mbps of total available bandwidth....
The devices WAN port is only a 10/100 connection which massively bottlenecks throughput on UPC connections(Even moreso on the UBEE router where a glitch means 100mbs Lan connection only runs at 30mbs!)

So while the WiFi chipset can theoretically handle the 240mb UPC provide, the fact that its actually physically gimped due to 10/100 Lan and Wan ports mean its not a viable alternative to the C5/C7/C8/C9 series routers

ED E

banie01 wrote: »

Just following up on this with my experience of real world use of the TP-Link c20i.
Its a total scam on the part of TP-Link to sell this POS as an AC router.
Whilst it has a Wifi chipset capable of Simultaneous 2.4GHz 300Mbps and 5GHz 433Mbps connections for 733Mbps of total available bandwidth....
The devices WAN port is only a 10/100 connection which massively bottlenecks throughput on UPC connections(Even moreso on the UBEE router where a glitch means 100mbs Lan connection only runs at 30mbs!)

So while the WiFi chipset can theoretically handle the 240mb UPC provide, the fact that its actually physically gimped due to 10/100 Lan and Wan ports mean its not a viable alternative to the C5/C7/C8/C9 series routers

Its right there on the specs sheet. And amazon are selling it for $30 USD, what did you think you were getting for €20's worth of a router....

banie01

ED E wrote: »

Its right there on the specs sheet. And amazon are selling it for $30 USD, what did you think you were getting for €20's worth of a router....

I didn't buy the router, inherited it.
And as such didn't look at the spec sheet until I was troubleshooting the fact it constantly connected at @30-35mbps on both bands even on LAN transfers.
I posted the above as a heads up to anyone who was going to buy it(Or similar) on the basis of the "AC" wifi label rather than reviewing the specs and making an informed purchase.

Phil C

bk wrote: »

You don't have to, but it is better to also disable the Horizon wifi as it will reduce the interference with the TP Link wifi.

Really no danger here.

.

in case this is relevant I should tell you I didn't bother turning it off as the wifi speed I was getting from the tp link where no good.

The issue I have now is the other member's of the family iphone ,Samsung phone and tablets some days are connected to the wifi, which says its signal strength is excellent BUT cant access the internet.

As an example , my wife had internet on her Samsung s4 mini then went to collect the kids and when she re-entered the house connected to the wif but she couldn't access the internet .

My phone is having no such problems .

Any ideas what iam doing wrong ?

ps ; my

mass_debater

Phil C wrote: »

in case this is relevant I should tell you I didn't bother turning it off as the wifi speed I was getting from the tp link where no good.

The issue I have now is the other member's of the family iphone ,Samsung phone and tablets some days are connected to the wifi, which says its signal strength is excellent BUT cant access the internet.

As an example , my wife had internet on her Samsung s4 mini then went to collect the kids and when she re-entered the house connected to the wif but she couldn't access the internet .

My phone is having no such problems .

Any ideas what iam doing wrong ?

ps ; my

Sounds like you have 2 DHCP servers giving out ip addresses. Tell us how you set it up

Phil C

thanks for your reply .

I set it up exactly as the original post, up to point 11 except for disabling the upc wifi ....
nothing more .

Phil C

Phil C wrote: »

in case this is relevant I should tell you I didn't bother turning it off as the wifi speed I was getting from the tp link where SO good.

The issue I have now is the other member's of the family iphone ,Samsung phone and tablets some days are connected to the wifi, which says its signal strength is excellent BUT cant access the internet.

As an example , my wife had internet on her Samsung s4 mini then went to collect the kids and when she re-entered the house connected to the wif but she couldn't access the internet .

My phone is having no such problems .

Any ideas what iam doing wrong ?

this should have said SO not no .

mass_debater

Phil C wrote: »

thanks for your reply .

I set it up exactly as the original post, up to point 11 except for disabling the upc wifi ....
nothing more .

Ah, that's where I'm going to leave you, it's impossible to diagnose an issue when you have double NAT

Phil C

mass_debater wrote: »

Ah, that's where I'm going to leave you, it's impossible to diagnose an issue when you have double NAT

ok , fair enough thanks anyway .

just googled double nat .

looked like double dutch too me .

is it not strange it doesn't happen to my phone but does to the others !!

banie01

Folks, I was browsing komplett.ie yesterday and their pricing on many TP link archer series routers are now seriously competitive versus amazon.
The c7 for example is €109 delivered vs £86(@€;120) plus delivery on Amazon.co.uk.
Similar value to be had with the c2 and c5 aswell.
The poor euro exchange rate is hammering value on Amazon at moment but those Komplett prices seem really competitive at the moment.

Gar11

Hi question for ye. I was told I couldn't get 200mb broadband because my NIC card in my laptop is a Realtek PCIe FE Family. It's a brand new laptop only 2 months old.

Is this true? if so can I fix this?

Thanks in advance

tnegun

If it is a Realtek PCIe FE Family card the FE is for Fast Ethernet so 100Mbps is the max speed it will operate at. You can still get the service just not avail of full speed on this laptop.

ED E

Gar11 wrote: »

Hi question for ye. I was told I couldn't get 200mb broadband because my NIC card in my laptop is a Realtek PCIe FE Family. It's a brand new laptop only 2 months old.

Is this true? if so can I fix this?

Thanks in advance

Modern laptop without GigE? You really must have gone cheapo...

That'll give you 80-85Mbps max. A USB adapter could fix it, but it it'd be "messy".

droidman123

How do you actually tell what speeds your laptop is capable of? Is it somewhere in settings?

ED E

Oh lads, look what just dropped into my inbox. I thought the 66U was pretty, this, this is magical (where as DLINKs yoke is fugly).

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-085-AS



Its a shame I dont actually use WLAN that much, no reason to buy it.