Upgraded from 30Mbps to 50Mbps, but not seeing a difference

[Yaz4Ever]

I recently upgraded from 30Mbps to 50Mbps via TimeWarner Cable Internet as part of a bundle offer.
 
When I run speedtest.net, I still get the same results (roughly 34Mbps) that I used to see.  I called TimeWarner and they said it's because I'm testing it via wifi.  I explained that I've always done so and should see at least some improvement, but I'm not.  They insist that my modem has downloaded the software and asked me to reboot the modem and router, which I've done.  Now they say my equipment may not be able to handle the additional speed.
 
Can someone much smarter than me tell me if there's something I need to tweak in my router settings to see the improvements?
 
My equipment (sent TWC their crap back months ago):
 
Motorola Arris Surfboard SB6141
Linksys WRT 1900AC
 
Testing on a Macbook Air (no ethernet to connect directly).  Macbook is approximately 7 feet away with no obstructions in the room.

 

[AlNipper49]

It's because you're testing via wifi

 

[glennhoffmania]

It's because you're listening to TWC.

 

[DLew On Roids]

Nip has bingo.  See here:
 
http://www.speedguide.net/faq/what-is-the-actual-real-life-speed-of-wireless-374
 
Were you actually filling the 30-Mbps pipe?  Why go to 50 Mbps?

 

[Yaz4Ever]

Nip has bingo.  See here:
 
http://www.speedguide.net/faq/what-is-the-actual-real-life-speed-of-wireless-374
 
Were you actually filling the 30-Mbps pipe?  Why go to 50 Mbps?

It was part of a bundle.  With 6 people online for large portions of the day, multiple streams of Netflix (I pay for four), etc I figured the increase couldn't hurt.  My bill actually went down by $25 and I've got HBO/Showtime now as well.  I don't think I would've paid extra.

 

[Yaz4Ever]

It's because you're testing via wifi

Seriously?  So I'll never see the increased speeds on my Macbook?  I guess I could connect the powerline adaptor I've got to one of the AppleTVs, but that will be the only thing to see the increased speeds?

 

[johnmd20]

Yeah. I'm a Time Warner customer with a 300Mbps speed. On the wired desktop, it regularly tops 300 when I do a speed test. But on wifi with a brand new router with a top speed of 500Mbps, my wifi speed is between 55 and 240 whenever I test.
 
You can't test on wifi. It will always degrade somewhat or a lot.

 

[Yaz4Ever]

Yeah. I'm a Time Warner customer with a 300Mbps speed. On the wired desktop, it regularly tops 300 when I do a speed test. But on wifi with a brand new router with a top speed of 500Mbps, my wifi speed is between 55 and 240 whenever I test.
 
You can't test on wifi. It will always degrade somewhat or a lot.

Ok, but then why was I seeing 34Mbps regularly when I was paying for 30?  I was testing the same way then that I'm testing now.  I guess that's the hard thing for me to quantify.  If it jumped to say 41 or so, I'd say "ok, I'm getting the increase" but it stayed pretty static.

 

[johnmd20]

Ok, but then why was I seeing 34Mbps regularly when I was paying for 30?  I was testing the same way then that I'm testing now.  I guess that's the hard thing for me to quantify.  If it jumped to say 41 or so, I'd say "ok, I'm getting the increase" but it stayed pretty static.

 
How old is your router?

 

[Yaz4Ever]

 
How old is your router?

3-4 months?

 

[johnmd20]

3-4 months?

 
Then I'm not sure. Maybe you already had the 50 Mbps and Time Warner realized this and figured they would bundle you up with a promise to give you something you already had.

 

[Yaz4Ever]

 
Then I'm not sure. Maybe you already had the 50 Mbps and Time Warner realized this and figured they would bundle you up with a promise to give you something you already had.

I guess that's possible

 

[AlNipper49]

Seriously?  So I'll never see the increased speeds on my Macbook?  I guess I could connect the powerline adaptor I've got to one of the AppleTVs, but that will be the only thing to see the increased speeds?

 
yes.
 
Well, in addition to the aggregate amount of bandwidth that your home could theoretically consume.  

 

[DLew On Roids]

They may not have set rate-limiting on your local connection.  Very few people actually use more than 30 Mbps at any one time for a home connection.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Do they have some burst functionality, like Comcast does where the first 10 meg is unlimited and anything after that is throttled? If so Speedtest is under that and would burst to whatever is available. in that case if 34 was the best you were going to get with burst, is the best you're going to get with 50. 
 
Or it's wifi as nip said.

 

[nvalvo]

How old is your Macbook Air? To actually realize those speeds wirelessly, you'd need 802.11ac wireless cards in all of your stuff — routers, computers, phones. That's a pretty new standard (late 2013, early 2014), so I doubt much of your equipment meets that. 

 

[Yaz4Ever]

The MacBook has 802.11ac.

 

[wutang112878]

Why dont you isolate the problem.  First wire the macbook to the modem, test and if its at 50mb then you know its the router.  Then wire the macbook to the router, test and if its at 50mb then you know its the wifi portion of the router.

 

[SumnerH]

How old is your Macbook Air? To actually realize those speeds wirelessly, you'd need 802.11ac wireless cards in all of your stuff — routers, computers, phones. That's a pretty new standard (late 2013, early 2014), so I doubt much of your equipment meets that. 

 
802.11n should do it, too.  The theoretical max is 300 Mbps when channel-bonded; the real-life max is significantly lower, but still in the 100 Mbps realm.  But you'd need n or ac support on everything; our 2-year-old FIOS router only does b/g.

 

[SumnerH]

The MacBook has 802.11ac.

 
Does the router?  Is it configured?

 

[EddieYost]

Yaz, think of it this way.  Just because the speed limit is 65 mph, that doesn't mean your Pinto will go that fast.

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

Why dont you isolate the problem.  First wire the macbook to the modem, test and if its at 50mb then you know its the router.  Then wire the macbook to the router, test and if its at 50mb then you know its the wifi portion of the router.

 
That might require buying an adapter from Apple. My late 2013 MBP doesn't have a wired ethernet port.

 

[wutang112878]

Do you have or can you borrow a laptop with a wired connection?  Because you need to make sure you are getting 50mb off your modem and I wouldnt be surprised to find out that you arent and the 50mb 'service' is kind of a scam because I doubt 99% of people who have this service actually test it.

 

[zenter]

Ok, but then why was I seeing 34Mbps regularly when I was paying for 30?  I was testing the same way then that I'm testing now.  I guess that's the hard thing for me to quantify.  If it jumped to say 41 or so, I'd say "ok, I'm getting the increase" but it stayed pretty static.

 
TWC upped top speed for basically all tiers. Assuming this was implemented correctly, you were probably already at a ~60-75 Mbps tier - http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/about-us/press/twc-launches-faster-internet-new-jersey-customers.html
 
Also, don't forget that 50 Mbps is the top speed, not the guaranteed speed.

 

[Couperin47]

I'd just add the reasons some of us elect the higher tier speeds from TW is because it's the only way to get increased upstream speeds which can easily be tested and make quite a difference if you routinely send larger files to anyone.

 

[Yaz4Ever]

I was reading an article on supercharging my router with DD-WRT.  Before doing anything, I went into the router settings and saw a Speed Test option under Smart Wi-Fi Tools (Linksys WRT 1900 AC router) that I had forgotten about.  Wouldn't this be the same as plugging a device directly in via ethernet?  I used it and received the same speeds I am getting over wifi right now.  As a matter of fact, I clicked on Log and it showed four tests - two prior to the upgrade and two newer.  In all four cases, the results were about the same.

 

[Yaz4Ever]

Mea culpa, folks.  I finally brought the computer downstairs, connected it to the modem directly (bypassing the router) and I'm getting 56.43Mbps down 5.64Mbps up.  TWC customer service and tech support still sucks, notwithstanding.

 

[Yaz4Ever]

I've resolved the fact that my Internet speeds are where they should be (see above post) but I'm still getting frequent drops where the modem loses signal and has to reconnect (all lights go out and slowly cycle back to where they should be).  I figured out how to check the modem logs, but I have zero idea how to read them.  Anyone willing to look this over and tell me if it appears to be something on my end (my hardware) or their end?  The email I received from them a few minutes ago states, 
 

I have run a history test on the modem that you own for internet. All we supply is the signal to that equipment. That equipment has not dropped my signal, even once, in the past 14 days that I can see here. If there is a disconnection, speed, or distance issue, you would want to look into the channel settings on the wireless router.
 

 
I'd like to know what to say to them when I complain again (or what I should look into fixing, if it's on my end).  All I've got right now is, "un uh, the lights are going out, it is too losing signal."
 
FWIW - this was happening prior to purchasing the hardware in October - Motorola Surfboard SB6141 and Linksys WRT 1900 AC.  Was using their Arris modem/router all-in-one.  The range in my house is FAR better with this new equipment, but I'm still getting the drops.
 
Here's the information from the Logs link on my modem.  I see a lot of "Critical" notes, so I'm assuming there's something in the Message field that will translate things to a (hopefully) easy fix.
 

 
One post I found in another forum suggested the following:
 

It appears that I’ve managed to resolve (gone more than 24 hours) the resetting issue with my (White)  Motorola SB6141 modem on the Time Warner cable system.
 
I wish I could take credit for the solution but, I found somewhere on the net someone who suggested that resetting the modem to the factory default settings and then rebooting the modem had worked for him. I gave this a shot and I went from several losses an hour to none in the first 24.
 
This can be done by:
 

1. Accessing the modem 192.168.100.1
2. Click on Configuration.
3. At the bottom of the screen you will see buttons for Reset All Defaults and Restart Cable Modem.
4. First click Reset All Defaults. (then check to make sure you still have internet available – you should with no problems).
5. Click on Restart Cable Modem and wait for modem to restart and come back on line.

After following this procedure, I have had no drop out.
 
 
My thinking is that when Time Warner provisions the modem, it makes changes in the factory settings which result in the drop out problem. My system seems to operate flawlessly with no drop outs after performing the above.
 

 
I'm assuming I can't hurt things by following this guy's suggestions, but figured I'd ask here first.  Based on what you see in the Logs, is this likely to help?
 
TIA

 

[Couperin47]

Can't easily read your logs, but in some cases (I'm using a 6121 on TW) I was told, and it seems to be true for 6121 & 6141, that you try the following: Turn off BOTH the Motorola and your router. Start the 6141 and allow it  3-5 mins to stabilize BEFORE you turn on the router. Can't hurt to try....

 

[Red Sox Physicist]

I've resolved the fact that my Internet speeds are where they should be (see above post) but I'm still getting frequent drops where the modem loses signal and has to reconnect (all lights go out and slowly cycle back to where they should be).  I figured out how to check the modem logs, but I have zero idea how to read them.  Anyone willing to look this over and tell me if it appears to be something on my end (my hardware) or their end?  The email I received from them a few minutes ago states, 
 
 
I'd like to know what to say to them when I complain again (or what I should look into fixing, if it's on my end).  All I've got right now is, "un uh, the lights are going out, it is too losing signal."
 
FWIW - this was happening prior to purchasing the hardware in October - Motorola Surfboard SB6141 and Linksys WRT 1900 AC.  Was using their Arris modem/router all-in-one.  The range in my house is FAR better with this new equipment, but I'm still getting the drops.
 
Here's the information from the Logs link on my modem.  I see a lot of "Critical" notes, so I'm assuming there's something in the Message field that will translate things to a (hopefully) easy fix.
 

 
One post I found in another forum suggested the following:
 
 
I'm assuming I can't hurt things by following this guy's suggestions, but figured I'd ask here first.  Based on what you see in the Logs, is this likely to help?
 
TIA

The logs show that your cable modem has rebooted a few times due to inconsistent responses from your cable company. That's what the T4 timeout reboot requests are. The rep was just telling you that there has been no signal transmission loss to your house from their end. Do you have screenshots of the noise level and channel power for that cable modem? Sometimes these drops happen when the coax inside your house is too long, has kinks in the line or has been split too many times causing signal degradation. A coaxial cable is a waveguide, and bends or kinks in the line cause scattering of the wave which can weaken the signal. The solution might be to use a shorter cable to the cable mode.

 

[Yaz4Ever]

Unbelievable what I've had to do to get TWC to send someone out to check the line and to get them to review my bill - I signed up for a bundle at $129.46/month, they are charging me $186/month, I've got a screenshot of the order confirmation, they don't care.
 
Had to contact the NC Attorney General's office consumer division, start a Twitter account to reach out to them that way, had to post on their Facebook account, and had to set up a stupid blog thing so I could link the relevant documents in the Facebook and Twitter shit just because 11 online chat and telephone CSRs refuse to deviate from their script and actually listen to what I'm trying to explain to them.  WTF?  No wonder so many people loathe them.  Most of the people were very nice, one woman was a complete <insert your most vial word>, but not one of them was able to easily understand that I had no interest in paying $186/month for the services I agreed to pay $126/month, even if they're "willing to give me a $10 courtesy discount."  
 
Anyhow, AG's office contacted them directly and I've been told I should hear from the billing department sometime today (breath not being held) and a service technician will be here tomorrow between 1-2pm to check the outside coax all the way to the modem.
 
 
Also, called Linksys last night to see if it was possible to boost the speeds I'm getting via wifi.  Explained I got over 50Mbps when connected directly to the modem, but only 34Mbps on average via wifi.  They walked me through a few settings (mostly changing channels on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz modes) but the settings remained the same.  They admitted this isn't bad because the firewall in the router is going to slow things down a bit anyhow.  I asked why the box said up to 600Mbps and they explained that was apples and oranges.  I didn't really understand that why, but he was very nice and I didn't get the impression he was just trying to send me on my way.  He explained it, but I didn't get it.  At least that question is resolved, although I'm now left wondering if I should bother paying the extra $10/month for the 30-50Mbps upgrade.  With the billing issues I'm already dealing with, I don't want to change anything right now PLUS someone upthread mentioned that maybe I was already getting 50Mbps service even though I was only paying for the 30Mbps and now I'm afraid that if I drop to 30Mbps, someone will set it properly and I'll only be getting 20Mbps via wifi.  

 

[Couperin47]

The one thing I can assure you, if you drop down to the lower tier, your upstream speeds will definitely decline from 3 Mbps to 1, you seem to be completely ignoring upstream, if you rarely/never send anything large this may not matter to you. You also have been taken in by marketing, wireless connects, in reality, are considered excellent if real thruput even reaches 50% of the stated specs for each standard.

 

[Red Sox Physicist]

Unbelievable what I've had to do to get TWC to send someone out to check the line and to get them to review my bill - I signed up for a bundle at $129.46/month, they are charging me $186/month, I've got a screenshot of the order confirmation, they don't care.
 
Had to contact the NC Attorney General's office consumer division, start a Twitter account to reach out to them that way, had to post on their Facebook account, and had to set up a stupid blog thing so I could link the relevant documents in the Facebook and Twitter shit just because 11 online chat and telephone CSRs refuse to deviate from their script and actually listen to what I'm trying to explain to them.  WTF?  No wonder so many people loathe them.  Most of the people were very nice, one woman was a complete <insert your most vial word>, but not one of them was able to easily understand that I had no interest in paying $186/month for the services I agreed to pay $126/month, even if they're "willing to give me a $10 courtesy discount."  
 
Anyhow, AG's office contacted them directly and I've been told I should hear from the billing department sometime today (breath not being held) and a service technician will be here tomorrow between 1-2pm to check the outside coax all the way to the modem.
 
 
Also, called Linksys last night to see if it was possible to boost the speeds I'm getting via wifi.  Explained I got over 50Mbps when connected directly to the modem, but only 34Mbps on average via wifi.  They walked me through a few settings (mostly changing channels on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz modes) but the settings remained the same.  They admitted this isn't bad because the firewall in the router is going to slow things down a bit anyhow.  I asked why the box said up to 600Mbps and they explained that was apples and oranges.  I didn't really understand that why, but he was very nice and I didn't get the impression he was just trying to send me on my way.  He explained it, but I didn't get it.  At least that question is resolved, although I'm now left wondering if I should bother paying the extra $10/month for the 30-50Mbps upgrade.  With the billing issues I'm already dealing with, I don't want to change anything right now PLUS someone upthread mentioned that maybe I was already getting 50Mbps service even though I was only paying for the 30Mbps and now I'm afraid that if I drop to 30Mbps, someone will set it properly and I'll only be getting 20Mbps via wifi.  

I've had to call Verizon FIOS every month for 6 months in a row because they keep overcharging me by $20 on my bundle. Every month, they put in a ticket to get it fixed, and give me a $20 credit. The next month, the $20 billing error is there again, and they've closed the ticket without fixing it. At least they gave me the $20 credit when I showed them the order email with my bundle price. It's pretty easy to get them to fix it now because there is a history of them fixing it.
 
I had Cox last year, and they messed up my bundle price at least 50% of the time. I had to call in for manual credits pretty often. It took awhile to get them to fix it the first time they got it wrong, but once I got that to happen, the fix was pretty automatic when I'd call them.
 
Unfortunately, TWC isn't the only one with billing problems. They all do it, and I'm pretty sure it's intentional. Every time I call them to fix the bill, they try to sell me something else. I think they're hoping I either don't notice, or buy something else when I call them. I don't know why they think I'd agree to give them more money when they get my bill wrong every month.

 

[Red Sox Physicist]

Mea culpa, folks.  I finally brought the computer downstairs, connected it to the modem directly (bypassing the router) and I'm getting 56.43Mbps down 5.64Mbps up.  TWC customer service and tech support still sucks, notwithstanding.

What happens if you wire into the router instead of directly to the cable modem? If this is fast, then the issue is wireless performance. If this is still slow, it could be NAT performance issue on the router.

 

[Yaz4Ever]

What happens if you wire into the router instead of directly to the cable modem? If this is fast, then the issue is wireless performance. If this is still slow, it could be NAT performance issue on the router.

Yeah, I was too stupid to try that even though it would've taken me roughly 90 additional seconds to do so.  I only plugged it into the modem and then lugged everything back upstairs.  I'll take it back down this weekend to see if the speeds are the same.  The Linksys guy wanted me to do it last night when I was on the phone with him, but when I explained everything involved he just chuckled and said "it's not that big a deal, just try it whenever you can."
 
I LOVE my Macbook Air, but wish it had an ethernet port (too thin) or that the ethernet to thunderbolt adaptor wasn't nearly $30.  Anyone have an extra they'd like to sell cheap/give away??