Can a router limit your internet speed?

CuriousHumanBeing · Nov 2, 2017

I switched internet plans to a faster one. We picked the one that advertised 300 mbps in it. Of course I'm well aware that it's always not 300 mbps but somewhere close to it. We asked the cable guy and he said that it should stay close around 270 mbps( in wired connections). After an hour, I checked the internet speed and it said 100 mbps which I thought was low compared to 300 mbps. This is in a wired connection.
I checked again after a week and it's still the same. After 1 month, it's still the same. It didn't get faster than 109 mbps and it's starting to worry me. I feel like I'm getting ripped off. Router placement is fine. It's placed in a good spot.
I started wondering if my router is a problem. Not that it's broken, but if it's limiting my internet speed. I first though of this when I was browsing through Amazon and saw a router that had 300- 600 mbps advertised in it.
Can a router limit your internet speed? Is my router limiting my internet connection? My router is a basic one, it's the one that comes for free from the internet provider.

TLDR:
I switched internet plans to a faster one. It advertised 300 mbps and I'm aware that it's not always going to be at that speed but it should be somewhere close. But I'm only getting 100 mbps in wired connection and 20 mbps in wireless connection. Router placement is fine. So is my router limiting my internet speed? Is it why my internet speed is so low compared to the advertised speed?

Thanks

bjornl · Nov 2, 2017

TLDR
YES, maybe

Connect directly to the the device provided by the ISP (a modem or a router depending on the ISP). Measure your speed there. If it is less, then the problem is your add-on router. If the speed is more or less the same then the problem is over-provisioning by the ISP (complain).

ps: add a better antenna to your router or consider adding some additional APs or wifi signal booster. You should get better than 20mbs.

R_1 · Nov 2, 2017

yes. the router is the traffic cop. the traffic only flows as he allows.
is the router built into the modem? if not remove the router and connect directly to the modem and see what the speeds are there.

caqde · Nov 2, 2017

CuriousHumanBeing :

Cheaper router's have a 100Mbit connection for modem's etc. If your's has this limitation then you would need one that has at least a 1Gbit connection on the "Internet/Modem" connection. Otherwise you would need a direct connection to the modem to get a good internet connection.

COLGeek · Nov 2, 2017

What is the make/model of your router (and cable modem)?

audie-tron25 · Nov 2, 2017

Check through your settings to see if you can find your "Link Rate". Not sure for other router/modems, but on Netgear's, go "Advanced > Internet Port > Show Statistics". This will show your actual connection speed to the ISP's network and should help you in determining whether it is your router causing this limitation. Post your results.

BFG-9000 · Nov 3, 2017

It sure can! What you are looking for is the WAN-to-LAN throughput. If you browse these charts (may need to tick archived products and "apply") you can see that vintage routers aren't suited for such high speed ISP speeds, even though one is even an 802.11AC router with an advertised wireless speed of 867Mbps on 5GHz. Neither the wifi speed nor the ethernet speed has anything to do with the WAN speed, which is the actual rate the router can rout traffic. Those describe how quickly data can be moved on your own internal network.

Note the WAN speeds you see in those charts depends on the original firmware which can use hardware acceleration. If you use a 3rd party firmware the routing will instead necessarily be done entirely in software--so the maximum speeds will be far slower and heavily depend on the speed of the router's CPU. For example an ancient WRT54G with only a 125MHz MIPs processor and third party firmware can only rout at ~34Mbps, and that's provided you aren't using any performance killing features like QoS.

CuriousHumanBeing · Nov 3, 2017

R_1 :

Is the modem the socket from the wall? If so, I'll try plugging it from there.

EDIT: I checked and there's no hole in the wall. It's just a wire that connects directly into the router. It's not a LAN wire either, it's circular.

CuriousHumanBeing · Nov 3, 2017

caqde :

CuriousHumanBeing :

Cheaper router's have a 100Mbit connection for modem's etc. If your's has this limitation then you would need one that has at least a 1Gbit connection on the "Internet/Modem" connection. Otherwise you would need a direct connection to the modem to get a good internet connection.

How can I check if mine has a limitation?

CuriousHumanBeing · Nov 3, 2017

COLGeek :

It's from HitronTechnologies and as for the model, I'm not sure. It only says "Model: CGN".

CuriousHumanBeing · Nov 3, 2017

audie-tron25 :

Where do I look for my settings? In my computer? I don't see any programs for my modem though?

CuriousHumanBeing · Nov 3, 2017

BFG-9000 :

It sure can! What you are looking for is the WAN-to-LAN throughput. If you browse these charts (may need to tick archived products and "apply") you can see that vintage routers aren't suited for such high speed ISP speeds, even though one is even an 802.11AC router with an advertised wireless speed of 867Mbps on 5GHz. Neither the wifi speed nor the ethernet speed has anything to do with the WAN speed, which is the actual rate the router can rout traffic. Those describe how quickly data can be moved on your own internal network.

Note the WAN speeds you see in those charts depends on the original firmware which can use hardware acceleration. If you use a 3rd party firmware the routing will instead necessarily be done entirely in software--so the maximum speeds will be far slower and heavily depend on the speed of the router's CPU. For example an ancient WRT54G with only a 125MHz MIPs processor and third party firmware can only rout at ~34Mbps, and that's provided you aren't using any performance killing features like QoS.

I don't see my ISP from the companies listed but I now understand that routers can limit your internet speed. How do I check if my router is fast enough for my internet?

R_1 · Nov 3, 2017

CuriousHumanBeing :

the round coaxial wire connects to the modem, the device you have is a modem/router combo if it has the round coax and ethernet. 2 devices one housing.

COLGeek · Nov 3, 2017

Go here and identify your device. Let us know what you have.

http://www.hitron-americas.com/products/

From the previous dialog, likely one of these:

http://www.hitron-americas.com/product_category/gateway/

COLGeek · Nov 3, 2017

If this device (http://www.hitron-americas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CGN-datasheet5.pdf), it should be capable of handling up to 320Mbps connection. If so, it sounds like a provisioning issue with the ISP, as previously mentioned.

CuriousHumanBeing · Nov 4, 2017

COLGeek :

Well, this is my router but if it's capable of handling 300 mbps, why doesn't it work for me? Hmmm.... Do you any ideas?

COLGeek · Nov 4, 2017

CuriousHumanBeing :

Yes. Contact your ISP and ask them to verify that they are provisioning the proper speed of service you are paying for. There are only two other possibilities otherwise, a defective modem/router or an issue with the wiring/cabling coming into your home.

CuriousHumanBeing · Nov 4, 2017

COLGeek :

CuriousHumanBeing :

Yes. Contact your ISP and ask them to verify that they are provisioning the proper speed of service you are paying for. There are only two other possibilities otherwise, a defective modem/router or an issue with the wiring/cabling coming into your home.

So I have to contact them after all. I asked here hoping to find a solution without calling them. Thanks for your help!

Can a router limit your internet speed?

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