Nutter helps a reader figure out why his broadband speed is significantly lower than what he’s supposed to receive.
We often find our broadband speed is significantly slower than the 1.5M-2M bit/sec we’re supposed to be getting. I’ve been asked to do a speed test that would bypass our switches, so they could be eliminated as a cause for the slow down. I’m trying to do a speed test with a laptop connected directly to our Cisco 2611 router, alternately at the Ethernet ports 0/0 and 0/1, where the switches would normally be connected. However, I can’t seem to find a TCP/IP configuration for my laptop that works; that is, one that will give me Internet access so I can run the speed tests from our ISP’s (NextWeb) Web site. I’ve been in contact with NextWeb support, but so far their suggestions have proved futile. I still get no Internet access, and my network connection says it’s unplugged.
Would you be able to help me solve this configuration problem? If so, can you tell me what the IP address, Subnet, Gateway IP, DNS IP address and NetBios setting should be for each port, Eth 0/0 and Eth 0/1?
– Via the Internet
If you’re getting a network connection unplugged message on your laptop but your connection still works when connected to your switches, you may need to look at either the patch cable you’re using or how you are connecting to the router. Try taking the patch cable that would normally connect the router to one of the switches and use that to make your connection. If you continue to have problems with a disconnection message when trying to connect directly to the router but not through the switch, you may have either a problem interface on the or a problem with how the Ethernet interface on the router is configured in terms of duplex speed or some other hardware settings.
The next thing to look at is the configuration of your 2611. That should give you in idea of the IP address ranges being used by the router. This should help you identify what IP address ranges are in use for each of the Ethernet ports on the router. While you are in on the console connection, look at the summary screen on the interface statistics, and see if you are experiencing any errors on any of the interfaces (either Ethernet or serial). This should help you identify where to start looking for the cause of the problem.
I would also suggest downloading the latest IOS for your router and see if you continue to have problems. If you have a Cisco Smartnet contract on the router, calling Cisco or searching its support Web site would be another avenue to pursue to see if there is another problem or a possible hardware change that needs to be made by Cisco to resolve the problem. As to the performance problem, is this occurring all the time, only with specific sites, or only at certain times of the day? Answer this will also help resolve the problem. Ask the ISP for its oversubscription rate. Oversubscription rate refers to the number of customers it has, the bandwidth the customers are paying for vs. the actual Internet bandwidth the ISP has connecting the ISP to the Internet. If the oversubscription rate is much over 20 to 1, you may want to look for another ISP.
