Lost 130 Mbps of band width and don't know why. (solved)

[ort]

About two weeks ago the computer in my bedroom seems to have lost about 130 Mbps of band width. I pay for 400Mbps of bandwidth and all the computers in the house get it as verified by speed checks. One day while checking the bedroom computer I noticed it was only getting 270 Mbps. Its been very consistent for the last 2 weeks or so (between 265 and 275). All the other computers in the house still get 400 to 430. I have a wired system and all computers are running Mint 17.3
I had installed vnstati and network usage monitor applet around the time of the drop so I uninstalled all that to no avail. I also ran a known good cable directly from the router to the bedroom computer thinking the cable that snakes thru all the walls etc from the router to the bedroom might be bad but no change. Any ideas?

[all41]

Boot that computer using a .iso image in the live mode--check it there.

[ort]

All41
What a great idea. I never thought of that. So you see, this is why I'm not a tech billionaire. I did it and got 430Mbps. So that means the problem lies in my implementation of Mint. I'm still kicking it around to see if I can blindly stumble on the solution. Any help from the masses would be greatly appreciated.

[all41]

The next step would be to boot normally and go to Menu/Users and Groups
and create a new user. Log out and log back in as the new user and test your connect speed there
New users get a fresh set of config files.

[catweazel]

I have a wired system

[ort]

Hey guys,
Sorry about the delayed reply. I have made what I think may be some progress. I have been using the "legacy.speedtest dot net" by Ookla website for my speedtests in the past. It has always been very consistent and I like the format. When this current problem cropped up I started shopping around other speedtests. I found that most, if not all, gave me results in the 380 to 440 Mbps range. I then tried Ookla's "new" test and lo and behold it shows 420Mbps. I then investigated what was different between the "new" and the "old" test sites. Adobe Flash seemed to be the major difference. The "old" site uses Flash, the "new" one does not. I then investigated Flash and found that an update was released on 6-07-18. The Flash in my browser auto updates. I don't know how long it takes between the release of the up date and the "auto update" but its right in the time range when I first noticed the problem. Based on that I am GUESSING that the problem lies in the Flash update. Thats as far as I've gotten.

[AZgl1500]

I like to avoid any speed testing sites that use Flash, as that does not accurately reflect your conditions.

use this instead.

no www. preface, just simply

speedof dot me

replace space dot space with a single . 'period' of course.

[all41]

avoid any speed testing sites that use Flash

yep--I also use https://testmy.net/

[trytip]

https://www.google.com/search?q=isp+speed+test then click RUN SPEED TEST
you can delete your current connection in: network tray > edit connections

[AZgl1500]

testmy.net was interesting, a more elevated version of speedof.me

I like that it showed comparions with the 'rest of the world'....

my connection is 60% worse than the average 'joe' out there.

[BG405]

I always use

Code: Select all

wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sivel/speedtest-cli/master/speedtest.py | python

for my speed tests, seems pretty consistent & avoids browser overhead slowing things down.

[ort]

Sorry I've been so slow responding. Life closes in sometimes.
What a journey I've had thru the different speed test sites. The big take away that I got from it is that they all display different results. If you want to see how fast your connection can be go to site A. If you want to see how slow your connection can be go to site B. And on and on. I found that the "new" speedtest .net site displays results that I have become accustom to seeing over the years. It routinely is showing around 400Mbps which is what I am paying for and what I am used to seeing. It may not be accurate but as long as it is consistent it provides a good benchmark to judge whether the internet is going to be fast or slow today. Thats all I really care about. Thank you for all the responses, it was a nice trip seeing some sites I didn't know existed and I have them all bookmarked. I'm going to mark this solved as I am happy with what was revealed.

[phd21]

Hi ort,

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

The speedtest client works well from the console terminal prompt as user "BG405" also suggested.

How To Install (2 options) & Use SpeedTest on Ubuntu 16.04 – TheLinuxCode
https://thelinuxcode.com/install-use-sp ... ntu-16-04/

Hope this helps ...
.

speedtest client

[catweazel]

speedof dot me

Urgh! Whoever designed that certainly didn't know anything about human interaction.

[all41]

What I notice:
When internet congestion (cough) is at it's worst, the results vary dramatically among the online tests.
On the other hand the results during the speedy wee hours and mornings are more comparable.