My upload speeds are frequently higher than my download speeds. Thought it was the internet provider but when the tech came out he measured over 200 MB into the back of my MK3 router. At that time my WiFi download speed was 12 MB and my LAN direct download was 6 MB. Later when measuring a different LAN port in the few minutes he was attached he saw it go from 12 MB to 6 MB. I’ve had WiFi download speeds of under 1 MB. The upload stays pretty consistent at about 10 MB. The unit can go from 10 MB to over 30 MB speed within a 20 min. time frame.
Just updated to the latest firmware version, but doesn’t look like anything changed regarding the problem. I’m not a world class router installer, just a home user that likes the unit. Could I have it configured incorrectly or is it more likely a hardware issue?
I would save your current configuration. (SYSTEM, CONFIGURATION, DOWNLOAD).
Then upgrade to the latest firmware (you have already done this). Then do a factory reset, (SYSTEM, CONFIGURATION, RESTORE FACTORY SETTINGS).
Log in: 192.168.50.1, the web browser throws an error because the log in page is not HTTPS, just navigate to it anyways: admin/admin. Put in a new password.
Then do a quick speed test with the factory default networks. If that works then you could try uploading your old config and speedtest. If the old config doesn’t want to play ball then FACTORY RESET again and continue to reconfigure from scratch and speed test along the way to diagnose any possible settings or computer issues.
I found old configs don’t play nice with new firmwares typically (in my experience) on my SURF with my settings.
If none of this works you can roll back the firmware and reupload the old configuration.
You might also want to do the same thing for the modem and/or instruct it to auto configure itself while attached to the SURF - or just reboot it.
If my suggestion or others doesn’t fix it you might want to download a diagnostic report (STATUS, DIAGNOSTIC REPORT, DOWNLOAD) and open a ticket? You should get up to 100-140Mbps, the SURF is rated at 120Mbps. You should probably download one anyways before doing any other testing.
Try turning off the wifi AP and then check again. Also be sure that the Peplink “knows” your connection speed. On the details button on the side of the WAN at the dashboard screen.
Before playing the factory reset game you should try turning off all other computers and wifi, rebooting the SURF and just try doing the speedtest from your admin / or other computer.
Could be one of the clients has gone squirrely. Turning them on again one at a time and doing the speedtest could help isolate which one.
Ok, trying solutions when the router is slow so I can see the difference. Turning the AP off/on didn’t solve the problem. I don’t see the “connection speed” in the details of my WAN dashboard screen. Where specifically is it.
Also, has anyone seen a simple (home user) level description of how to configure the router for a simple network?
I believe user ahinojosa_it2 was referring to the connection speed settings of the WAN.
Dashboard>WAN>Details …then about halfway down you will see Upload Bandwidth and Download Bandwidth. You can set these to match your ISP’s stated numbers. Use “Mbps” for both and then save the settings. Usually default settings work out of the box.
Re. your original question:
“Also, has anyone seen a simple (home user) level description of how to configure the router for a simple network?”
Answer:
No I haven’t seen one for the SURF but its the same as any home router and its ready out of the box. Just google “home network guide” etc… Try the search function to see if anyone has written anything up?
After a firmware upgrade to 8.0.2 build 1480 and a factory reset it is already configured as a simple network and ready to use. You might want to change all the passwords and WiFi network names of course - but its good to go out of the box in my experience. The recommendations I have made in this thread resolved my issues so I am confident they will help you as well. The SURF is as easy to use as any home router (if not easier) that I have ever used.
Bear in mind if you have 10 connected computers all trying to download at the same time you would get ~12Mbps each as it is a 120Mbps router. You can monitor connected clients to see how much you are using. I have a 15Mbps DSL connection for example so to me 12Mbps is a lot!
Additional Info:
Status>Client List ….shows real time connected clients and their upload/ download in Kbps (default).
From your (admin) computer you can monitor the connected clients in one window. In another window play a 2 hour movie on YOUTUBE for example (or run “speedtest” for a more accurate test of bandwidth) to generate network traffic.
You will see your download Kbps increase for that connected client.
If you have disconnected all other computers from the SURF and turned off the WiFi AP (on the Dashboard) then the admin computer download Kbps should rise to the max available from your ISP provided MODEM. The SURF can process max 120Mbps = 120,000Kbps. Do an actual “speedtest” to measure your ISP’s bandwidth.
Sometimes ISP’s have network problems so you could also test that by attempting to plug a computer directly into the MODEM and “speedtest” it directly to verify their numbers. If you attempt this then reboot the MODEM and the computer as this helps them form a successful connection.
this will make the cpu work a little harder, however it is good practice to enable if your device is facing directly to the Internet. I am assuming that your ISP has bridge mode enabled and you are not double natting.
If you are working with a double NAT, consider changing this for better experience overall.
Keep me posted on how it is working (or not, hehe).
Not much success yet. Hard to tell when I check the speed and its 40+MBPS and 5 minutes later it’s 10 MBPS. I’ve attached a few screen shots of my configuration, all of the items that seem to be relevant.
What I’m a little confused about is we log into the WiFi which is named “GoBlue” but on the dashboard it says “Disabled” and the GoBlue Wi-Fi AP is on. Also, when I go to the status tab it shows all active sessions are WAN not GoBlue.
Resetting is an option, but I a little unsure now that I could set this all back up. Yes, I know about down/up loading configurations, but seems like then I be just back to where I am now.
I believe you originally stated your connection was 200Mbps. Set it to 200Mbps and see if that does it?
Another great built in tool is…
Status>Usage Reports>Real-Time
This tool shows peak connection speed for all clients. Try running it for a couple hours with all clients connected.
If you have NETFLIX (or ROKU’s) try streaming on 3 or 4 computers simultaneously to stress test the internet service provider to see what kind of bandwidth you are getting from them. I think your SURF is fine. I think it’s your ISP. A typical HDTV stream uses ~10Mbps - so the surf should be able to handle 3 or 4 effortlessly.
You should get at least 60-80% of the connection speed advertised by your ISP ideally in my experience. 40-50Mbps from your internet provider may be typical during peak hours. Try doing a stress test again after midnight (off peak) and you might get higher download speeds thus confirming it’s your ISP. Try doing the stress test with 5-7 streams and see what you get. Again - YMMV these are just suggestions.
I would also change 5Ghz Channel Width to 80Mhz to get better performance…
OK, I’ll give those a try. However, I’m not sure about it being the ISP. When their tech was here he measured 200+ MBPS into the SOHO but was only getting 12 MBPS out of it. Then it dropped to 6 MBPS while he was measuring it and that was out of a LAN port not the WiFi.
Are you sure your ISP isn’t doing any kind of shaping on their end? I struggled with similar performance issues. I asked the ISP if they were throttling traffic to X endpoint. They said that they were not, but eventually they confessed that they were. I have found that when the ISP is doing shaping, none of the throttling/tuning stuff in the peplink products work as expected. (which makes sense).
This is my ISPs way of oversubscribing their infrastructure - they throttle anything that they determine to be a “large download” or video stream. Stuff like email can consume the entire link, but video and large downloads are throttled to 10 Mbps. Kind of annoying because they can’t provide a consistent, jitter-free 56K UDP stream for gaming even with all the shaping that they do. I had to pick up a third connection just for gaming.
Looks like that first link in the article doesn’t work - but the others do.
My 15Mbps DSL connection typically tests at 9Mbps (60% of rated) during the day and 15Mbps at night after 12am. Again - if you plug your admin computer into the back of your modem and take measurements - that should show you your true internet connection speed.
–>1080p video streams need ~10Mbps
→ 4k video streams need ~20Mbps
Sidenote:
I’m not sure if you have any streaming devices or any other network appliances but some of them consume data even when turned off. I have read users claiming as much as 4.4Mbps. That’s 48Gb a day.
This could bog down your internet connection - especially if you have multiple devices doing this. For some of these devices the only way to shut them off is to unplug them. Again - you can view this kind of activity under Status>Usage Reports and Status>Client List.
Not everyone has unlimited data so I thought I would mention this. If you exceed your data cap they may slow you down and charge for over usage. The SURF can help you monitor and prevent this - it has a Bandwidth Allowance Monitor…
You are saying “12MB” which implies 12 megaBYTES per second which would be about what you’d expect if your SOHO was limited to 100mbps. Are you measuring mbps (megabits per second) or MB/s (mega Bytes per second). Double check your math
What speed test(s) are you using? I like to use https://fast.com as it relies on Netflix infrastructure, so it’s likely to be using a server located close to you (though, as noted above, if you ISP is shaping your traffic, this may distort the results).
If you are on Windows, some AntiVirus software can slow down your downloads.
Yes, you are correct. My background is in computers not routers, so I misused MB instead of MBPS. When I’m talking about router speed, I should us MBPS and not MB.
