Wanted: Service IT services required please

[philiporchard]

Hi All,

We have 100mbps in our house, but only getting 10mbps in the office.

We ran a good quality cable to the office, but I'm not sure if the office installers were particularly experts in the IT side of things... I think they were more specialised as electricians.

In brief, I need someone to come and take a look at our setup and work out why we are getting such low speeds.

Does anyone know the best way of finding someone to do this job?

If anyone on AD is a pro at this, and lives near Bexley Village (SE London) then please give me a shout

Thanks, Phil

 

[ian]

They might have installed a pre-historic cable, or got the wiring layout wrong; or the port on your route is throttled/limited. If you can, acquire a long cat6 cable pre-installed with RJ45 ports and run it along your floor, testing the speed to determine if it is your computer hardware/software, router, or installed cable. The distance might also be a factor, though typically you'd need to be going a very long distance to have such a negative impact.

 

[wonder_lander]

I assume you're talking about having 100Mbps internet connection?

How are you measuring the speeds you're getting in the various locations and what's the equipment involved?

ISP Router ----> cable to offfice ------> Faceplate / Switch / Hub / direct into a PC?

 

[dee]

I remember you asking about the cable originally. Did you go Cat 5e or cat 6 ? Either one should be fine.

One thing worth checking, especially if you went cat 6, is that there is no sharp bend radius on the cable. Ie it doesn't just turn 90 degrees around a sharp corner. That can affect speed. You have to use as shallow turns as possible and not kink the cable

 

[philiporchard]

Yes, I think we bought cat 6. Electrical cable goes one way round garden and Cat 6 the other way.

No kinks that I can see.

The cable comes into the office and into a plate. The router is plugged into that.

 

[dee]

Yes, I think we bought cat 6. Electrical cable goes one way round garden and Cat 6 the other way.

No kinks that I can see.

The cable comes into the office and into a plate. The router is plugged into that.

And you've done a speed test at the exact socket in the house router/switch the cable is plugged into and its 100 ?

 

[martin-s]

Silly Q, but is your switch in the office old? 10Mbit limited?

 

[philiporchard]

Switch is the router?

It's a WRT 1900 ACS

I actually bought it from someone on AD. Can't remember who though!

I'm really not up-to-speed enough to sort this, but we do need it resolved as it's impacting on business.

What would be best way to find someone good?

 

[dee]

Switch is the router?

Yes. So basically the exact source point of the extension cable. First thing i'd do is eliminate cable problems. So....

1/ Unplugg your cable at the house end. Connect your laptop via a short ethernet cable to that point and do a speed test. Confirm you're getting 100 there.

2/ If all good in the house. Plug extension cable back in and do the same at the other end. If it drops to 10 then you have cable issue. If so, theres a good chance its kinked (probably into the panel socket )

Worth checking before you get a tech bod in for the sake of 10mins.

 

[martin-s]

I don't get why you've got a router in your office - it should just be a switch which then connects to the main router in the house.

 

[philiporchard]

Well, I'm not sure either...

I just wanted something we could using for running our Vonage phone from and all our laptops.

BTW, electric cable runs up the LH side of garden and data cable on RH side.

Sounds like I need a bit of helping hand!

Googled freelance IT professional - not getting the right results.

What kind of professional do we need?

 

[dee]

I don't get why you've got a router in your office - it should just be a switch which then connects to the main router in the house.

It'll be getting used as an access point I suspect.

 

[dee]

Just a quick question that can catch people out. The 100 in the house. Are you measuring this or quoting the ISP figures ? Theres no way its a bits / bytes confusion is it ? Sometimes a provider will quote bits and a speed test will use bytes ? Just a thought

 

[philiporchard]

In the house I get these speeds:

In the office

You can see why we need it sorted!

 

[wonder_lander]

In the house I get these speeds:

View attachment 2301
In the office

View attachment 2302

You can see why we need it sorted!

Are both those connections using the same method, either wired or wireless?

 

[dee]

Did you try what i suggested at either end using a wired connection , and pre office router at that end ?

So just testing the wire as an extension cable?

 

[philiporchard]

Yes, both wireless.

 

[wonder_lander]

You really need to try it plugged in at each location to eradicate the cable as the issue.

It maybe that the office wifi is setup as something like 802.11b instead of something faster like 802.11ac

 

[martin-s]

Wireless - maybe your connecting to the house accidentally?

 

[dee]

Try wired at both points direct into your ethernet on laptop. If you get full speed at the end of the cable in the office BEFORE going into the office router then you will know its a router issue. If its dropped then you'll know its a cable issue. You need to know which it is

If its the cable then you'll never get decent speed no matter what you do with router