Gigabit Internet - Symmetrical?

So I just upgraded my internet to gigabit and its over coax so I don't actually get 1 gig down and its capped at 20 mbps up but I seem to be able to pull 30-35. My plan before was 155 down, 15 up. Why is the upload speed so much lower than the download speed? I am in Washington D.C., is there fiber involved in this connection or what in the wiring is causing this?

What would I need higher upload speeds for?

How does this compare to others who have upgraded their service recently? On the plus side this is only 60 a month.

Upload speed is only important if you run a server or use a private tracker

Should I just be happy with 500 mbps down?

I'm in Washington DC as well.
$69.99 month


If you're using coax that means it's likely HFC/DOCSIS which is very limited on upstream capability.

Theoretically they could offer more spatial streams for the upstream bandwidth, but most residential customers need download bandwidth, not upload, so priority is given to downstream channels.

I wouldn't be happy with anything below 900 if I was paying for 1000 but since you're in 'murica... yeah just be happy with it.

FIOS is only 70 a month? That's not bad. I like RCN for their cheap prices, also the service is extremely reliable.

I asked the guy who installed it and he said it was through coax but I'm not sure if that means there ia fiber backbone or where that ends relative to the modem.

There is a fiber backbone, even for 25mbps cable connections. With gigabit however you're going to need to be fairly close to the backbone connection in order to get decent speeds usually less than 100 meters.

If you're further away that could be one reason you're seeing poor download speeds. It could also be poor coaxial cable quality (or low quality coax splitters used in the connection). Or it could be your modem isn't up to gigabit speeds.

It could also be your router isn't up to gigabit speeds, or even your client device isn't capable of gigabit speeds.

Rule of thumb, don't expect anything over 300-500mbps over wifi without spending out the ass. And don't expect older laptops, or ultrabooks to be capable of gigabit speeds, their CPUs usually can't keep up.

I have a 2016 MacBook and this is on ethernet. My apartment building is from the 1920s. The modem and router combo is AC standard so I think it should be able to handle gigabit speeds. When the guy was installing he was saying some numbers like 900 and 220 so maybe the theoretical peak is around 900 mbps but for whatever reason the actual received is around 500? Still 500 isn't bad or anything.

Is FIOS gigabit really only 70 a month tho? When my parents upgraded to like 100 mbps service years ago it was definitely at least 150 a month.

Unless your router is 802.11AC 4x4 and your client device also has a 4x4 802.11AC wifi card, you'll never see gigabit over wifi.

Also, what are the specs of that Macbook, the lowest end one came with a Core M3 CPUs which were shitty dual core CPUs, I would question if it could even achieve gigabit speeds with that CPU.

If you have a desktop or a more powerful laptop give that a go.

Entry level 2015 series MacBook pro. I know the router is AC I'm not sure what 4x4 means.

How old is your building?

ok lets go.
first, you don't 'pull' 30-35 if you are uploading you are pushing. not pulling.
second, upload is slower than download because its over coax. coax is two conductors only and therefore, unlike say ethernet where send/receive have their own dedicated conductors, the upload and download have to happen over the same wire. now you can do it two ways, you can have time multplex where you send data then receive data then send etc but thats boring, what happens is the data is frequency modulated. the spectrum that the cable can handle is split into channels and these channels are assigned to each customer for upload/download for a particular cabinet. think of it like FM radio but trapped in a cable, each station is part of your upload/download.

ok so why is download faster than upload? well typically when you surf the web you do way more downloading than uploading. you request a webpage you 'upload' a very small request for a page then 'download' a page with all pictures or videos or whatever that takes up lots of bandwidth. so internet companies find it makes sense to give people way more download bandwidth than upload bandwidth.
this doesn't always happen, home users often have ADSL lines, the A stands for asymmetric, i.e. bandwidth is based, usually towards downloads. a company that has servers whch upload web pages or emails etc, or use lots of video conference where the upload is closer to download might have DSL (no a)

the ratio is set by your internet company based on what they expect the average upload/download ratio to be.

you need good upload speeds if you do lots of uploading, if you upload video to share, skype in hd, seed torrents etc etc.

as for fibre its fucking everywhere. you would do very fucking well to manage to visit a website anywhere without any of your data going via fibre somewhere.
ftth is held as some awesome achievement, the ultimate goal for any internet aficionado. truth is coax is as capable most of the time. fttc is nothing.

Are you using Thunderbolt to ethernet or USB to ethernet?

4x4 is the number of radio streams. 2x2 is the standard, 3x3 is midrange, 4x4 is high end. 4x4 routers are expensive. 4x4 wifi cards are expensive and nearly nonexistent.

Basically i highly doubt you have the equipment for wifi speeds even approaching gigabit.


And I am in a townhouse from the 40's. But since it's FiOS it's just a fiber optic line to my house where there is an ONT mounted out back, then ethernet from that directly to my router.

Thunderbolt.

Then the issue is with your router or modem.

If you know their model's or can go grab them i can potentially help address if it's either one of those.

>MacBook pro
i'll be honest op, i think you are a mug. you are paying for internet connection you don't even understand. i doubt you know what you need fast internet for other than to brag to your friends or wank yourself off about. genuinely what do you think you need this speed for? so what are you complaining about?

you can't say you are bothered about your internet speed then turn around and say you are using wifi. fucking stupid.

He said he's using a thunderbolt to gigabit ethernet adapter moron.

Ubee UBC1301

Is that helpful?

Sorry I'm addicted to the OS because I have terrible fine motor skills and Apple is a crutch for ease of use.

It so far has made videos buffer less and the internet does load a bit faster now. I am just a NEET but I like having fast internet since I'm on it all the time.

I am also using an ethernet adapter and the cord is plugged directly into the modem which doubles as a router. I'm fairly sure my Mac has an AC chip and the newest MBPs appear to have 3x3 capability, whatever that means, but I'm not sure if mine does.

>Ubee UBC1301
It's expensive, and decent quality so it shouldn't be the issue.

Means the issue is line quality or something on your ISPs end. I'd give them a call, 500mbps is 300-400mbps below what you should be seeing.

Anything under 750mbps is bullshit.

You can try checking your router to disable QoS settings, but it shouldn't really have any issues with gigabit WAN/LAN speeds.

Ok I'm giving them a call right now. What is the theoretical maximum the adapter can carry? The ethernet cord? The MacBook? The modem (wired vs wireless)?

You should be seeing 900-940mbps if everything is working correctly.

The theoretical maximum possible over 1gbps Ethernet is 945-950mbps.

However it will depend on your ISPs routing and who you're trying to test to for this. I'd say you'll want to see at least 750-800mbps.


Do a speedtest from the following and post the results if you can.

beta.speedtest.net
Fast.com
Dslreports.com/speedtest

I did the RCN-specific test on Chrome (like they ask you) because I think that might be more accurate. Speed test has been giving me even lower speeds that to me seem erroneous.

Fair enough, it could mean RCN routing is just not good in this area.

I haven't used RCN myself, i've been on FiOS for over a decade.

Sorry forgot to turn off proxy.

I get 400 from speedest and this from FAST.

Oh yeah try the google speedtest as well

literally just go to google.com then search "speedtest" and click run speedtest.

looks like it could just be RCN has shit routing. If you're seeing 700mbps to netflix, 400mbps to speedtest, and 500mbps to RCN's own speedtest.....

Was curious and decided to do a test to RCN servers.

Their servers certainly seem capable enough. So it's gotta be something at your property, or between your property and their servers.

Called them and set up a tech to come in tomorrow and check. Wish me luck!

>these speeds
Feels bad to be a midwestern speedlet