In the course of sorting out the failure of our ethernet connection from our livebox to our cottage, I’ve checked the speed I’m getting through the livebox to my i-pad (wifi) and my PC (home network).
I’m getting 74mbps (wifi) and 50.35mbps (network) download
And 95.37mbps (wifi) and 84.82mbps (network) upload
This compares with several hundreds of mbps when the fibre was first installed a couple or so years ago. (OH says it’s contention rates.) Nothing has changed inside the house or with our equipment or the home network.
Obviously the results we are getting now are brilliant compared with the 2-3 mbps with ADSL we got pre-fibre.
But is there any implication we are entitled to the much higher speeds because we are paying for fibre? Should I be complaining to Orange?
You should log into Orange app or their website. If you go to your Livebox have it run the speed test to tell you what your box is actually getting. If you need help I can walk you through the steps.
Remember that every link between the fibre coming into you house and the device you’re testing the broadband speed on has it’s own Ethernet and WiFi specifications.
Unless all the things can go faster than the incoming fibre, you won’t get an accurate result with Speedtest.
Is “home network” Ethernet? and is Wi-Fi direct to the LiveBox or does it go through any other bits of network.
Do the speeds vary at all through the day - 70-90Mbps is certainly slower than I’d expect for any of Orange’s Fibre offerings - I think the slowest they have ever offered is 500Mbps and currently it’s 1,2 or 8Gb/s
Unfortunately I can’t find anything which suggests Orange guarantee any speed on their network - some posters say it’s the same as their VDSL services at 512kbit/sec which is ridiculous.
Generally fibre works or it doesn’t in terms of your connection between the ONT (you) and the OLT (point of connection to the network) so “contention” is a possible explanation but I wouldn’t expect that much of a slowdown.
It is worth checking your internal network - especially whether any Ethernet cable which is supposed to be 1Gb/s or faster is actually running that speed and not 100Mb/s
This can happen because 100Mb/s only needs two of the four pairs to work, 1Gb/s and higher needs all four so if there is a dodgy connection on one of the pairs used by the faster speeds but not 100Mbps the link will negotiate the lower speed.
I would, once you have taken reasonable steps to rule out a problem in your home network.
As another data point my (UK) connection is nominally 900Mb/s
Yes, We have Develo plugs. So short ethernet cable from LIvebox to Develo plug. I’m in the same room as the livebox. So another Develo plug on the other side of the room. Short cable from Develo plug to my computer.
I-pad is in same room as Livebox. Nothing between them except air.
Ah, right - so in terms of speed measurements they need to be out of the equation.
@TFJWM’s suggestion is best - it looks like you co do the speed test directly on the livebox if you log in to it (but I can’t find an actual user manual for the Livebox 7 anywhere - hopefully it is straightforward enough on the Livebox UI).
Y I have a Livebox 5 too. They are apparently limited to the Wifi 5 standard for wireless connections, so the theoretical maximum they can provide over direct Wifi (not through your Devolo, in case that also has wifi) is 1Gbps download and 700Mbps upload (from what I’ve just read).
Your actual throughput will also depend on how many devices in total are connecting to the router,as the total bandwidth is shared (per Orange’s T&CS.
Edit: even with my TPMesh router, and the Orange router wifi turned off, I only get a theoretical maximum of 600 Mbps download at the very best of times, We are a long way off the 1.2 Mbps we’re supposed to be getting, in fact, I’d say that it has worsened since Orange dropped the Livebox 5 for all subscriptions except the “Light” subscription (change happened in May). Of course, if you want to get a Livebox 7, suddenly your subscription goes up to nearly 60€/month (last time I looked).
The only way I know would be to telnet into the box, and then run the test from there. Orange must have it’s own built-in tester because it displays the line speed on the small display (on the Livebox 5).
Edit: I haven’t tested recently to see whether telnet port is still open…
Not in terms of the speed that you should be getting - but the features available will differ. TBH it was just a hint online that the LB7 menu when logged in to the router includes a speed test - I can’t find a comprehensive user guide, just set-up notes.
Presumably it just reports the connection speed from the fibre (which is fixed - unlike ADSL or VDSL there’s no adapting to the actual line characteristics).
I think you need to plug an ethernet cable into the live box, attached to a pc, laptop, or tablet. Then run the speed app on the orange website but also use speedtest by Ookla.
in particular If you had any electrical work anywhere recently it could have messed up the devolo connectivity.
I have about 700 mb/s down and up routinely with our fibre live box 6. Even on WiFi. (I have multiple extenders, the most effective is cabled to the livebox). On my phone in our porch about 8m from the router and outside our thick stone walls I have about half that. Screenshots above
We have Sosh fiber, 800/400 Mb/s, with a Livebox 5. We also have old Devolo plugs (with wifi) in some parts of the house. The Devolo plugs definitely give a weaker Wifi, because they are of an older standard. Second thing that slows down are the Ethernet cables, need to be at least Cat 5 or 6. Normally it’s printed on the cable itself.
I’ve not seen a “plain” Cat 5 cable in the last 20+ years. In practice everything you are remotely likely to lay your hands on will be Cat 5e (Cat 5e was specified in 2001).
Do you need Cat 6 - domestically no, Cat 5e is good for 10GbE up to 45 metres which is probably more than you need, even if you have an 8Gb/s Internet connection.
If you do want to future-proof your network then it has to be Cat 6a by the way - as Cat 6 is not really any better than 5e
Which is satisfying. I’m amazed that the home network makes such difference.
OH is in an adjacent room so I drilled a hole through two 500cm walls and plugged an ethernet cable into the back of his computer and straight into the back of our livebox and he’s only getting about 90-100 mbps.
Anyone any idea please why he’s only getting about1/10th of my speed?
How old is his computer? It’s not ancient and limited to 100mbps (it would need to be properly ancient really).
It could be a cable or connection fault as the speed will drop down if the connection isn’t perfect.
Not all four pairs in use probably, is the Ethernet cable new?
Basic cable testers are cheap - eg this one - they only tell you that all the pairs are good, nothing more, but that’s the main thing you need to know.
Also if you go to “Settings/Network & Internet/Advanced Network Settings” on hubbie’s computer and expand the entry for your network card it will show you the current link speed eg
