USB-C and 1Gb Internet

[pincomar]

Hi. I have a 2017 15" MacBook Pro (2.9Ghz i7). I am lucky enough to have 1 Gb Internet service to my home. Despite having now tried 3 different 'Gigabit Ethernet Adapters" I am unable to achieve more than about 560Mb download. This is with my laptop (temporarily) plugged directly into the fibre-optic box (so removing any home network delays).

My service provider came to check the connection and using a rather old Dell laptop, he managed over 900Mb when my laptop managed only 560Mb. I have to say that is annoying!

Suggestions?

 

[Reverend Benny]

Try another ethernet adaptor.
Check the drivers.
Check the activity monitor when downloading.
Untangle the cable so you make sure you have a steady flow of packets.

 

[campyguy]

Turn off wifi?

 

[jerwin]

what software was the tech using to measure throughput?
what software were you using?

 

[pincomar]

Thanks for the responses. Let me try and address the various suggestions:

1. I have tried 4 different adapters (all described as Gigabit) and they all give broadly similar results. (Belkin, gofanco, Anker and an Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 plugged in to an Apple Thunderbolt 2 Ethernet adapter. (That last one just happened to be things I had to hand)).
2. I need to do some more research on the drivers. I downloaded the gofanco driver as described in the handbook, but there was no difference before/after.
3. I had newly restarted the machine and the test software "Speedtest" was the only app running. Tested with Activity Monitor open too. Nothing seemed to be awry or consuming the CPU?
4. I was using a brand new Cat 6 cable, no kinks, etc.
5. Wifi was off.
6. Tech was using Speedtest too, albeit for Windows.
7. I was using a dedicated Mac app "Speedtest"

Thanks for the help.

Mark.

 

[jerwin]

Apple includes a suit of network utilities with macosx. But since Mavericks, they're hidden away.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht202790

• In OS X Mavericks and later, Network Utility is in /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications

(You may need to use "Go to Folder", in the finder's Go Menu to access it)

Anyway, Network Utility is launched, the first tab should give you some more information about the link speed.

obv, I'm using wireless, but the basic interface is the same.

Look through the various en* interfaces--and check link speed, errors, collisions, etc

 

[pincomar]

Thanks. Yes, I had looked there previously. Shows link speed of 1 Gibit/s. Zero errors or Collisions.

Mark.